Liberalism, good for America?

If you look at the origins of modern liberalism, it doesn't sound all bad, in fact it sounds very similar to libertarians party platform.

Liberalism is a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties; specifically : such a philosophy that considers government as a crucial instrument for amelioration of social inequities (as those involving race, gender, or class). The main problem with liberalism is that they consider the government as an important part in righting the social inequities. The big government, liberal movement is generally characterized by the government taxing and spending. Liberalism has evolved far from it's classic beginnings, now liberals want the government to control every aspect of our lives because we are not capable of making the right decisions for our lives. Their reach has exceeded the righting of social inequalities and moved into straight babysitting, even though the children have all grown.

You can see the liberal hypocrisy just by looking at what liberalism "stands" for and the actions of the liberals. They "care" about civil liberties but continue to take liberties away from the people. Liberals even have trouble staying on the same side of an argument. Pelosi fears the rhetoric from "crazy" right wingers, but a couple years earlier the rhetoric was just fine. Liberals hate the filibuster and the 66 supermajority, except when they need to use it and just a couple of years ago they were all anti-war, now you don't hear a peep from them. Let's look at reconciliation, when Bush used reconciliation the libs came unglued, now it's there best friend. How about Pelosi and Reid talking about draining the swamp and being the most fiscally sound Congress, what a joke. Rangel dodging taxes, Kerry dodging taxes, corporate vacations, $100,000 liquor bills for the Speakers tax payer funded jets and all this while they tell us that it's American to pay our taxes, and un-American to protest.

All of this and we still have people that call themselves liberals, it's amazing. Maybe someone can explain it to me, it just doesn't make sense.

What is a Progressive?

Progressives like to say that to be progressive means they are looking for progress. They never say what they want to progress to. Do they even know? Progressives are a sneaky bunch, they will only tell you what you want to hear and they have overtaken the democratic party. While they have not entirely taken over the republican party, there are some RINO's creeping around. The first openly progressive president was Theodore Roosevelt followed by Taft, who was actually a progressive light, and the worst of the bunch (possibly worse than FDR) Woodrow Wilson. I'll post about the best and worst Presidents in a later blog. This is about the progressives as a whole, their party platform.

There have always been dark periods of history, even in the United States. One of those dark periods in United States history was the Progressive Era. The progressive movement has been around for a long time, the Progressive Party surfaces and disappears once the American people catch on to the real agenda. Now the Progressives are using Rules for Radicals to pass their agenda. The Progressives have slowly over time, chipped away at our liberties, slowly so Americans don't realize what's happening.

The first problem with the Progressive agenda appears in the first line of the platform, talking about a "sense of justice". At the end of the declaration, it tries to hide it's real agenda "This country belongs to the people who inhabit it. Its resources, its business, its institutions and its laws should be utilized, maintained or altered in whatever manner will best promote the general interest." It states right there clearly that the government should control everything within the country in the name of the general interest. The second item on the agenda is to amend the constitution to make it easier to amend to fit "progressive" needs. The progressive agenda also attempts to destroy state identity in favor of federal collectivism, consolidate federal power in a central location. Again the main interest of the progressive's is to create social and industrial justice. Progressive's also believe that profits from business should be sent to the people, not kept, destroying any profit motive business might have. Progressives called for strong federal control of business and business trade. Progressives believe that government bureaucrats can run lives better than the person themselves. Farmers don't know how to farm, businessmen don't know how to run business and laborers don't know how to labor; the government must step in and show them the way. Progressive also believe that all land and water should be controlled by the government because left in the hands of settlers, they would be wasted because the settler doesn't know how to use the land, only the government does. Progressive don't believe in the court system, the government knows better than judges. Progressives want everything decided by the people, the reason being they were creating a nation of dependents, if the government controlled everything the citizens are dependent on the government to provide them with everything they need to survive. The progressives also wanted to destroy patents, the inventor had no right to his invention; the government would know how to better utilize his invention. Progressives believe that the government should oversee private investment and establish a bureaucracy to streamline federal agencies to eliminate duplication (abolish state agencies in favor of federal).

I included most of the beliefs of the progressives, the ones I left out have already been adopted through legislation and the handful of progressive Presidents. Among these is popular election of Senators, a direct attack on states rights. The states, who created the federal government, lost their voice in federal affairs. Progressive tax rates and inheritance taxes. The department of Labor to look out for the "worker" at the expense of the business, EPA, SEC, Dept of Education, Dept of Interior and the tons of other federal bureaucracies that now exist.

The goal of the Progressives is complete control, they have been slowly centralizing power and with health care and cap & trade now being pushed they are closer than ever. The progressive agenda closely resembles the ideas and goals of communism, which I will briefly get into next.

Karl Marx, the "founder" of communism established the 10 planks of communism as a test to determine whether a country was practicing communism. The first is the abolition of private property for public purposes (progressives feel the land should go to the "greater" good). The second plank is a heavy, graduated income tax (this has already been implemented in the United States and is a big favorite of progressives). The third is abolition of inheritances (progressives have implemented this under social justice, those that die with more than they needed shouldn't be able to give it who they want). Fourth is confiscation of property of immigrants and rebels (look at the terrorist laws, eminent domain, IRS confiscation, RICO laws). The fifth plank is a central bank (we call it the federal reserve, another progressive item shoved through because the government knows best). Sixth on the list is control of communications (although not officially a progressive party platform, this has been done through the FCC, USDOT, etc.). Next is factories and farmland under state control (I think the progressives just straight borrowed that one from Marx). Eighth is equal labor for all (just like the heavily union supported progressive party). Ninth plank is combining agriculture with industrial to eliminate town and country (progressives feel the same way, balance out the population). Finally is free education (another one take directly from Marx, I think). Education should be readily available but not sponsored and regulated by a bureaucrat thousands of miles away.

Comparing the progressive party side by side with the communist party and it's pretty obvious that the two are interchangeable. Americans have been rejecting the progressive agenda for nearly 100 years, they keep changing their name but the platform remains the same. Total control. I wonder if they will come back as the Populist Party.

The progressive agenda isn't about progressing with the changing times, it's about progressing towards communism.

Populist Party

As a semi tea partier, semi beer partier (look it up on facebook, it's Mike Church's group)I was a little offended by the tea party and populist party being mentioned in the same breath. The tea party has even started to irritate me, going national. I first joined the tea party for the reason most of the others did, our eyes were opened to the infringement of government to our liberty, the very freedoms we hold so dear. I'm not talking about the election of Barrack Obama, well not entirely. Prior to the election in November of 08, while researching candidates I stumbled upon all sorts of stuff about Obama's radicals ties. In pointing out those radical ties, the most common argument for Obama was really just an anti Bush argument. All those anti-Bush arguments had merit, but it wasn't merely the previous admin as much as Obama likes to blame it. There has been a constant tear on our liberty basically since the beginning of this great country, but that's for another rant.

The Populist Party began in the 1870's with a loose confederation of farmers' alliances who believed that the economic downturn was a result of the governments monetary policy. They attempted to influence the existing political parties and when their growth was so rapid, the Populist Party was born in 1892. Their platform is surprisingly similar to some other's that I recently blogged about. Graduated income tax, plenty of paper money, government ownership of transportation and communication, direct election of senators (I still say repeal the 17th Amendment), postal banks, pensions, immigration reform but their main goal was to replace the Democrat Party. The Populist Party grew very rapidly with representatives from the farmers of the west and south added to the industrial unions of the east. While the party grew, both established political parties battled for the Populist vote and the democratic party ended up with most of the populist vote, the combination of union wage earners and farmers didn't stay together as city and country couldn't stay mixed. While very short lived, much of the platform is creepily similar to progressive/communism/socialism goals. It wouldn't surprise me, that when the America rejects progressive's that they will resurface as Populist, the People's Party. It has just such a lovely ring to it.

Socialism, happening in America

What most of us learned in school about socialism is that it was half communism and half capitalism. Some industries were owned and controlled by the state and others were left to private industries. Socialism is just a gateway to communism. Once industries become state owned and controlled, private initiative is destroyed. Unless the people become enlightened, much like what is happening in Europe right now. Europe is starting to lean conservative, granted it's not like American conservatism, but it's a step in the right direction.

If you look up the meaning of socialism, you get a bunch of references to Karl Marx and central planning. Doesn't sound like what I learned in school. What I found was basically communism by another name. If socialism controls the means of production under central planning, what's that make communism?

The 2008 - 2009 Socialist USA party has the following platform:
Worker and community ownership of all corporations, minimum and maximum wage, full employment for those who want to work and a guaranteed annual income, central banking, steeply graduated income tax, graduated estate/luxury/capital gains tax, compensating community's for base and social service closures, expanded welfare and unemployment (thought there was full employment) programs at guaranteed livable wage, closing military bases foreign and domestic, total disarmament of the United States, democratic control of unions including voting in supervisors, support militant, united strikes, abolish right to work, lower the voting age to 15, sex ed in schools, abolition of parental consent, guaranteed income for artists, free childcare from infancy, school boards accountable to the students, rent control, renters unions, end to all home foreclosures, banning transportation downtown (except mass transit), federally funded auto insurance, abolition of CIA, NSA, FBI, homeland security, open borders (but get rid of NAFTA), amnesty (not really because open borders), free access to mass media, free legal services to all, community release programs and no new prisons, no supermax prisons, prisoners right to unionize, replace police w/conflict resolution people, decriminalization of drugs, government control of mass media, public ownership of farms and elimination of farm debt and return of foreclosed farms.

Wow, what a paradise. Do you need to read it again to catch all the similarities in that platform and the 10 planks of communism? My big question is, who's going to pay for all these wonderfully planned communities?

Communism in America?

Communism still exists in the world today, China and North Korea are the most notable. Communism is most commonly known as central planning, every part of the economy is controlled by the government. Under pure communism, the means of production are "owned" by the workers. Karl Marx is often thought of as the father of communism, after all he wrote the Communist Manifesto. Karl Marx was the author of the Communist Manifesto, but not the only contributor, Engels helped, in fact the communist groups throughout Europe helped to influence the writing of the Manifesto. Communism is based on community ownership, when the unhappy working class joins up with the unhappy middle class, they can rise up against the ruling class and take community ownership of the means of production. Karl Marx, unlike most of the other revolutionary communists, believed that a communist society must be built on the ashes of a capitalist society and that an elite ruling class must be set up to monitor the community ownership. A ruling class, isn't that just what they overthrew? Marx also has the most famous quote relating to communism, which is "from each according to his ability to each according to his needs". Take a good look at that statement. From each according to his ability, so the ruling elite will take everything I labor for, if you're an intelligent or hard working person, you don't get to keep the fruits of your labor. There is no incentive to strive towards, why work hard, you don't get to keep it. To each according to his needs, so regardless of what you contribute, you get enough to survive. So everything you make is taken from those who produce and redistributed to based solely on need. What's the point in contributing to society? You will be taken care of by the others.

Karl Marx created a test to see if a country has become communist, it's called the 10 planks of communism and just for giggles, let's see what they are. It will all tie in later.

1. Abolition of private property
2. Heavy progressive income tax
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance
4. Confiscation of property of rebels and immigrants
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state
6. Centralization of communications and transportation
7. Factories and instruments of production owned by the state
8. Equal liability of labor
9. Combination of agriculture and manufacturing industries, distribution of population over country
10. Free education for children, combine education with industrial production

Could any of those things listed above be happening in America? Are any of them happening in America now?