The Defeat of Progressives

The Progressives Are Going Down to Defeat By Paul E. Vallely – MG, US Army (Ret)

July 17, 2022

As I predicted in 2021, 2022 would be the “Awakening” of the American people who will seek to restore the Constitution and the “Republic”. Oh, we see now the “Awakening” of several countries in Europe in the past month. To achieve their goals, the communist and progressives need to have power (and now money) to gain control over populations and the unrestricted defeat of their opponents. Apparent in the Biden administration and the Democratic Party, is the intentional lack of understanding of economics and business. Trying to add up the business and business development experience in years of all the members of Congress. They believe and have concluded that governments are better at economic planning and, in fact, are responsible for the success of America in its economic development, particularly, over the past century. We might ask ourselves, what produced the explosion of wealth from the late 1800s to the present? Progressives will tell you and believe that their policies made this progress a reality.  If one looks at the communist states where the people experienced maximum government control and intervention, you see all failed and the poorest of countries. China, as an exception, was smart enough to blend in Capitalism. 

The source of America’s dynamic growth was the private sector which relied on entrepreneurship, ingenuity, creativity, and a thirst to make lives better for families, businesses, and their towns. Look at the advances in science and technology where competition thrived at took America and the rest of the world to new heights of prosperity. In contrast, government actions and interference led to increased prices of goods and services. America 2022 is the best example of an out-of-control and rudderless federal government and President.  The Progressive movement accommodated a diverse array of reformers—insurgent Republican officeholders, disaffected Democrats, journalists, academics, social workers, and other activists—who formed new organizations and institutions with the common objective of strengthening the national government and making it more responsive to popular economic, social, and political demands. Many progressives viewed themselves as principled reformers at a critical juncture of American history.

Above all else, the progressives sought to come to terms with the extreme concentration of wealth among a tiny elite and the enormous economic and political power of the giant trusts, which they saw as uncontrolled and irresponsible. Those industrial combinations created the perception that opportunities were not equally available in the United States and that growing corporate power threatened the freedom of individuals to earn a living. Reformers excoriated the economic conditions of the 1890s—dubbed the “Gilded Age”—as excessively opulent for the elite and holding little promise for industrial workers and small farmers. Moreover, many believed that the great business interests, represented by newly formed associations such as the National Civic Federation, had captured and corrupted the men and methods of government for their own profit. Party leaders—both Democrats and Republicans—were seen as irresponsible “bosses” who did the bidding of special interests.^[1]

Progressive reformers made the first comprehensive effort within the American context to address the problems that arose with the emergence of a modern urban and industrial society. The U.S. population nearly doubled between 1870 and 1900. Urbanization and immigration increased at rapid rates and were accompanied by a shift from local small-scale manufacturing and commerce to large-scale factory production and colossal national corporations. Technological breakthroughs and frenzied searches for new markets and sources of capital caused unprecedented economic growth. From 1863 to 1899, manufacturing production rose by more than 800 percent. But that dynamic growth also generated profound economic and social ills that challenged the decentralized form of republican government that characterized the United State.^[2]

For progressives, different ethnicities and gender identities are welcomed but a variety of opinions and ideas are not. Just look at two areas of public life dominated by the left. On college campuses, free speech is under attack. If you are a conservative working at a social media company or using one of their platforms to share your views, you may find your job eliminated or your account deleted.  And when it comes to choosing progressives to love the word, but they do not want it to apply to our decisions on education, health care, and even how and where we live out our religious faith. Whether it is the Second Amendment, immigration, or putting limits on abortion, if we the people do not pass laws progressives approve, they turn to judges, executive orders, and government bureaucrats behind closed doors to overturn the will of voters. Whatever one may think about the wisdom of hiking the minimum wage, banning plastic straws, or removing controversial historical monuments, conservatives believe voters closest to the issues should be the ones making such decisions for their communities—not lawmakers in Washington or a panel of judges’ fives states away.

Over the past several decades, the progressive Left has successfully fulfilled Antonio Gramsci’s famed admonition of a “long march through the institutions”. In every Western country, its adherents now dominate the education system, media, cultural institutions, and financial behemoths. But what do they have to show for it? Not as much as they might have expected. Rather than a Bolshevik-style assumption of power, there is every chance this institutional triumph will not produce an enduring political victory, let alone substantially change public opinion. Even before Biden’s botched Build Back Better initiative, American progressives faced opposition to their wildly impractical claims about achieving “zero Covid” and “zero emissions,” confronting “systemic racism” by defunding the police, regulating speech, and redefining two biological sexes into a multiplicity. Increasingly, the “march” has started to falter and is faltering quickly before our eyes.^[3]

May they all be buried in peace! God Bless America!

Published by: The Stand Up America US Foundation

Contact: [email protected]

^[1] Britannica

^[2] Britannica

^[3] New Geography 1 6 2022