Why Progressives Will Always Fail

 

As I was working on another post, I had the realization that the Progressives will never be successful in transforming our country into a Leftist state. Their goals are to create a perfect country run by perfect people to create a perfect future. What they never seem to understand is how deeply flawed their aspirations—and they—are.

First, they are the most naïve people among us. No matter how intelligent they are, they have no wisdom. No matter how educated they are, they don’t understand human nature. Regardless of their passion for changing the country and everyone else, they are the ones who are incapable of learning deeply and understanding (as James Madison did) the vulnerabilities and weaknesses of human beings.

They think by offering a flawless world that we will all line up behind them. But we only need to look at them to realize the impossibility of their goals. These are people who need to feed off others’ accomplishments, steal the results of others’ successes, and are prepared to try to destroy the very elements of human nature that allow us to thrive and grow. It is our diversity, which they celebrate, that forecasts the failure of their dreams.

We have had too much success as a country and as a people for them to enlist or coerce us. We are a country born in freedom with more wealth and opportunity than any country in the world. Why would we give that up?

Most Americans (who aren’t Progressives) at some level realize the bounties they have realized. They can pursue any job they might desire. They can live anywhere in the country. They can have families of any size. They can travel wherever they choose. They can worship however they wish, in any community they choose, and can change their allegiance at any time.

Progressivism doesn’t take into account that Americans, of all the peoples in the world, are incredibly blessed. They don’t need to steal from others or give up any of the prospects for their futures. We speak the language of gratitude, opportunity, creativity, possibility, and fulfillment.

Progressives don’t have a chance.

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  1. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Freeven (View Comment):
    Education: I believe government schools are beyond salvage. But I’m heartened by the increasing push for school choice, especially in minority communities, and also that we are seeing “parents unions” beginning to form across the country to advocate for their kids. It’s possible that a showdown between parents and teachers unions is over the horizon, and that might lead to a mass exodus from government schools (or something no one has yet thought of).

    Bless you, @freeven. No one really knows.

    I especially liked your comments on education. I have some thoughts in this area myself which I’m exploring. Hillsdale College is doing some great work. Some families are getting wise to the school propaganda and are home-schooling. But making inroads in this area could be very powerful–especially getting them at a young age.

    Freeven (View Comment):
    The Left: They have reliably overplayed their hand on a number of fronts in recent years, and there is little indication that they are learning from their mistakes. That can only help in bringing any of the above to fruition.

    Ironically the Left could fail just as you say. What they don’t realize if they are “successful” in their own eyes. And they will have destroyed the country. Their leaders may be planning just that, but the everyday folk will wonder, “how did this happen”?

    Then you get to the question of the New Yorkization of U.S. politics, in that New York for over a century now has periodically walked itself back from the progressive abyss, but things have had to become really, really awful for just enough voters to finally motivate themselves to vote the progressives out of office.

    Taking that ethos nationwide would be really, really bad for the nation, and as places like Chicago and the West Coast have shown, their are locales that have even higher tolerance for progressive misgovernance than NYC has shown over the years, where voters will allow vast quality-of-life plunges to avoid admitting ideologically they backed the wrong horse.

    • #61
  2. DrewInWisconsin, Influencer Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Influencer
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    So what are all of you planning to do when we become a totalitarian state? Put up with it? Move to another planet? Live in a cave? I hear all the prophecies of doom, that we are in a hopeless situation, so what will you do when the takeover is complete? I’m very serious. And I’m angry that everyone seems to be giving up.

    I’m not giving up, but I do keep in mind that there might be a South Pacific island that could make a perfect bug-out location.

    • #62
  3. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    DrewInWisconsin, Influencer (View Comment):
    I’m not giving up, but I do keep in mind that there might be a South Pacific island that could make a perfect bug-out location.

    Maybe that’s what I need to do–develop a back-up plan or an escape route!

    • #63
  4. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):

    Rodin (View Comment):
    the progressive project will have a massive problem to regain control of the courts the way they did for an extended period of time starting in the 1960s.

    By the time Roosevelt died, eight out of nine members of the Supreme Court were his nominees. His attempt at packing the Court will be repeated the next time the Democrats have both houses of Congress and the White House. I don’t think there will be as many Democrats opposed as there were in the ‘3os.

    I read the Caldwell article in Imprimis, too. I hadn’t heard his take on the Civil Rights movement, although I knew it was destructive. And now we must live with the results. There’s no going back. Thanks, @ontheleftcoast. I just hate to give up.

    OK, but fighting the wrong battle in the wrong way isn’t productive. I keep thinking about JR Dunn’s recent American Thinker column.

    Capitalism, according to Marx, is filled with contradictions, all of which guarantee its eventual failure. One example is the belief that capitalists, seeking every greater profits, will increase the “immiseration” of the working class, which will in turn encourage “revolutionary consciousness,” leading to the downfall of the capitalist system. This leads to the idea of “heightening he contradictions” – encouraging matters so as to bring about the emergence of the glorious worker’s paradise even sooner. This involves activities – both propaganda and direct action – that increase anxiety and dissatisfaction among the workers while generating isolation, fear, and doubt in the targeted classes.

    This concept has been dealt with in detail by numerous Marxists, including Lenin, Mao, and Rosa Luxemburg, to mention just a few.

    There is a direct line from that to Saul Alinsky, Cloward-Piven, Bernie Sanders, and headline after headline. Look at things that have been or are being deliberately “destigmatized:”

    • Communism

    • Anti-semitism

    • Sexually transmitted diseases (that one started in the 1960s)

    • being on welfare

    In progress:

    • pedophilia

    • incest

    • polygamy

    And stigmatized:

    • gun ownership

    • self-defense

    • patriotism

    • nationalism

    Dunn suggests:

    What’s the solution? The answer is simplicity itself — argue the strategy. Instead of constructing lapidary responses, start out by stating bluntly and straightforwardly that this isn’t about transsexuals, or immigrants, or race, or whatever. What it’s about, first and foremost, is a method of attacking this country and its people, an effort to make an end run around the rules without admitting they’re doing any such thing. The record is clear that the Left doesn’t actually give a damn about blacks, or women, or anybody else. The record is clear that the left is not interested in solutions. Once that is made evident, the battle will be half won.

    I think he’s too optimistic, but he’s suggesting what sounds like a useful tactic.

    • #64
  5. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):

    What’s the solution? The answer is simplicity itself — argue the strategy. Instead of constructing lapidary responses, start out by stating bluntly and straightforwardly that this isn’t about transsexuals, or immigrants, or race, or whatever. What it’s about, first and foremost, is a method of attacking this country and its people, an effort to make an end run around the rules without admitting they’re doing any such thing. The record is clear that the Left doesn’t actually give a damn about blacks, or women, or anybody else. The record is clear that the left is not interested in solutions. Once that is made evident, the battle will be half won.

    I think he’s too optimistic, but he’s suggesting what sounds like a useful tactic.

    Now I’m really depressed. It sure does seem like he’s right. I just can’t imagine the destruction they’re trying to wreak. Do they really think they’ll be able to create something good out of the ashes?

    • #65
  6. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    This is the lead link article to Salon on Drudge this hour:

    Why Bernie Sanders is just the beginning of an American turn to the left

    It’s written by members of the Democratic Socialists of America. It records the history of current successful socialist moves in the country and outlines steps forward. Many Ricochetti would dismiss this article as delusional, but at thousands of schools – at all levels – around the country this will be met with from “Yes!” to “of course, and why do you even need mention it.” Whats pretty key is that in a couple of spots they kind of glide by “andthentherewillbearevolution…” Uh, yup. And Antifa are just the kindergarten level of the coming forces.

    https://www.salon.com/2020/02/22/why-bernie-sanders-is-just-the-beginning-of-an-american-turn-to-the-left/

    • #66
  7. DrewInWisconsin, Influencer Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Influencer
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Influencer (View Comment):
    I’m not giving up, but I do keep in mind that there might be a South Pacific island that could make a perfect bug-out location.

    Maybe that’s what I need to do–develop a back-up plan or an escape route!

    And what better place than Tahiti!

    • #67
  8. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Eeyore (View Comment):
    https://www.salon.com/2020/02/22/why-bernie-sanders-is-just-the-beginning-of-an-american-turn-to-the-left/

    To give our readers a taste of this scary article:

    Adherents of the democratic road strategy don’t claim to know the precise sequence of events that will lead us to socialism, nor do we pretend it will be a cakewalk to eliminate capitalism, even with our people in power. Past attempts to make such transformations in countries like Chile and France have been stymied, as we’ll get to later in this chapter. But we do know that the United States will not be able to achieve anything like socialist governance, and join other nations in the project of building international socialism, without both a mass movement of workers and the formal power to stop capitalists from undermining that movement as it engages in class struggle. We see engagement in electoral politics as an important tactic for accomplishing both of these goals, and ultimately bringing about a scenario in which the working class can actually win.

    • #68
  9. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Eeyore (View Comment):
    https://www.salon.com/2020/02/22/why-bernie-sanders-is-just-the-beginning-of-an-american-turn-to-the-left/

    To give our readers a taste of this scary article:

    Adherents of the democratic road strategy don’t claim to know the precise sequence of events that will lead us to socialism, nor do we pretend it will be a cakewalk to eliminate capitalism, even with our people in power. Past attempts to make such transformations in countries like Chile and France have been stymied, as we’ll get to later in this chapter. But we do know that the United States will not be able to achieve anything like socialist governance, and join other nations in the project of building international socialism, without both a mass movement of workers and the formal power to stop capitalists from undermining that movement as it engages in class struggle. We see engagement in electoral politics as an important tactic for accomplishing both of these goals, and ultimately bringing about a scenario in which the working class can actually win.

    Be fun to ask the angry people on the left if they’d like to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act along with the Second Amendment. While I’m sure they’d be fine with having local law enforcement alone repress the unruly masses, the end game eventually would be to send the troops in to repress the public (something even wacky-but-lovable Uncle Joe hinted at a couple of weeks ago in terms of his mindset, when he said it was silly for people to want guns to protect themselves from the government, because the government would just come in and bomb you to death).

    • #69
  10. Kevin Schulte Member
    Kevin Schulte
    @KevinSchulte

    Jon1979 (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Eeyore (View Comment):
    https://www.salon.com/2020/02/22/why-bernie-sanders-is-just-the-beginning-of-an-american-turn-to-the-left/

    To give our readers a taste of this scary article:

    Adherents of the democratic road strategy don’t claim to know the precise sequence of events that will lead us to socialism, nor do we pretend it will be a cakewalk to eliminate capitalism, even with our people in power. Past attempts to make such transformations in countries like Chile and France have been stymied, as we’ll get to later in this chapter. But we do know that the United States will not be able to achieve anything like socialist governance, and join other nations in the project of building international socialism, without both a mass movement of workers and the formal power to stop capitalists from undermining that movement as it engages in class struggle. We see engagement in electoral politics as an important tactic for accomplishing both of these goals, and ultimately bringing about a scenario in which the working class can actually win.

    Be fun to ask the angry people on the left if they’d like to repeal the Posse Comitatus Act along with the Second Amendment. While I’m sure they’d be fine with having local law enforcement alone repress the unruly masses, the end game eventually would be to send the troops in to repress the public (something even wacky-but-lovable Uncle Joe hinted at a couple of weeks ago in terms of his mindset, when he said it was silly for people to want guns to protect themselves from the government, because the government would just come in and bomb you to death).

    Scratch a lefty and totalitarian blood always flows. 

    • #70
  11. Freeven Member
    Freeven
    @Freeven

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):

    What’s the solution? The answer is simplicity itself — argue the strategy. Instead of constructing lapidary responses, start out by stating bluntly and straightforwardly that this isn’t about transsexuals, or immigrants, or race, or whatever. What it’s about, first and foremost, is a method of attacking this country and its people, an effort to make an end run around the rules without admitting they’re doing any such thing. The record is clear that the Left doesn’t actually give a damn about blacks, or women, or anybody else. The record is clear that the left is not interested in solutions. Once that is made evident, the battle will be half won.

    I think he’s too optimistic, but he’s suggesting what sounds like a useful tactic.

    Now I’m really depressed. It sure does seem like he’s right. I just can’t imagine the destruction they’re trying to wreak. Do they really think they’ll be able to create something good out of the ashes?

    Those at the extremes are fighting a war by other means, and they are deadly serious about bringing down America as we know it. Omelet, eggs, and so forth. 

    • #71
  12. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    For the record, I don’t believe the left will fully enact socialism, at least not for very long. It doesn’t work. It will fail as it’s failed everywhere. But they will expand the welfare state (perhaps back to a 60 to 70% tax rate) and they will encode their cultural moral immoral values and they will re-write Western  and American history so they will identify it as racist, misogynistic, homophobic, militaristic, and everything else negative they can think of.  And they will do this not through totalitarian means but through convincing indoctrinating our children. 

    • #72
  13. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    I wonder if, at some point, the black population will seek vengeance against the left for convincing them to abort themselves into being a less powerful and less desirable voting bloc than Hispanics, for example?

    • #73
  14. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    kedavis (View Comment):

    I wonder if, at some point, the black population will seek vengeance against the left for convincing them to abort themselves into being a less powerful and less desirable voting bloc than Hispanics, for example?

    The Left has done such a good job of fooling blacks about their concern for them that I doubt that anyone will convince blacks otherwise. But we’ll see.

    • #74
  15. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    I wonder if, at some point, the black population will seek vengeance against the left for convincing them to abort themselves into being a less powerful and less desirable voting bloc than Hispanics, for example?

    The Left has done such a good job of fooling blacks about their concern for them that I doubt that anyone will convince blacks otherwise. But we’ll see.

    Maybe so.  But didn’t Trump already get more of the black vote in 2016 than Republican presidents have in a long time, maybe ever?  And there’s a good chance that will go up this year.

    As usual, it’s the white liberals – such as those mostly responsible for AOC’s election, she didn’t get a majority of her own ethnic group – thinking they know what’s best for minorities.

    • #75
  16. PHenry Inactive
    PHenry
    @PHenry

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    So what are all of you planning to do when we become a totalitarian state?

    “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! “

     

    The day has not yet come when I find it necessary to take up arms, but it does seem to be just over the horizon. . .   I don’t relish the thought, as I will likely fall quickly, but in the end I am duty bound to protect the constitution at all cost.  

    • #76
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