Free Republic

Today's random trivia. Who was America's first presidential SJW?

Progressives have a challenge for all of us conservatives, and they have had this challenge for over a century now. In his book Progressive Democracy, Herbert Croly wrote the following: Whether conservatives like it or not, the foundations of the traditional system are being tested both by the strain of new social and economic condition and by a flood of suspicion and criticism. If it is going to survive, not only must its adaptability to new exigencies be proved, but also its power to survive the severest possible inquisition. Public opinion can no longer be hypnotized and scared into accepting...

Chalk another one up for big government progressivism. I recently posted about progressive republicans and the 16th amendment, having learned during that research that this was the case: I did not know previously that TR supported the death tax. Here is what he said in 1906: As a matter of personal conviction, and without pretending to discuss the details or formulate the system, I feel that we shall ultimately have to consider the adoption of some such scheme as that of a progressive tax on all fortunes, beyond a certain amount, either given in life or devised or bequeathed upon...

Social reform requires big government. Big government requires an obedient court, which fosters a "living constitution". In "Social reform and the Constitution", progressive reformer Frank Johnson Goodnow wrote the following regarding the courts: (page 31) The result is that the constitutional law of the country is not, either necessarily or actually, uniform. For a state court may declare unconstitutional from the point of view of the federal constitution an act of a state legislature which would have been regarded as constitutional by the United States Supreme Court. If, therefore, the state courts are more conservative than the Supreme Court, and...

Far too often, articles or books are written about how bad the 16th amendment is(which it absolutely is) but then the authors turn around and point to Woodrow Wilson. This is historical malpractice. It is said that 42 states ratified the 16th amendment, and 40 of those did so prior to March 4, 1913, which was when Wilson was inaugurated. Massachusetts ratified the 16th on the same day, March 4th, and New Hampshire followed a few days later on March 7th. So let me get this straight: Woodrow Wilson as president was so strong and powerful that he reached back...

As I have written in the past, Progressivism would not exist at all if not for Henry George. John Dewey was influenced by George, many of the British Fabians, Margaret Sanger; one of the most proud proclaimations of progressive achievement in the early 20th century is Initiative, Referendum, and Recall - that entire movement was based on Georgist ideals (and dishonest ones at that.) The early unions, many of them were not socialist, they were Georgist. The Knights of Labor, Samuel Gompers, and others. But understanding the link between big government and Henry George is not well understood. The fact...

In his book "The Principles of Sociology", Edward Alsworth Ross wrote the following: (page 267) In the management of common affairs there is much to be said for the general as against the local political body. Too often local control sacrifices general and permanent interests to individual and immediate interests. Local control of education leaves its fate on the whole to men of less caliber and vision than those who determine it under state control. Local care of highways means less outlay on the roads of the commonwealth than sound economy demands. Local administration of forests or care of public...

Society is society. Government is government. They are two entirely distinct, and completely separate things. Not in the land of Progressivism, however. For progressives, society is government and government is society. They are equally the same and there is no possible distinction. You can routinely see the rotting husk of this when someone proceeds to inform you that "they believe society should do x or y" but when talking of x or y they are instead referring to government action. "I believe that we as a society should take care of the poor, and that's why I support {insert name...

Fake News? That pales in comparison to Fake History. As committed socialist George Orwell once wrote: He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past. There is an article in Vox yesterday which explains exactly why there need to be more conservative citizen historians so as to hold "the experts" accountable. Titled "“They have no allegiance to liberal democracy”: an expert on antifa explains the group", faux-historian Mark Bray accurately admits that Antifa terrorists have no interest in Freedom. They have no allegiance to liberal democracy, which they believe has failed the marginalized...

Technically speaking, progressives have had about six different names. I believe that if the progressives ever did change their name again, they would choose the word "technocrat" as their new hiding place. First, for a little background. Note: this is not designed to be an all-encompassing, uncover-every-stone-history lesson. Starting out, the earliest progressives were known as "Georgists" - that is, Henry George and the publication of the book Progress and Poverty. Note the word "progress" in the title. Georgists were not the uniform statist that we would come to know, starting around the beginning of the 20th century. One of...

In describing some of the history of American Progressivism, Dinesh D'Souza asks a very provocative question: Think about this: we know the name of the philosopher of capitalism, Adam Smith. We also know the name of the philosopher of Marxism, Karl Marx. So, quick, what is the name of the philosopher of fascism? Yes, exactly. You don’t know. Virtually no one knows. My point is that this is not because there were no foundational thinkers behind fascism – there were several – but rather that the left had to get rid of them in order to avoid confronting their unavoidable...

Generally speaking, if someone is running into a litany or a rant and denouncing you as a reactionary, that person is probably a communist. That is, in the 21st century. But what if the year is 1912? "Reactionary" is a word that statists of all stripes love to use, even those who do not behold the Communist viewpoint. In a speech denouncing the GOP, the DNC, and anybody else who he didn't like, Theodore Roosevelt said the following: I merely want to discuss the difference of policy between the Progressive and the Democratic Party and to ask you to think...

Now this is a very interesting poll. 58% of republicans think colleges have a negative impact on the country. I've seen several reports about this poll, and surprisingly, every single report omits the most important word: INDOCTRINATION.The real question isn't if republicans have a negative opinion of universities. The real question is: Does America even have universities? I'm very serious about that. A "university" that engages primarily in progressive and communist propaganda and indoctrination and does not actually educate, can it legitimately be called a college or a university? I would answer that question quite firmly as a no. America...

It's such a shame to see a magazine that claims to be "The Root", be so willing to ignore "the roots" of what you would think would be their own history. Recently, The Root engaged in gross historical malpractice by giving voice to people who would benefit greatly from learning their own true history. They created a short video titled "No Country for Me." This is (among many reasons) one of the reasons why I recorded William Cooper Nell's 1855 book The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution as an audiobook. There are many outlets out there, even outlets such...

This is fully conjecture, but I'm convinced that the answer is yes. During the time in which Wilson was inventing the concept of the "living and breathing constitution", Wilson made the following observations: (Constitutional Government, page 55) The government of the United States was constructed upon the Whig theory of political dynamics, which was a sort of unconscious copy of the Newtonian theory of the universe [see: Newtonian government]. In our own day, whenever we discuss the structure or development of anything, whether in nature or in society, we consciously or unconsciously follow Darwin; but before Darwin, they followed Newton....

The American Thinker has an interesting piece today about Howard Zinn, in which the claim is made that: "Zinn, more than any other man, turned our history books on their heads, and in a way, changed the contemporary course of history." Honestly, I'm not sure that's true. In comparing Zinn to Charles Beard, one of the main issues is the simple expanse of time. Sure, Zinn is more acute in the lies he has written, but Beard has had over a century for his poison to become foundational thinking. Here's the thing: Howard Zinn never knew the real America, so...

Common knowledge has it that the Red Scare involved Joseph McCarthy, HUAC, and Cold War highlights. While all of this is true, that's the second Red Scare of the 1960's. The first Red Scare is far more interesting. The first Red Scare involved progressives using the force of big government against their ideological opponents, the communists. While it is true that (probably) the two most high profile people to be deported were Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman - both anarchists(not communists) - that does not change the fact that one of the main goals of the 1917-1919 purge was to...

Making Socialists Out of College Students: A Story of Professors and Other Collegians who Hobnob with Radicals I don't need to say much about this, except this: Read this book! But, do pay attention to the publication date. 1920. It's out of copyright and free to download from the public domain. To our friends who believe that all evil begins in the 1960's, I emplore you. Please look back further. To our friends who believe that all evil begins in the 1930's, I emplore you. Please look back further!

Lies are as important an ingredient in the ideology of progressives as is h20 in water. Two months ago, a Planned Parenthood pamphlet from 1952 was making the rounds, and everybody was rushing to condemn the organization for it. Here is the pamphlet. Here it is again, and again and again. The last link is the most direct, but at the same time the most problematic. It states at the top "MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH". This entirely misses the point and as far as I'm concerned, it's dangerous. If you guys want to attack individual leaves on the tree,...

Initiate a discussion about welfare, and inevitably the name of Franklin Delano Roosevelt pops up. Often times FDR comes up in the first sentence. Problem is, this simply is not historically accurate. It is true to say that FDR supercharged welfare, but anything else is fake history. Not only did welfare in America exist prior to FDR, but the first welfare program for citizens was repealed in 1929. The interesting story, however, is that it was not people who were first at being put on welfare by the federal government. That's what makes the issue of the first 48 welfare...