Why I Despise Progressives

June, 2010 | Ward Dorrity

[Noumenon]

Got to thinking about so-called 'progressives'...

[AlexW]

PROGRESSIVE...Code word for “neo-Marxist”.

[Oceander]

Not quite as nuanced a discussion as yours, but it does fit on a bumper-sticker:

[Noumenon]

I like it. Short, and to the point.

[4rcane]

i hate them because EVERYthing, every policy that support actually does the opposite of their intention. ALL their policy hurt the poor and less fortunate in society

[AdvisorB]

bump for later reading.

[Valin]

I LOVE ‘progressives...properly cooked

[Noumenon]

I’ve always found them to be a little too gamy for my taste...

[andy58-in-nh]

You understand everything about them that you need to know. Please know also that you have a great deal of company. Many of those who go along with the schemes of Progressives do not understand their true intentions or, in the alternative, manage to convince themselves that they are well-intentioned souls concerned only with the advancement of human kindness. Nothing could be further from the truth.

When individual rights are subsumed to the collective, very bad things happen. Always. It is up to those clear-headed enough to understand the true intentions and unavoidable consequences of collectivism to stop its advance, even in the interest of those fooled by its phony appeals to humanity, which serve to mask a desire for power and unearned wealth.

[Noumenon]

For what it’s worth, I’m trying to present different approaches, different facets to the same argument. It’s good to know history, but it’s even more important for folks to be absolutely clear as to the nature of the enemies of human freedom and the dangers they present to all that we care about.

So I beg everyone’s indulgence if I appear to repeat myself.

It’s a test of the premises, and practice for presenting the material to a wider audience. Thanks for your kind words...

[APFel]

Self ping. Great essay.

APf

[RepublicanMeansAmerican]

Modern liberals have nothing in common with the original, real Progressives (who probably spin in their graves whenever the label is attached to our current wackos)

[Bean Counter]

[DuncanWaring]

Modern liberals have nothing in common with the original, real Progressives ...

You sure about that?

Some of the original Progressives, George Bernard Shaw in particular if I recall correctly, thought it perfectly acceptable to "humanely execute" people if they were not, for whatever reason, adequately productive.

[CharacterCounts]

Woodrow Wilson would be genuflecting to Obama if he were alive today.

[IamConservative]

The irony of the progressive message is that as an individual, you are not capable of governing yourself, but, some of us (government) are capable of governing all of us.

The “better than you at living” crowd as I call them.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Bump for later.

[RepublicanMeansAmerican]

Wasn’t Shaw connected to English Fabian Socialism? I guess I was thinking about American Progressives who promoted an American ideal to cope with the demographic changes after 1880. That is “foreign” to (whatever they are) today.

[DuncanWaring]

Yes, Shaw does appear to have signed-on with the Fabian Socialists.

[Noumenon]

H.G Wells was one of that crowd, too. Some of his utopian visions were genuinely scary.