Posted on 12/07/2013 7:12:47 AM PST by ProgressingAmerica
In his 1908 book "Constitutional Government in the United States", Woodrow Wilson uses a line that could be easy to overlook, but it is a crucial point. On page 69, Wilson writes the following:
The Presidents who have not made themselves leaders have lived no more truly on that account in the spirit of the Constitution than those whose force has told in the determination of law and policy. No doubt Andrew Jackson overstepped the bounds meant to be set to the authority of his office. It was certainly in direct contravention of the spirit of the Constitution that he should have refused to respect and execute decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, and no serious student of our history can righteously condone what he did in such matters on the ground that his intentions were upright and his principle pure. But the Constitution of the United States is not a mere lawyers’ document: it is a vehicle of life, and its spirit is always the spirit of the age. Its prescriptions are clear and we know what they are; a written document makes lawyers of us all, and our duty as citizens should make us conscientious lawyers, reading the text of the Constitution without subtlety or sophistication; but life is always your last and most authoritative critic.Some of our Presidents have deliberately held themselves off from using the full power they might legitimately have used, because of conscientious scruples, because they were more theorists than statesmen.
This concept of the "Spirit of the Age" was very important to Wilson. On numerous occasions he made that clear, many times he does not use that phrase, but it's impossible to miss. In a speech to the Jefferson Club, Wilson said the following:
If you want to understand the real Declaration, do not repeat the preface
And again as I noted in that posting, he made a similar point in one of his essays, "The Author and Signers of the Declaration"
We are not bound to adhere to the doctrines held by the signers of the Declaration of Independence; we are as free as they were to make and unmake governments.
Notice how abstractly political Wilson is in all of these. He would go around acting like he was this big Jeffersonian, and many historians try to couch him as such, but the reality is that he had no use for true history and how it discounts tyrannical government of all stripes. Wilson generally says nothing about the individual's Natural rights to self-govern. As to the Declaration's "preface", if you throw that out all you have left is a list of grievances. The Spirit of the Age.
In another one of Wilson's books, "The State; Elements of Historical and Practical Politics", he writes the following on page 651:
As regards the State's Ministrant Functions. - Of the Ministrant, no less than of these Constituent functions which I have taken merely as examples of their kind, the same statement may be made, that practically the state has been relieved of very little duty by alterations of political theory. In this field of the Ministrant functions one would expect the state to be less active now than formerly: it is natural enough that in the field of the Constituent functions the state should serve society now as always. But there is in fact no such difference: government does now whatever experience permits or the times demand; and though it does not do exactly the same things it still does substantially the same kind of things that the ancient state did.
Note that in his writing, he italicized this himself. Once again, "Government does now whatever experience permits or the times demand" - Spirit of the Age.
In Charles Reade Bacon's book "A people awakened: the story of Woodrow Wilson's first campaign which carried New Jersey to the lead of the states in the great movement for the emancipation of the government", you will find this on page 203:
When you speak of a progressive Democrat, I understand that you mean not a man who will always be standing upon a literal interpretation of quotations out of Thomas Jefferson, but who will try to carry forward in the service of a new age, the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, the spirit of this man who tried to comprehend the things of the people, and to serve them by political combinations and concerted action.
How about that for "The Jeffersonian"? That's an outright rejection of it. But again, what do we see? The Spirit of the Age. This was a fundamental and core belief of Wilson's progressive ideology.
Woodrow Wilson is not the first person to have become enamored with the idea of "the spirit of the age". Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel also held this ideal in high regard. I learned that from Wilson himself, as you can see here in one of Wilson's most important essays, "The Study of Administration":
The philosophy of any time is, as Hegel says, “nothing but the spirit of that time expressed in abstract thought”; and political philosophy, like philosophy of every other kind, has only held up the mirror to contemporary affairs.
According to Hillsdale Professor Ronald J. Pestritto, there are many similarities between Wilson and Hegel, but also many differences. Though a full comparison is not the goal here. My current goal is to highlight many of the times in which Wilson indicated or plainly stated his belief in the "spirit of the age".
Federal Reserve Act.
Amendments 16 and 17.
Woody Wilson sucks.
Yeah, he does.
But we need to understand him and others from his era if we are going to put a stop to this nonsense we are currently living under.
Amendments 16 and 17.
Kill the FED, and you kill Progressivism down to its roots. You will then naturally begin to fix 1000 things that conservatives hate, from NPR to abortion. I'm so surprised Conservatives do not see this.
BUMP! BUMP! Thanks for your posts.
“charter of negative liberties” BUMP!
—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
BUMP!
The more I learn about Wilson the more I loathe him.
Same here. I read a Woodrow Wilson bio back when I was in junior high school, and came away confused (if not dazed) by it. Despite the author's attempt at making the subject look good, Wilson came across as a creepy guy. Fast forward over 40 years and I'm still learning just how bad he really was.
Whenever I tune in to Glenn Beck and hear he and Pat getting a good Woodrow Wilson rant going, it warms my heart.
Mr. niteowl77
Wilson was sick for a good part of his term and I’m sure lots of behind the scenes power grabbing went on. The Wilson presidency contributes more to the present maliase more than we yet know, IMO.
We simply must refuse to allow libtards to continue their nefarious and dangerous practice of hijacking and twisting our language, the most pernicious example of which is their application of the term “progressive” to themselves.
Here’s a question for those of you who somehow escaped the government school indoctrination process with your critical thinking skills intact: When these people say “progressive”, to where or to what do they propose to progress?
Among America’s founding documents is the Declaration of Independence. Because many of you younger readers may not have been exposed to the Declaration in school (or, worse, were exposed to an altered or redacted version of that document), allow me to remind you of THE key principles upon which the Founders established this nation:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Read those words until you fully grasp their meaning.
Let me again ask the question: To where or to what do those who call themselves “progressives” propose to progress? How IS IT POSSIBLE to “progress” beyond those beautifully stated and, at that time as today, seldom articulated truths?
Back when a “journalist” respected truth and honesty, the Baltimore journalist Henry Louis Mencken declared “The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.”
And, that, my friends is another truth of which we all must be mindful as these so-called “progressives”, by their tendentious torturing and twisting of the language, seek to move us AWAY from our founding principles. Their agenda seeks to take us BACK to some form of the same dictatorial RULE under which nearly all men who walked the earth before those American ideals were set to parchment lived as SLAVES!
If these people wish to wear a label, let it be an honest one. Although I can think a any number of things to call these cretins, my most polite suggestion would be “REGRESSIVES”.
"Conservatism" has thus far been but a subset of the Republican Party. Long ago, the Republican Party made a Devil's Bargain with the Democrats. In exchange for rolling over and playing dead with what they see as a permanent Democrat majority, they occupy lucratively gerrymandered "safe seats." Even more important, they were guaranteed a place at the tables where the swag is divided up among the pirates of the Constitution.
In those rare interludes when the Republicans gain a majority in the House or the Senate, they demonstrate "0" zeal for reform of the government, shockingly inept leadership, and issue tons of blather about "hands across the aisle." This goes double when there is a Republican President.
The deal is too good for the Republicans to seek real change. The Republican Party is dead. Unfortunately for the Republic, no one has come up with a replacement; one that can oppose the Democrat Party and re-establish some semblance of constitutional order in government.
The government ... that is the ruler of the people which it has become ... is made up of Federal Agencies who write and interpret the laws. The legislative branch exists not to represent the public at large, but the major contributors who can pay for special treatment from the bureaucracy.
Woodrow Wilson is the only President born after 1776 who spent part of his life the citizen of another country, until Barack Obama. For 4 years Wilson owed allegiance to the Confederate States of America. His father was a Confederate chaplain.
Thank you for taking the time to post this. I think it was very well said.
And Thank You for saying that. Please feel free to share as the spirit moves you to do so.
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