“In its Wilsonian form, progressivism is a system in which the elected branches attempt to permanently outsource many of the country’s key political decisions to an ostensibly disinterested technocracy. When that technocracy is trusted, as it was for a while in the early 20th century and again in the 1950s and early to mid 1960s, those attempts enjoy a sufficient degree of support. When that technocracy is not trusted, as was the case after the fall of Robert McNamara and during the malaise-ridden 1970s, those attempts create a mighty backlash.”
Read MoreTheodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson turned this upside down, contending that property rights should be determined according its ability to serve the greater good, the general will. This shift of the Progressive Era from the primacy of minority rights to a majoritarian will defines the progressive shift in American politics. The question is who or what determines the will of the majority. For Wilson it was the president as the sole official elected by all the people.
Read MoreA mechanical view is not an obstruction to progress. An organic view is less flexible in its design than we need and it depends on an expertise and competency that is illusory.
Read MoreWhile the second Wilson Administration pushed illiberal policies such as the Sedition Act of 1918, today we have voluntarily embraced illiberal mean to achieve liberal ends. I find this even more disturbing. The cancel culture and politically correct curbs on free speech has eroded legitimate debate and made the voting booth the last remaining safe space. This is magnified by a media that has replaced objective journalistic standards will the protection of partisan narratives.
Read MoreOur biggest challenge is an endless appetite for government spending and an unwillingness and inability to raise taxes enough to support it. The idea that infinite spending can be supported by a small percentage of taxpayer defies basic math and principles of human action. This has caused record deficits and a belief that deficits do not matter and that tradeoffs are no longer required.
Read More“Hence, there is such a thing as a human nature that is fixed and settled, not plastic to the touch of culture or government. That, we are more than culturally-acquiring creatures that take on the coloration of whatever social situation we are in. And third, from this flows the most important principle, which is separation of powers, to make government strong enough, to protect our natural rights, and not so strong that it threatens them. “
Read MoreMaterial rights to products and service that must be provided and paid for by others is inevitably oppressive and usually counterproductive. The secret to Hong Kong’s miraculous growth was the priority of economic growth over social spending. The economic growth provided the means for greater social spending. Over time if you give priority to growth over social spending you will end up with more of both, and a healthier and more sustainable economy.
Read MoreThe two world wars of the 20th century required of an expansionist central government that facilitated progressive goals. Peace reduces the need for this central power, thus they seek the “equivalence of war” to sustain progressive central power.
Read Moreby Henry Oliner In The National Review, Kevin Williams writes Let It Be. He addresses the myth that slavery was only a secondary issue that led to the Civil War, but does not hide the political opportunism that pollutes the…
Read MoreAndrew Cline at National Review reminds us of one of the side benefits of a Trump presidency – that the left will rediscover the genius of the constitutional limits on executive power -in The Real Hero of the Trump Resistance? James…
Read Moreby Henry Oliner The first Progressive Era from Teddy Roosevelt through Woodrow Wilson established the regulatory and administrative state and changed the nature of our government. It was tainted by an elitist view of race that used the science of…
Read MoreWise investors learn to ignore the daily fluctuations and the daily stock market news. I am amused at the market reports at the end of the day explaining why the market went up or down. It would have been much…
Read MoreI attended a Hillsdale College Free Market Forum in Atlanta last week. I was able to meet Don Boudreaux from Café Hayek, one of my daily go to blogs, and Ronald Pestritto, a history professor at Hillsdale. Ron authored three…
Read Morefrom Jonah Goldberg at National Review, The Wisdom of Mencken and Nock Seems Fresh Today Today, America looks very different from the America of Mencken and Nock’s era, but the similarities are hard to ignore. Liberal elites have decided that…
Read Morefrom Charles C.W. Cooke in The National Review, Our Presidents Are Beginning to Act Like Kings At best, Wilson’s argument is a good-faith but terribly naïve attempt to make government “work.” When the Supreme Court rules, as it did in 1989,…
Read Morefrom Charles C.W. Cooke in The National Review, Our Presidents Are Beginning to Act Like Kings Which is all to say that, pace Woodrow Wilson & Co., the recipe for political liberty is as it ever was. For men to be…
Read Morefrom Charles C.W. Cooke in The National Review, Our Presidents Are Beginning to Act Like Kings As Thomas Jefferson had it, “the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” There are no new…
Read Morefrom George Will in The Washington Post, The danger of a government with unlimited power Lack of “a limiting principle” is the essence of progressivism, according to William Voegeli, contributing editor of the Claremont Review of Books, in his new…
Read MoreThe common belief in our history is that President Woodrow Wilson championed the concept of the League of Nations and it failed at the hands of his Republican adversaries who leaned toward isolationism. Historian Paul Johnson in his history of…
Read MoreFrom the progressive standpoint, the Framers had not so much erred in their efforts as subsequent events had rendered their formulations moot. Madison had been particularly worried about a fractious majority violating the public good or minority rights for selfish…
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