Progressive Gray
Boneman writes in after too long an absence to wax politically philosophic on Progressivism.
| Like a heavy gray blanket, the gray grip of progressivism continues to slowly smother the United States. Progressivism is the cancer that we all contracted more than 125 years ago and it is still here, more virulent than ever. It seemed like a great idea. Let’s just get the smartest people in the land to get together and control education, healthcare, and the economy. What wasn’t mentioned was the necessity to control us, me and you! Central control makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean people are generally too stupid and lazy to take care of themselves, anyway. “If you just do what we want, we’ll take care of you! Just give us your freedom and we’ll give you housing, food, healthcare. It won’t hurt even a smidgen.” And, boy, we loved it. We ate it up! Americans were more than happy to let the government do for them what they otherwise would have to do for themselves. We didn’t really want freedom anyway – we just want a kind master; someone who’ll take care of us. Now, in the summer of 2015, we see the full fruition of progressivism on parade: generations of people who have never had a job but still get paid; wholescale destruction of minority communities by a bloated and increasingly lawless government; the Supreme Court inventing laws; a President disregarding his oath of office and the laws he doesn’t like; “free speech zones” on university campuses which are supposed to be bastions of free speech; hyper sensitivity and over reactions on any number of different topics and symbols (Christmas crèches, flags, statues, the list never stops); “reimagining” history to expunge anything we don’t like or find uncomfortable; A President graveling to the world as penance for our past collective sins; Popular progressive presidential candidates who, in more rational days, would have been in prison for fraud, lying, and theft; A presidential candidate who gets “booed” off the stage for daring to admit all lives matter; A President who circumvents Congress by proffering a treaty agreement with a professed, known, enemy who admits – immediately after the agreement was signed no less – that they have no intention of abiding by any of the “treaties” tenets! And yet the Administration is all high fives and pats on the back for this “great” achievement! Our world unravels in front of us yet all we want to do is play with our phones, watch television, or anesthetize ourselves with alcohol or marijuana. We all know where this ends yet are content to enjoy the circuses and free bread. The free exchange of ideas is gradually replaced with a crushing progressive silence as more and more things become “settled,” verboten, or uncomfortable. The light dims and then goes out. |
You’d think the Volgi wrote that, but it was Boneman.
Let the Czar engloom you further, Boneman. Yes, you are correct.
But the problem is that the Progressives of yesteryear were educated people who had good intentions, and yes, the masses were generally unwashed and not as experienced or educated. At best, they were simply powerless to effect positive change on their own, so naturally they ate up the idea.
Let us not forget that the Progressivism also grabbed hold of many Republicans back in the day because it seemed to make historical sense: a group of intellectual giants gathering together and using their genius to protect the community? Just like Philadelphia, 1776.
Whatever. The problem of course is that in 2015, the Progressives are not particularly smart. In fact, many or most coasted through higher education specializing in veneer-thick pseudo-intellectual courses, never really developing the classical foundation required to turn experience into helpful thought.
They’re basically a bunch of dimwitted hippies who think helping people means tearing down the root-radical structures of their parents. They’re godawful dopes who cannot tell the difference between theory and practice. In their minds, European soft socialism is alive, well, and viable. There’s no acknowledgment that it’s fundamentally unworkable and a continuous disaster. Single payer healthcare? Where in the world isn’t this providing world-class healthcare at bargain basement prices? The rich don’t create jobs, they steal them! And so on.
Of course, the Communists knew this back in the day, and accurately referred to them as useful idiots. We should remember that while a lot of golden age progressives were chowderheads as well, most progressives a century ago knew full well that communism was bad, socialism unworkable, unions corrupt, and the government not always a good thing. However, by the 1920s, this all changed.
And since you never hire anybody smarter than yourself, by the 1960s, we had a bunch of doped-up adolescents living in a fantasy world believing every piece of nonsense that came along in the guise of having an open mind. They did a lot of overt damage in the 1960s and 1970s; unfortunately, they started getting elected in the 1980s and 1990s, and now are in control.
However cynical this all is, the Czar isn’t sure that society is too ready to go gentle into that good night. The more leftward the country tilts, according to news broadcasts and headlines, the more polls show dissatisfaction with the whole thing. It’s almost as if the Left is starting to declare Potemkin victories toward the end of a withering war, in an effort to boost morale among the suspicious masses. The masses know the end is coming, and it’s going to be better than this.
A good Republican leader—because really, that’s where he or she will be forced to appear—could, like Reagan, plant a standard in the ground that will reassure folks that America can be positive instead of progressive. After all, gray doesn’t mean pitch black.
Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.