What do the three most popular candidates so far in this election cycle have in common? They’re all Progressives.
The Progressive movement started in the early 1900’s with well known historical figures such as Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt as part of the fold.
In short the Progressivism movement’s goal is to transform America’s principles of government, from a government dedicated to securing of individual liberty to one which takes on any form of economic and social ills,
Progressives have argued that the founders wanted limited government based on their experience with King George III, but that people of their own time want a much more activist government. Because the constitution exists to limit government, constitutional and Progressive ideals are at odds with each other.
President Woodrow Wilson believed the separation of powers and checks and balances made the government inefficient and was an obstacle in the way of Progressives to accomplish all that they had in mind. He wanted the presidency to be more than just chief of one of the branches of government, but instead sought to be “the popular leader of the whole of national politics”.
The early Progressive movement started a pattern that would continue for the next century, which is a pattern of disregarding the constitutional limits government in favor of government solutions for every conceivable problem.
The early Progressives envisioned a vast number of bureaucratic agencies and broad laws passed by congress for supervising the American economy and society.
Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York is a Progressive. He pushed for a law that was passed in order to ban all restaurants, fast-food establishments, delis, movie theaters, sports stadiums and food carts from selling sugar-sweetened drinks in cups larger than 16 ounces. This may seem relatively benign, but it’s a great example. Progressives believe in using government for the good of the people, even if the people don’t always know what’s good for them.
The Democrat party has typically seen the most Progressives, but Progressivism is alive and well in the Republican party as well. Donald Trump supports eminent domain and has leveraged the government to take property from private citizens. He also recently reaffirmed his support for “universal health coverage”. In the mind of the progressive, the government giveth and the government taketh away.
Although Obamacare barely survived the Supreme Court in a 5–4 decision because the administration argued that the penalty that people would have to pay was a tax, not a fine. The fact that the Obama administration had to make this argument in order to circumvent the limits that the constitution imposes shows once again that the constitution Provides a constraint that Progressives want to break free of.
Our current political landscape should not be viewed through the lens of “Republican vs. Democrat”. Instead, the real battle is constitutionalism vs. Progressivism.
The movement that was started in the early 1900’s is starting to accelerate at a faster and faster rate. Once the majority puts a greater value in what the government should provide instead of individual liberty, then the constitution will then be viewed as an burden and inconvenience.
In the upcoming election, I want to see Bernie Sanders against Ted Cruz. Both of these candidates will be honest about who they are, and will allow America to make a clear choice: socialism and government control, or the constitutional and individual liberty.
