Obama: the Latest Rung on the Progressive Ladder

The Progressive Era is generally thought to have been from 1890 to 1910. However, it can be argued that the Progressive Era has never ended. The Progressive Era was a time where people expanded the role of government to create a better life for Americans by reining in the excessiveness of capitalism (Anderson, 2009).

Progressives are neither Democrats nor Republicans. Instead they are a segment of society  that believe government should regulate and  reign in capitalist leaders and programs to help out the underprivileged. When thinking of progressive ideas, most Americans think of Social Security. However, any legislation that expands government powers are considered progressive. The Food and Drug Administration, women’s right to vote, the Eighteenth Amendment, and direct election of US senators by the people are also progressive ideas (Anderson, 2009)

By looking at those few examples, you can see how people are very confused about progressive policies. Social Security is now considered a right. The last I checked that right is not one of those enumerated in the US Constitution as coming from God.  No one would argue that women’s right to vote is a bad thing, or that putting an end to state legislatures electing senators was a socialist act.

Our founding fathers set limits to the strength of the federal government. Over and over again, the common American citizen of today has learned through education, judicial activism, and the media, that progressivism is a good thing. Progressives spit in the face of the Declaration of Independence when they want to take individual rights, given by God, and ascribe them to the government. The Constitution places limits on the federal government when the Bill of Rights was written to ensure states rights and individual rights were not usurped by too strong of a federal government (Beck, 2009).

Unfortunately with this view of a strong federal government it is not difficult to see socialism arise in progressive ideas and government policies. This similarity is of course only being referred to here in government policies and not in the maniacal regimes of past socialist or fascist leaders. Both Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt felt that Congress could enact broader laws that supervise more and more of the American society and economy (McGerr, 2003). The New Deal went a long way towards establishing those ideas as government policy. Today TARP is a logical spin off from those progressive ideas. This is why many American citizens didn’t object to that bill until it was examined and explored at length.

So progressives today masquerade as liberal democrats and left of center republicans. The US Treasury can print more money without an increase in GDP, Government Motors is born, and the only jobs being created are with in the confines of expanding the federal government’s role in our life. President Obama is just the amplification of 100 years of progressive ideals. US citizens have no one to blame but themselves.

References:

Anderson, William L., (2006) The Progressive Era, Retrieved Feb. 1, 2010 from

http://www.lewrockwell.com/anderson/anderson132.html

Beck, Glenn, (2009) The Progressives and Their Attack on America’s Founding, Retrieved Feb. 8,

2010 from http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/23936/#II

M. McGerr, A Fierce Discontent: Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-

1920 (2003).

About the author

Andrew Willems wrote 2 articles on this blog.

Andrew Willems lives in a mid-sized Midwestern town with his wife and five children. He holds a BS Ed. from Martin Luther College, and a MS Ed. from Walden University. Mr.Willems is a conservative Christian who has studied early American history and is a avid supporter of the U. S. Constitution. For the first time, he has become politically active in a grassroots campaign for a conservative US Senate candidate. He advocates for a greater conservative presence in the blogosphere, local government and educational institutions.

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