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The Progressives vs The Constitutionalists

Have you heard about the contest between the Progressive elites and the Constitutionalists? It is game being played right now. It is a game that began in earnest about 1912 and has affected our lives ever since. It is really more than just a game. It is a fight to define the United States of America. The Progressive elites have scored many touchdowns and are knocking on the door of winning the game. What are the basic tenets of the progressive movement? How do they compare to the Constitutionalists? What are their goals? Why don’t they accept defeat? What keeps them going? How can the Constitutionalists defend themselves? Are we just pawns in the big struggle? These and many more questions will become known in the next several articles in this series.

The Progressives believe that men are basically good

The Progressives believe that men are basically good. They believe men and society can be perfected to become most efficient in the construction of their affairs. Progressive elites believe that an educated ruling government administration can achieve this result. Progressive elites believe that government, run by a ruling elitist administration is the good and right thing to carry out the governing of America. A ruling elite (also known as the Deep State) knows what is best for the country, what is best for society, and what is best for you and me. It is this idea, that man and government can be perfected for the greater good, that defines Progressives. The ruling progressive elite believe that, if they control all things, then nirvana can be achieved in the world. Why would we need division of responsibility and a limited government, when all that would do is to get in the Progressive’s way of perfecting man and society? This idea has become a religion to the Progressives and so no amount of reasoning can dissuade them. Progressive believe that individuals will gladly give up their personal freedom for the greater good of society. Because of their religious tenacity, Progressives believe that any means justifies the end result, which they believe will be a heaven on earth, “If we could just do away with the pesky President, Congress, and the Judiciary.” Progressives believe they could do away with poverty, wars, hunger, government, and anything else that plagues the human condition – If only we trusted them.

Our founding fathers, felt that all men are flawed

Our founding fathers, on the other hand, as their basic tenet, felt that all men are flawed. We all have our biases, our prejudices, our own beliefs, wants, and desires. Based on the histories of governments, and on their recent experience with the King of England, the founding fathers conceived a government that took all these things into account. They believed that “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people” would provide a check and balance to government. Their efforts gave us The Constitution of these United States. Because man is flawed, the founding fathers believed that checks and balances were required on any government to circumvent an all-powerful president (or king). They believed that only a government of limited powers would be a successful government. All governments in history failed because of human avarice and a desire to be powerful. Thus, a republic was born where limited powers were conferred on the government, problems were solved by representatives of the people, and all was defined by a constitution that laid down the limitations on government. The government was divided into three divisions that would provide a check and balance system whereby no one branch of the government would rise to have kingly powers and the final arbiter of truth would be the American people.

God accepted the fact that men are flawed.

If you did good works and kept your nose clean, you would be rewarded. If that set of principles did not work for you, your punishment would be great indeed. God gave us the Ten Commandments and our Founding Fathers gave us the Bill of Rights to guide our actions on this earth. Play by the rules and get rewarded. Ignore the rules and you get a negative reward. It is all up to us. God has no place on the Progressive agenda.

Progressives Hold a Different View

Progressive elites believe that they can “perfect man.” Just follow their progressive rules and society will be wonderful. If your neighbor wants a boat for fishing, he has to get a permit because society does not benefit from his boat. Do you want an automobile. Sorry – we have public transportation and cars pollute the air which is not good for society. Do you want your son or daughter to go to college. Sorry, we have work for them elsewhere. If it does not advance society, it cannot be good for you or anybody else. Society is held up as the arbiter of standards. Who defines the standards – the Progressive elites do of course. If you have a business, the Progressive elites impose all kinds of rules for the benefit of society. Progressive elites do not like small business or any kind of competition. They feel that efficiency is served if there is one company that supplies one product. Choice ruins efficiency.

Progressive elites feel that an educated administrative class of government bureaucrats are the most efficient form of government. They do not want Congress, the President, or the Judiciary getting in their way. Congress created this mess when they gave up spelling out the meaning of the laws they passed, nor did they understand the consequences. Neither did they have a method to oversee the interpretation of these laws by the Progressive administrative state. That is how the Department for International Development (USAID) got into its present debacle. No one was minding the store and the employees ran amok. What was once a department with high ideals became a department of corruption. (The ruling elite has flaws? Preposterous!)

Progressivism really began with Woodrow Wilson. His collaborators were Robert La Follette, Herbert Croly, and Theodore Roosevelt. These Four Horsemen of the Progressive Apocalypse were helped along by Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. The Four Horsemen pushed the administrative state into being and their fellow riders expanded on their ideas. We will hear more about the Four Horsemen of the Progressive Apocalypse in future articles.

The Constitution is all about government with limited powers

The Constitution is all about government with limited powers. The Presidential branch (the administrative branch) of the government has become too powerful. The Judicial branch makes up or interprets existing laws how they see fit! The Deep State hates them all. Where is Congress? The American people want to know.

Reference: “American Leviathan” by Ned Ryun

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Created:	2025-02-17 22:36 GMT
Updated:	2025-03-02 08:00 GMT
Published:	2025-02-23 16:27 GMT
Converted:	2025-11-11 12:05 GMT
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