[9/15/10] Progressivism as Socialism

American progressivism, like European social democracy, is a branch of socialism.  Tracing Friedrich Hayek's Road to Serfdom, one should see that socialism is at the root of corporatism, which led to Mussolini's fascism, and at the root of German national socialism, which led to the unqualified evil of Hitler.

Some of you may think that I have the history wrong and that American progressivism is not root and branch of  socialism.  Here is a Hillsdale College professor of history Ronald J. Pestritto to tell you otherwise and to confirm that I have it right.  Please read his quotations from Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt carefully.  You might want to remember that John McCain admires and emulates Teddy while you do.

In August 2009, writing on the federal intervention into private sector health care as Redistribution Redux  I wrote that we must fight domestic progressivism as we fought international communism.  Some of you may think that too harsh.  If so, reread Pestritto's last paragraph where he quotes from our modern day progressives:

Today, a congressman such as Pete Stark can simply boast that the federal government "can do most anything in this country." And Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi won't even consider the constitutionality of a government takeover of health care a "serious question." Given this state of affairs, it does not seem unreasonable to reflect on the origins of the disdain for the Constitution in the Progressive Era.

The words of the Constitution and Amendments still mean what they meant when they were ratified by the States, and those words do not permit the overarching power that we have tolerated at the Federal level since the mid 1930's.

We must take up this fight and restore the principle of a Federal government limited to the powers granted to it by our written Constitution or we will be a nation of serfs and vassals like the European nations.