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The Deadly Hypocrisy of Progressivism
Sierra Times ^ | 16 June 2003 | Scott Jordan

Posted on 08/17/2003 4:43:49 PM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast

The Deadly Hypocrisy of Progressivism
By Scott Jordan


A central tenet of Marxism and all its variants is that the rich—if you must have 'em—must pay more taxes than the proletariat. It's only fair, goes the thinking, that those who have more should pay more… not just proportionally more according to their larger income, but exponentially more through application of a larger multiple: a higher tax rate.

In a linguistic twist that must have given Orwell grim satisfaction, this is known as "progressive" taxation. Now, chew on that term: "progressive." Doesn't it sound nice? Per webster.com, its leading definitions are all gauzily forward-thinking and steeped in a heart-swelling sense of advancing modernity towards a brightening future for all humankind:

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Main Entry: pro·gres·sive
Pronunciation: pr&-'gre-siv
Function: adjective
Date: circa 1612
1 a : of, relating to, or characterized by progress b : making use of or interested in new ideas, findings, or opportunities c : of, relating to, or constituting an educational theory marked by emphasis on the individual child, informality of classroom procedure, and encouragement of self-expression
2 : of, relating to, or characterized by progression
3 : moving forward or onward : ADVANCING
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Clearly, to be "progressive" is a desirable trait. Who wouldn't want their core tenets labeled in a way that connotes "progress" or "new ideas" or "opportunities" or even "encouragement of self-expression"? But consider the next definition:

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4 a : increasing in extent or severity <a progressive disease> b : increasing in rate as the base increases <a progressive tax>
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Now we're cooking. How apt that the definition that touches on taxation also touches on the relentless advancement of disease!

But imagine a tax that literally did advance disease. And imagine that it was the exact opposite of Marx's prescribed method of taxation: imagine it took its heaviest toll against the meager wealth and even the wretched lives of the poorest people in the world. Can you comprehend the ululations of despair, the keening howls of protest that would emanate from the Left? And what about the children? Won't somebody please think of the children?

Unfortunately, such a tax exists. It has subjected billions to unending, grinding poverty, stolen their best hope for better lives, and sentenced countless millions to death and starvation. It is the most regressive tax of all, yet it is the pet of the Progressives. It is doctrinaire, unquestioning, radical environmentalism.

There is no better example than the ban on DDT, 31 years ago this month. After its discovery, DDT was quickly proven to be a wonder chemical which virtually eliminated disease-bearing and crop-destroying insects. For example, it dropped the incidence of malaria in Venezuela from over eight million annual cases to fewer than a thousand, and in India from more than ten million to about a quarter million.[1]

It stopped an epidemic of typhus in war-devastated Naples. Malaria was even wiped out in the United States' poor rural South thanks to this miracle pesticide. All told, the World Health Organization credited DDT with saving fifty to one hundred million lives in just its first couple decades of use. Yet in a monument to junk science, this eminently safe, lifesaving chemical was banned due to unsupported, irreproducible, practically anecdotal contentions that it caused cancer in humans and disrupted reproduction in birds. (That the ban was issued in the U.S. just two years after the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency by a Republican president is cause for enduring shame for that Party and a reminder for unwavering vigilance against pseudoscience and go-along-to-get-along "moderation" for those of us on the Right.)

To put this in perspective, it has been estimated that perhaps half of all humans who have ever lived died of malaria. Their desperate heirs are today's poor around the world.

For rich societies like the United States and "Old Europe", it is merely a nuisance to address mosquitoes and farm-pests with alternative chemicals and costly abatement programs. But no alternative chemical has been developed which is as effective as DDT, and none is so affordable. Simply, the poorest societies of the world are hit hardest by this shibboleth of those who would call themselves Progressives.

[1] Reason Online: "Silent Spring at 40"



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ddt; environmentalism; progressives; pseudoscience
Deadly consequences to soft-headed good intentions.

Typical.

1 posted on 08/17/2003 4:43:49 PM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast
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To: RightOnTheLeftCoast
Deadly consequences to soft-headed good intentions.

Who says their intentions were good?

2 posted on 08/17/2003 5:01:23 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
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To: Paleo Conservative
Who says their intentions were good?

Most of the people supporting liberal policies have good intentions. That does not, however, suggest that their leaders have good intentions.

3 posted on 08/17/2003 5:04:45 PM PDT by supercat (TAG--you're it!)
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To: RightOnTheLeftCoast
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.-- C. S. Lewis
4 posted on 08/17/2003 5:09:41 PM PDT by hosepipe
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To: Paleo Conservative
Who says their intentions were good?

Not me. I believe Carson was/is shoulder to shoulder with Sanger and it's all about population control...the "population" that niether cared about. A viruntley racist population control.

JMHO

FMCDH

5 posted on 08/17/2003 5:09:50 PM PDT by nothingnew (I've changed my tagline and will tell no one what it is until I'm on the Jay Leno show!)
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To: RightOnTheLeftCoast
"the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency by a Republican president "

Republican president established the EPA?
6 posted on 08/17/2003 9:34:36 PM PDT by Susannah (Over 200 people murdered in L. A.County-first 5 mos. of 2003 & NONE were fighting Iraq!!)
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To: RightOnTheLeftCoast
INTSUM
7 posted on 08/17/2003 9:57:52 PM PDT by LiteKeeper
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To: Susannah
Yes, a Republican president established the EPA. Nixon. One of the most statist presidents.
8 posted on 08/17/2003 10:04:42 PM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast
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To: LiteKeeper
Um, what does "INSUM" mean?
9 posted on 08/18/2003 7:00:51 AM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast
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To: RightOnTheLeftCoast
oops, INTSUM

I am a retired Army officer (artillery, MI, and chaplain). I have the privilege of teaching several classes in Colorado Springs to high school, college, and adults on comparative worldviews (biblical vs secular). As I read the various threads, some impress me as good for illustrating different worldviews. So, using some Army terminology, I mark "incidents" as "SPOTREPS" (spot report) and "descriptions of the current world scene" as "SITREPs" (situation reports). INTREP (Intelligence Report) provides information of an event involving those of the "opposition;" INTSUM (Intelligence Summary) provides more general information. When I get home, I download these SPOTREPs and SITREPs to a database for future use.

Does that help?

10 posted on 08/18/2003 7:35:31 AM PDT by LiteKeeper
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To: LiteKeeper
Thanks!
11 posted on 08/18/2003 8:31:04 AM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast
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