A Republic, If You Want It

Here is an awesome article that describes the shift from constitutional government to the current progressive liberalism that rules the day and why so many ordinary folks like me are finally taking an interest in politics.
A Republic if You Want It

It’s long, but worth it.  Understanding the history of the progressive movement and how it is influencing the liberal agenda today is so important if we are to combat it’s spread.  We have to know what happened then, where it came from and what it looks like today to be able to vote against it.  It is breathtaking to me to read some of FDR’s speeches about “The New Nationalism” and the 2nd Bill of Rights.  When I read his ideas, I hear Obama’s voice.  FDR believed that all Americans have a RIGHT to healthcare, a RIGHT to own a home, a RIGHT to make a profit off their farms and that government should make sure it happens and pay for it with American tax dollars.  He believed it was government’s role to make sure everyone succeeded.  I hear the same things from the mouths of democrats today.  They will not go so far as to publicly denounce the constitution and Declaration of Independence as the progressives of Woodrow Wilson and FDR’s time did.  But the end goals are the same, though the rhetoric may be different.  Less individual freedom.  More control by the all knowing state.  They believe that their experts can determine what is best for us better then we can and better than the founders could.  They believe that equality of rewards, ie. things, is the same as or more important than equality of rights. The progressives of 100 years ago went so far as to claim that there was no such thing as natural, God given rights.  They believed that economic “rights” were more important.  Today they believe that everyone should have the same amount of money and drive the same kinds of “environmentally safe” cars.  But in their attempts to provide equal things for all people, they are stepping on my natural rights.  Rights that do, in fact, exist and that cannot be taken away from me by my government even to help the good of society.  It is MY choice to help society, not the government’s.  And by the way, Democrats are not alone in this push to socialism.  Current Republican leaders go along with these ideas, raising only a weak voice of opposition, thereby showing a contempt for the constitution and its ideas that may not be as blatant as the Democrats, but nevertheless destructive.  It was both parties that brought us to this point of Big Government.

I read an article the other day from the Imprimis by Larry P. Arnn, the President of Hillsdale College, in which he talked about the solution to these problems.   Here’s the link.  It’s a very good article.
Education, Economics and Self Government
To put an end to the progressive way of governing  he says; 
“first is for the ordinary folk of the United States to see in this the despotism that it is, and to rise up and repudiate it. The second thing is longer term, but equally vital: It is to replace leaders who have bad educations with leaders who have good educations.” 
He claims that those in office today were educated by the progressive mindset and so though they may think they are doing what’s right for America, it is slowly moving us towards despotism.  And that’s what has to stop. 

So my next goal along with all my reading and along with teaching the next generation of leaders is to start looking for those people who want to run on constitutional principles and free market ideas and help them out, maybe even work on a campaign.  I’m proud to say that my little donation to Scott Brown helped him win his election and my vote helped Chris Christie win Governor here in New Jersey.  I’m going to find more people like them to help.