"The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants" - Albert Camus

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Is It Too Late to Save The Constitutional Republic?


The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll has some alarming news.  It appears that more the American public finds out about the Tea Party, more they dislike it. 

The immediate question that comes to mind is “what is to dislike about smaller, more responsible central government that is guided by our founding principals”?  I am afraid the answer to that question is one many of us constitutional conservatives do not want to face. 

The only possible reasons for the poll results to show that the prominent movement to re-establish constitutional government is becoming increasingly unpopular are:

      1)      The poll results are skewed on purpose in an election year attempt by partisan hacks to affect the results in their favor;

      2)      Reaction to the in-fighting that has taken over the Tea Party movement between factions that want to stay above politics and those who want the movement to be more activist in nature; and

      3)      Reflection of societal transformation as a result of another three years of policies to promote ever increasing government dependence.

I am afraid the answer may not be as comforting as the first two possibilities.

Benjamin Franklin astutely observed “Once the people find out they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the Republic”.  Thus goes the history of the greatest, most successful Constitutional Republic the world has witnessed. 

Actually, Franklin was only off in his prediction by about a century in that we did not start our journey down the slippery slope of socialism until the turn of the 20th century – the period known as the Progressive Era.  History of progressive largesse can be traced back to that great Republican – Theodore Roosevelt – who in the grand Northeastern Republican fashion believed in government action to mitigate social ills at any cost as encapsulated in his Square Deal program, and the courts to yield to the executive branch on anti-trust matters. 

T.R. was the father of American progressivism but by no means is the only personification of the great progressive tradition that has come to undermine our Constitutional Republic to what now is a perilous point.  With the exceptions of Presidents Coolidge and, to a lesser extent, Reagan, all American presidents in the modern era have carried the water of progressivism, with the worst offenders being Wilson, FDR, LBJ, and the current resident of the White House.

Whether it was the New Deal, the War on Poverty, or many other ill-advised pieces of legislation passed by progressives from both parties, the great American experiment in self governance may have finally bore its bitter fruit in conformance with human nature which seeks security at any cost.  The ultimate cost of dependence on the state, in terms of losing one’s liberties, is lost on all but the few who have had the benefit of developing critical thinking skills, which our educational system has purposefully neglected thanks to the systematic implementation of cultural Marxism in schools since the 1950s.   Progressive politicians realize and capitalize on this fact with policies that increase dependency on the state, thus robbing any trace of individuality left in an ever increasing segment of the society.  All the while, progressives elsewhere – most notably in education, culture, and courts – have been steadily eroding the traditional value system of the society which must be gradually replaced with a modern, utilitarian progressive outlook if the transformation to utopian collectivism is to be successfully implemented.

This utopian collectivist vision of what America should look like is all but reality in the eyes of the fifth column.  The question is, have we really reached that critical tipping point where welfare mentality is more prevalent than rugged individualism?  Maybe, maybe not.  One thing is for sure though.  Constitutional conservatives have to come to the sobering realization that reversing this destructive trend toward the ever present state in our lives will take great dedication and patience; the type progressives have shown for over a century now.  If not to Franklin and our other founding fathers, we certainly owe it to our children. 

3 comments:

Hardnox said...

Excellent essay.

The only way to reverse that ideology is to dump the US Dept of Education and allow states to determine what our kids are taught.

American history and exceptionalism needs to be taught to our kids.

Otis said...

The Father of Utopian Progressive socialism in this country was Albert Bribane who imported French Radical Utopian communism of Chrles Fourier in the 1830's.
It was Horace Greeley who promoted it with his paper and trial communes. The Fourierian communes became a fad in the 1840's following the "Panic of 1837".
The two of import here are Brook Farm and the Wisconsin Phalanx. On its ashes was the birthplace of the modern Republican Party, Ripon, WI. By Warren Chase, Sherman Booth, Alvan E. Bovay and Radical German socialist from the failed European socialist Revolutions. Many of whom would become Officers in the Federal Army - Weydemeyer, Sigel & Schurz as examples.
Brook Farm is notable for one of its collaborative students Charles A. Dana, later Marx & Engel's editor at Greeley's NY Daily Tribune from 1852 to '61.

Try reading: "The Tragic Era" by Claude Bowers to see the consequences of Radical Republicanism or read "Karl Marx on the American Civil War".

With all due respect your history is way off....
Why would Marx be cheering & advising the Republicans during the War?
If you want find out about the Radiclism of T.R. read his "Ossawattomie Speech of 1910" and then find out what America's first terrorist John Brown was really up to. Try H.P. Wilson's bio - "J.B. Soldier of Fortune" - may then you will see Why Obama Followed him to Ossawatomie 102 years later........

The Patriot said...

Otis:

I appreciate your knowledge of history but you missed the point of what i was trying to say. I never said TR aimed for Marxism or that Marx was cheering the Republicans. That is a gross mischaracterization of my words.
There have been many who aspired for Marxist ideals throughout history. Their contemporary versions would be likes of Van Jones and Sam Webb. Howerever, these people are inconsequential in that they all lacked the power of the bully pulpit to affect society directly. They all chipped away in their small ways but, politically speaking (and impact wise), TR must be considered the first person of importance in our history.

With all due respect to you, policies like the square deal, the new deal, etc. are what got us to where we are - not the rantings of Bribane or Greely.

I think what you may be over looking is that there is the segment of the progressive movement that is not as devious and destructive as the others in the same movement. Likes of most Democrats today are the type who want "just a little socialism", which they mistakenly believe will help cure social ills. Then there is the segment of the movement that is using the naive ones as useful idiots - those who are the real Marxists in soul like Webb and Van Jones.