Stop Calling Them Progressives – Townhall
|
Posted: Jun 30, 2017 12:01 AM
Years ago Marxist-socialist leftists, embarrassed at being Marxist-socialist leftists, made up a shiny new name for themselves, progressives. Its a word that sounds like a garden of forward-thinking delights, but is simply code for the failed, human-spirit-destroying government-command-and control that birthed all the evil isms of the past. Thats why every time I hear a conservative commentator in print, radio, or on TV call lefty-socialists progressives my 200 billion brain cells swoon.
The Fourth of July brings to mind how far alleged progressivism deviates from this nations founding freedoms. The government command-and-control against which the American revolutionaries fought was King George III and British rule that denied the colonists basic human rights and the freedom to govern themselves. The Kings officials and soldiers bullied the colonists and tried to break their independent spirit with oppressive laws. The Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights gave citizens the electoral power to choose their own leaders, make their own laws, and the right to freely speak their minds without reprisal from the powerful.
But today, progressives are trying to destroy our God-given Constitutional rights by force and intimidation, the traditional tactics of despotism. Wearing black masks, they smash cars and stores, rioting at college campuses and violating the law and the First Amendment to shut down speakers they dont like. Prominent progressive voices in the media, celebrities, even some in Congress actually call for physically harming conservatives. Some actually gloated when Rep. Steve Scalise and other Republicans were attacked at a baseball practice by a leftist wacko whose heroine is leftist wacko Rachel Maddow.
Once content with telling us what light bulbs we could buy and how much soda we could drink, now progressives mimic ISIS terrorists by holding up a bloody fake beheaded Trump, or not too subtly suggest presidential assassination in a public play partly funded by taxpayers. Celebrities adored by millions of impressionable fans say they want to blow up the White House or ruminate about actors assassinating presidents.
These are the behaviors of tyrannical anarchists who are the very opposite of progressive which Webster defines as continuous improvement; the development of an individual or group in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level. Theres nothing beneficial for us as citizens or our nation about lawlessness, property and First Amendment destruction, deadly threats, and calls for personal attacks and assassination. Yet as long as we let them get away with calling themselves progressive, we allow them to claim moral and intellectual superiority over the rest of us.
Its an insult to all Americans when so-called progressives try to claim they are the new revolutionaries, freedom fighters like the original colonist tea-dumpers. Theyre actually freedom-destroyers, bent on ripping apart the freedom of expression and the elective will of the voters, scorning the Constitution and torching the flag of liberty. Their goal is the death of liberty, not its advancement. Their heroes are murdering monsters Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, while they revile white-privileged Washington and Jefferson who pledged their lives for freedom.
The progressive credo is the same as the Cuban dictators and their mentors Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot: oppressive government control under the guise of leveling the playing field or equality and redistribution of wealth. But the people on the receiving end of the progressive promises of that eravariously known as socialism, Communism, or Marxismrather than thriving, have instead died in huge numbers thanks to the benevolent progressive policies imposed on them. The innocent victims of progressivism amount to 120 million or so expiring at the hands of their own governments, according to historians.
Now multi-billionaire progressives like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and entrepreneur Elon Musk are calling for an exciting new way for government to ensure equality, today called social justice. While America was founded by brave settlers who built the new nation with their fierce spirit of independence, personal responsibility and achievement based on hard work, Zuckerberg (whose name means Sugar Mountain in German) wants to replace all that with the ultimate Sugar Daddy, a government that would provide everyone with a universal basic income.
Zuckerberg feels guilty that not everyone has the financial safety net to become entrepreneurial billionaires like he did with Facebook. But everyone should its only fair! Hopefully millions of people immediately sent him their addresses so he could start cutting their monthly checks.
Actually a universal basic income is already here for millions. The number of Americans receiving assistance from about 79 federal poverty programs is up 32 percent since 2008, the year Barack Obama was elected president. Now more than 100 million nearly one in three Americans get benefits from at least one of these programs, not including Social Security and Medicare payments.
This huge redistribution of taxpayer wealth toward welfare benefits is making Americas founding values of personal responsibility and self-reliance seem not only quaint, but unnecessary. Amazingly, in 35 states combined welfare benefits pay more than minimum-wage jobs, which means many have no reason to work. According to a Cato Institute study, a worker would need to make more than $60,000 in Hawaii, and more than $50,000 in Washington D.C. and Massachusetts, to earn more than collecting welfare would bring.
So its no mystery that U.S. labor participation is at an all-time low and that those numbers pretty much mirror the number of people collecting government benefits. Just before the 2016 elections fully 37.2 percent of our non-institutionalized, civilian population over 16 was not working or even looking for work. Of course, free money becomes an effective bribe to vote for the party that will keep the checks coming: the Democrats.
Given human nature, it only makes sense that for many, if you dont need to work to support yourself and your family, you wont. Those who continue to work will be ridiculed by those who feed at the government sugar dispenser.
But the satisfaction of work, almost any kind of work, is essential for a healthy sense of self-worth in humans. Even FDR, the Democrat president who created the New Deal to aid the jobless in the Great Depression, warned against the habit of welfare; relief as it was called then. The lessons of history show that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber, he said in 1935. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. The federal government must and shall quit this business of relief. But it has only increased.
Government is a fickle master as the victims of the isms discovered. Dependency breeds subservience and finally bondage after it destroys the aspirational nature fundamental to human happiness.
Since its been abundantly demonstrated for centuries that the progressive approach leads to more human suffering rather than an improvement in the human condition, the leftist/socialist/Marxistists are actually taking us backwards, not forward. Their plans would regress humanity to an earlier and utterly failed model thats left a trail of blood across human history. So lets call them what they are: regressives, not progressives. And lets celebrate Independence Day, not Dependence Day.
Joy Overbeck is a Colorado journalist and author who writes for Townhall.com, The Daily Caller, The Washington Times, American Thinker, BarbWire and elsewhere. More columns: https://www.facebook.com/JoyOverbeckColumnist Follow her on Twitter @JoyOverbeck1
ICYMI: Guidestar Labeled Dozens of Conservative Organizations as 'Hate Groups'
'Morning Joe' Anchors Respond: He's Not the Man We Once Knew
Conservatives Warn McConnell Not to Remove Pro-life Language From Health Care Bill
The rest is here:
Stop Calling Them Progressives - Townhall
- Progressives Hate Jimmy Carters Best Accomplishments - National Review - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Jaime Watt: Advice to progressives: Public rage is real and the politics of joy is dead - Toronto Star - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Why progressives should talk to their enemies Jesse Jackson understood the power of persuasion - UnHerd - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Five reasons for progressives to take hope and stay engaged in 2025 - NC Newsline - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- 5 reasons for progressives to be hopeful, engaged in 2025 - Restoration NewsMedia - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Progressives like Greg Casar remain politically out of touch, reader says - San Antonio Express-News - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Progressives Hate Jimmy Carters Best Accomplishments - AMAC Official Website - Join and Explore the Benefits - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Bill Maher's foul-mouthed rant at progressives who shun conservative loved ones over the holidays - Daily Mail - January 1st, 2025 [January 1st, 2025]
- Is the Seattle City Council 'toxic' for progressives. Newly elected Alexis Mercedes Rinck is about to find out - KUOW News and Information - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- Congressional Progressives New Leader Thinks Times on His Side - The Dispatch - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- Opinion | Progressives shouldnt avoid the hard conversations they need to win - The Washington Post - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- Its fine to recall progressives, but not a conservative supervisor? Ask the Chron - 48 Hills - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- Progressives Under Pressure: Confronting the Gradual Rise of Authoritarianism - Social Europe - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- Progressives flee X for Bluesky, where they can harass others in peace - New York Post - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- Opinion | Progressives should defend Bidens legacy to protect their future - The Washington Post - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- Letters to the Editor: Progressives mandate is overstated; Boulder can be model supporting youth - Boulder Daily Camera - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- Where Will Progressives Go from Here? Tyler Syck - Law & Liberty - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- Progressives push for preemptive action on Trump 2.0 - POLITICO - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- AOC, other progressives condemn violence but suggest justification for killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO - Fox News - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- Both conservatives and progressives are paying attention to Jeong Hyeong-sik, who was designated as - - December 16th, 2024 [December 16th, 2024]
- To lead the resistance on Capitol Hill, progressives in D.C. are turning to a Texan - San Antonio Report - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Progressives Want Democratic Party Reform with Bold Working-Class Agenda - West Orlando News - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Progressives must Act to Protect the most Vulnerable: mere Resistance to Trump is not Enough - Informed Comment - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- 2027: APGA ready for alliance with fellow progressives Ezeokenwa - Vanguard - December 10th, 2024 [December 10th, 2024]
- Progressives Plan for Handling Trump Is Too Clever to Work - New York Magazine - December 4th, 2024 [December 4th, 2024]
- Progressives must unite to see off the far right - The Guardian - December 4th, 2024 [December 4th, 2024]
- Opinion: Progressives need to step up with year-round, aggressive advocacy for facts. - UpNorthNews - December 4th, 2024 [December 4th, 2024]
- Moderates, progressives, recallers, coal foesWho really won in Oakland elections? - The Oaklandside - December 4th, 2024 [December 4th, 2024]
- Hypocritical Politicians Cosplaying Progressives, What is Best Terminology? - Daily Kos - December 4th, 2024 [December 4th, 2024]
- Democratic lawmaker calls on progressives to stop leaving X - AOL - December 4th, 2024 [December 4th, 2024]
- After Kamala Harriss defeat, progressives must regain the peoples trust - The New Statesman - December 4th, 2024 [December 4th, 2024]
- Opinion - To constrain Trump, progressives should look to the states - Yahoo! Voices - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- To constrain Trump, progressives should look to the states - The Hill - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Slammed by Progressives After Voting for Resolution Condemning Global Antisemitism - Algemeiner - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- The Democratic Elite: Bridging the Divide Between Progressives and the Working Class - The Fordham Ram - November 26th, 2024 [November 26th, 2024]
- This Elections Surprising Bright Spot for Progressives Is a Very Big Deal - Slate - November 21st, 2024 [November 21st, 2024]
- Scott says he wont call Trump special session pushed by Progressives - WCAX - November 21st, 2024 [November 21st, 2024]
- Progressives in Red States Know How to Take on the Trump Admin - Teen Vogue - November 21st, 2024 [November 21st, 2024]
- Progressives wary of RFK Jr. despite shared goals - POLITICO - November 21st, 2024 [November 21st, 2024]
- Ignore progressives' whining. US needs Elon and Vivek to avert deficit disaster. | Opinion - Yahoo! Voices - November 21st, 2024 [November 21st, 2024]
- Inside the Beltway: Progressives outline agenda on 'reforming the Democratic Party' - Washington Times - November 21st, 2024 [November 21st, 2024]
- Progressives Dont Want to Learn from Their Mistakes - American Enterprise Institute - November 21st, 2024 [November 21st, 2024]
- What progressives must learn from Trumps campaign - The Japan Times - November 21st, 2024 [November 21st, 2024]
- For Progressives, the Best Defense Is a Good Offense - Bucks County Beacon - November 21st, 2024 [November 21st, 2024]
- Progressives in Parliament: Digital ID with Jake Richards MP - Progressive Britain - November 21st, 2024 [November 21st, 2024]
- Theres a reason progressives dont have their own Joe Rogan - New York Post - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- Bill Maher Says Women Denying Men Sex Over Trump Vote Is the First Time 'Progressives Found a Way to Turn Something Blue' | Video - TheWrap - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- Democrats should have celebrated Americas stunning economic successbut they were intimidated by progressives - Fortune - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- Where Do Bay Area Progressives Go From Here? - KQED - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- Gaetzs Antitrust Positions Align With Progressives. They Just Dont Trust Him. - NOTUS - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- EDITORIAL: Progressives now learn to love the Senate filibuster - Las Vegas Review-Journal - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- Progressives arent the problem in the Democratic coalition - Salon - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- Megyn Kelly laughs at 'delightful' exodus of progressives from X after Trump win - Daily Mail - November 16th, 2024 [November 16th, 2024]
- A Year Since Their Ceasefire Resolution, Progressives Say Only an Arms Embargo Can Stop Israel - The Intercept - October 21st, 2024 [October 21st, 2024]
- As big-money ads drop, progressives work on GOTV efforts - 48 Hills - October 21st, 2024 [October 21st, 2024]
- 2025 is progressives chance at the tax code. Theyll be ready. - Punchbowl News - October 21st, 2024 [October 21st, 2024]
- Kamala Harris Ran to the Right on Economics. It Has Progressives Scrambling. - NOTUS - October 21st, 2024 [October 21st, 2024]
- Progressives Are Pushing for an Economy Built on Migrant Serfdom | Opinion - Newsweek - October 21st, 2024 [October 21st, 2024]
- Thai Progressives Have Written a New Script For Political Opposition - The Diplomat - October 21st, 2024 [October 21st, 2024]
- Silicon Valley progressives buy up nuclear reactors to power their AI and data center needs - AllSides - October 21st, 2024 [October 21st, 2024]
- When Progressives Squash Progress In The Tank #469 - The Heartland Institute - October 21st, 2024 [October 21st, 2024]
- As Harris shifts to the center, progressives hold their fire for now - The Washington Post - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- Progressives Must Act Now to Shape Kamala Harriss White House - The American Prospect - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- Bernie Sanders tells Texas progressives to back Harris, says Allred win would make all the difference - The Texas Tribune - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- 'Its About Seeing How Far We Can Push Her Once She Wins': Ilhan Omar and Fellow Progressives Plot To Push Harris Further Left Post-Election -... - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- Progressives Weigh In on Kamala Harris Economic Proposals and Share Some of Their Own - Capital and Main - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- As Harris shifts to the center, progressives hold their fire - for now - redlakenationnews.com - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- Inside David Hoggs $8M Bid to Elect Young Progressives - The Trace - September 6th, 2024 [September 6th, 2024]
- Paddy-bashing and the blind spot of progressives - The Spectator - September 6th, 2024 [September 6th, 2024]
- Progressives have no doubt Silias government will shatter against next years budget - bnn-news.com - September 6th, 2024 [September 6th, 2024]
- Carson Jerema: Progressives want to control our lives, and Canadians have had it - National Post - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- How Rabbi Michael Lerner merged spirituality and social justice and influenced a generation of progressives - Forward - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- Leo Terrell: Progressives want us to live with criminals in our neighborhoods - Fox News - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- DNC widened the split between liberals and progressives over whether to back Harris - Middle East Eye - September 2nd, 2024 [September 2nd, 2024]
- Democrats and progressives see more Latino young voters mobilizing for Harris - NBC News - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- In blue P.G. where conservatives dominate the conversation, progressives find their voice. - Monterey County Weekly - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- Trump's black men myth debunked. How Dems can win back men. How Progressives Succeed in the Election - Daily Kos - August 29th, 2024 [August 29th, 2024]
- They arent going to accept empty promises: progressives back Harris with cautious enthusiasm - The Guardian US - August 27th, 2024 [August 27th, 2024]
- Progressives once felt spurned at the DNC. Now theyre cheering it. - The Washington Post - August 27th, 2024 [August 27th, 2024]
- Harris, under pressure from progressives, addresses Israel's war in Gaza - POLITICO - August 27th, 2024 [August 27th, 2024]