Progressive Ideology: The Home of Modern Day Plantation Mentality

Freedom loving individualists like classical liberals or Burkean conservatives sorely need more lightening rods like V.P. Biden, Alan Grayson or Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz that collectivist left prominently features.  Congressman Alan West (R - FLA.) is just one such patriot who will not be intimidated by the left as he has shown in the short period that he has served in the House of Representatives, but the G.O.P. needs a lot more Wests.  The Romney/Ryan team is thankfully starting to show that they may just have the fight in them also by not shying away from responding to vile attacks that have no place in a civilized society.

Months earlier, the controversy that Rep. West had been entangled in started when he roundly criticized the African American establishment's collusion with the Democrat party in keeping blacks on "the plantation" in return for what equates to bread crumbs and empty promises.  Almost immediately, he was attacked by Rep. Maxine Waters (D – CA.) who said West’s remarks were “a little bit outrageous, a little bit ridiculous and that’s hard to respond to because [it] absolutely does not make good sense.”

Since then many Democrats have embarked on what can only be described as the vilest form of race warfare, accusing Republicans of racism for resisting the collectivist policies of the Administration.  These attacks culminated most recently in the comments made by the Vice President in front of a largely African American crowd in Virginia, accusing the Romney team of wanting to put African Americans back in chains.  As usual, there was no denunciation of these types of words by anyone on the left, including the media.

V.P. Biden and the rest of modern day plantation bosses known generally as progressives could not be further from the truth.  In fact, their words speak to their intellectual bankruptcy.

Their remarks are really anecdotal to the greater underlying philosophical differences between individualism that highlights classical liberalism and progressivism, which is a euphemism for collectivism.  The “plantation” that Rep. West refers to is symbolic of the insidious form of enslavement, acquiescence, and eventual destruction of the human spirit collectivism leads to.

The Ideological Chasm:

The ideological divide between the core beliefs of the two major political philosophies – collectivism and individualism – could not be more opposed.  In Ayn Rand’s words: "Collectivism means the subjugation of the individual to a group -- whether to a race, class or state does not matter. Collectivism holds that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called 'the common good'." 

In contrast, individualism regards man as an independent, sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to his own life in every sense, a right derived from his nature as a rational being.

The concept of individual liberty – defined as freedom from arbitrary or despotic control - is the cornerstone of individualism; after all dependency on the collective instead of one’s own sweat equity is the surest way to enslave him, thus the appropriateness of Rep. West’s remarks.

Progressives, like the members of CBC, view modern conservatism as selfish and even racist in the case of blacks since self reliance must be seen through the prism of race if it is to be discredited. 

The collectivists, regardless of their race, must therefore appeal to the side of human nature that seeks security in order to peddle their otherwise objectionable political philosophy.  They must mischaracterize individualism as being selfish and unfair to the ‘less fortunate’ despite an abundance of empirical evidence indicating that more individualist a society is, not only more charitable it is, but also offers more opportunities for everyone to excel.  This is the indication of their intellectual deficiency that prevents them from comprehending the concept of civil society that serves as the backbone of individualist philosophy. 

Quite to the contrary of what collectivists assert, individualism isn’t inherently selfish – not even anarcho-individualism.  As social animals, we must regularly interact with each other.  The concept of civil society is at the heart of traditional individualist philosophy, as such there is true compassion fostered by traditional values and respect for individuality in such societies as ours as opposed to the true misery of collectivist societies.  An examination of private charity among nations quickly establishes this fact.

RINOs aside, Rep. West's party believes that individual is the ultimate source of his empowerment.  This reliance on one's self not only develops the kind of character that has excelled us as a nation but is the sole source of ones rights and liberties as outlined in our principal founding document - the Declaration of Independence!

I invite progressives to read, and take to heart, the first sentence of the second paragraph: 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Progressive ideology claims rights where none exists.  Whether it is the asserted right to food, shelter, employment, healthcare, or anything else by progressives, no such rights exist anywhere in our founding documents.  The simple reason is that no such rights exist in nature.  A right is what an individual is entitled to, that does not impose on someone else's rights.  Your rights to life, freedoms provided for in the Constitution (such as the right to bear firearms, free speech, etc.) or ability to accumulate wealth do not impose on my rights or impede my ability to pursue the same.

On the other hand, any of the asserted (non)rights by the progressive liberals and other collectivists do impose on every other productive member of the society.  This is inevitable.  The moment people’s supposed right to shelter (or any others I listed above) is legitimized by the government, the resources necessary to provide them with housing (or food, healthcare, etc.) must come from the labor of others.  Maybe progressives have missed it but one of the fundamental rights an individual has in nature is the right to the fruits of his labor.  So, how can anyone claim artificial rights that impose on others’ private property and not violate the spirit of our founding documents?  I am yet to see an intellectually honest, well reasoned response to my question.

More one relies on a central government for their daily needs, proportionally less freedom he has as we have witnessed in collectivist regimes throughout history.  That is an inevitable fact – basically a law of nature - and intellectual integrity demands acceptance of it for what it is.  Reliance on anyone other than one's self decays every one's unalienable rights - liberty (which includes physical freedom) being one.  Therefore, symbolically speaking, Rep. West's plantation remark is spot on.

The Impact on African Americans:

Black leaders and entertainers portray a grotesquely distorted image of self reliance through the prism of race in order to discredit it.  What the black establishment, as represented by the Congressional Black Caucus and community leaders such as Rev. Sharpton, has done to their community over the past half century is unconscionable.  By signing on to the policies of the increasingly progressive Democrat party which religiously adheres to counterculture and collectivism, they have chosen (and assured) high abortion rates, non-traditional families, high levels of school dropout rates, poverty, and inescapably high incarceration rates for a whole generation of blacks instead of embracing traditional values and self reliance.   

Rep. Waters and black community leaders in general must ask themselves what is more demeaning and racist: Telling your people that they are just as capable as others of working hard and excelling by relying on their own labor as Rep. West's ideology suggests, or telling them they need the government nanny state to scrape by whether it is affirmative action, welfare, or whatever.  Isn't giving someone a fish rather than teaching them to fish the ultimate insult to their integrity as human beings, as well as being the height of irresponsibility?  Without the dignity of self reliance, people can never be truly free because spiritual freedom is as important as physical freedom.

And how about socially?  Are black leaders and progressive liberals in general proud that genocide has been taking place in poor communities by encouraging through government policy abortion of millions of fetuses - black, white, or any other color?  Do they think that rejecting traditional education and traditional values, including traditional marriage and teaching our kids the importance of responsibility strengthens the fiber of a society?  Are they proud of well over half the black babies (72% to be exact) being born to unwed mothers?  Are they proud of almost half the black youths in urban settings who end up dropping out of school and about the same amount getting incarcerated?

These are the fruits of the betrayal of the black community by their own leaders.  The same policies they have pushed because they benefit them as far as their own power goes while impoverishing, and essentially destroying, the black community.  So, aren't they essentially the modern day plantation bosses who are double crossing their own people for sake of their own benefit?

The argument that black Americans have been historically discriminated against, therefore (even) currently require a 'helping hand' is a tired and demonstrably faulty one.  Are new black Americans from the West Indies or Africa any more privileged than those born in to relative comfort in this country? 

Why do they think black immigrants from the West Indies and Africa earn more than their African American counterparts?  Children of black immigrants are also more likely to go to and finish college than kids who have parents of American lineage.  Despite being born in to higher poverty and overcoming obstacles to immigrate here, the achievement gap between these immigrant groups and African Americans is well documented.  What is the difference? 

It is quite obvious; black immigrants come from cultures that emphasize responsibility and have never had the luxury of having a nanny state that has told them to fall back on the bureaucrats because they are somehow inferior to the rest of the society.  They have never been told that attaining educational success or relying on their own is somehow "acting white" as the leaders (and entertainers) of the black community in the U.S. regularly suggest.

The blind allegiance to the Democrat party and progressive ideals by black leaders is only explainable by their hunger for power.  Self reliant blacks do not empower them as leaders.  Fostering an environment that creates a large dependency class does.  Like a pusher who gives free samples to hook the feeble minded, they are fostering a generation of addicts who are taught to only rely on government for their most basic needs.  It is an insidious and morally corrupt brand of leadership.

The same political party that enslaved blacks, fought tooth and nail to preserve the perverse institution, founded the KKK, resisted desegregation, voted in vain to defeat the civil rights legislation, and otherwise undermined black independence at every turn in the past is now exercising a more insidious form of racism - one that enslaves the spirit of African Americans.

No, Rep. West isn't Uncle Tom and team Romney are not racists; they simply are the latest messengers of an undeniable truth black leaders and progressives in general are shooting down.  We can only hope that the black community will wake up and question the despicable actions of their leaders as well as all progressives before anymore damage is done.