Stop Calling Them Progressives – Townhall
|
Posted: Jun 30, 2017 12:01 AM
Years ago Marxist-socialist leftists, embarrassed at being Marxist-socialist leftists, made up a shiny new name for themselves, progressives. Its a word that sounds like a garden of forward-thinking delights, but is simply code for the failed, human-spirit-destroying government-command-and control that birthed all the evil isms of the past. Thats why every time I hear a conservative commentator in print, radio, or on TV call lefty-socialists progressives my 200 billion brain cells swoon.
The Fourth of July brings to mind how far alleged progressivism deviates from this nations founding freedoms. The government command-and-control against which the American revolutionaries fought was King George III and British rule that denied the colonists basic human rights and the freedom to govern themselves. The Kings officials and soldiers bullied the colonists and tried to break their independent spirit with oppressive laws. The Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights gave citizens the electoral power to choose their own leaders, make their own laws, and the right to freely speak their minds without reprisal from the powerful.
But today, progressives are trying to destroy our God-given Constitutional rights by force and intimidation, the traditional tactics of despotism. Wearing black masks, they smash cars and stores, rioting at college campuses and violating the law and the First Amendment to shut down speakers they dont like. Prominent progressive voices in the media, celebrities, even some in Congress actually call for physically harming conservatives. Some actually gloated when Rep. Steve Scalise and other Republicans were attacked at a baseball practice by a leftist wacko whose heroine is leftist wacko Rachel Maddow.
Once content with telling us what light bulbs we could buy and how much soda we could drink, now progressives mimic ISIS terrorists by holding up a bloody fake beheaded Trump, or not too subtly suggest presidential assassination in a public play partly funded by taxpayers. Celebrities adored by millions of impressionable fans say they want to blow up the White House or ruminate about actors assassinating presidents.
These are the behaviors of tyrannical anarchists who are the very opposite of progressive which Webster defines as continuous improvement; the development of an individual or group in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level. Theres nothing beneficial for us as citizens or our nation about lawlessness, property and First Amendment destruction, deadly threats, and calls for personal attacks and assassination. Yet as long as we let them get away with calling themselves progressive, we allow them to claim moral and intellectual superiority over the rest of us.
Its an insult to all Americans when so-called progressives try to claim they are the new revolutionaries, freedom fighters like the original colonist tea-dumpers. Theyre actually freedom-destroyers, bent on ripping apart the freedom of expression and the elective will of the voters, scorning the Constitution and torching the flag of liberty. Their goal is the death of liberty, not its advancement. Their heroes are murdering monsters Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, while they revile white-privileged Washington and Jefferson who pledged their lives for freedom.
The progressive credo is the same as the Cuban dictators and their mentors Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot: oppressive government control under the guise of leveling the playing field or equality and redistribution of wealth. But the people on the receiving end of the progressive promises of that eravariously known as socialism, Communism, or Marxismrather than thriving, have instead died in huge numbers thanks to the benevolent progressive policies imposed on them. The innocent victims of progressivism amount to 120 million or so expiring at the hands of their own governments, according to historians.
Now multi-billionaire progressives like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and entrepreneur Elon Musk are calling for an exciting new way for government to ensure equality, today called social justice. While America was founded by brave settlers who built the new nation with their fierce spirit of independence, personal responsibility and achievement based on hard work, Zuckerberg (whose name means Sugar Mountain in German) wants to replace all that with the ultimate Sugar Daddy, a government that would provide everyone with a universal basic income.
Zuckerberg feels guilty that not everyone has the financial safety net to become entrepreneurial billionaires like he did with Facebook. But everyone should its only fair! Hopefully millions of people immediately sent him their addresses so he could start cutting their monthly checks.
Actually a universal basic income is already here for millions. The number of Americans receiving assistance from about 79 federal poverty programs is up 32 percent since 2008, the year Barack Obama was elected president. Now more than 100 million nearly one in three Americans get benefits from at least one of these programs, not including Social Security and Medicare payments.
This huge redistribution of taxpayer wealth toward welfare benefits is making Americas founding values of personal responsibility and self-reliance seem not only quaint, but unnecessary. Amazingly, in 35 states combined welfare benefits pay more than minimum-wage jobs, which means many have no reason to work. According to a Cato Institute study, a worker would need to make more than $60,000 in Hawaii, and more than $50,000 in Washington D.C. and Massachusetts, to earn more than collecting welfare would bring.
So its no mystery that U.S. labor participation is at an all-time low and that those numbers pretty much mirror the number of people collecting government benefits. Just before the 2016 elections fully 37.2 percent of our non-institutionalized, civilian population over 16 was not working or even looking for work. Of course, free money becomes an effective bribe to vote for the party that will keep the checks coming: the Democrats.
Given human nature, it only makes sense that for many, if you dont need to work to support yourself and your family, you wont. Those who continue to work will be ridiculed by those who feed at the government sugar dispenser.
But the satisfaction of work, almost any kind of work, is essential for a healthy sense of self-worth in humans. Even FDR, the Democrat president who created the New Deal to aid the jobless in the Great Depression, warned against the habit of welfare; relief as it was called then. The lessons of history show that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber, he said in 1935. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. The federal government must and shall quit this business of relief. But it has only increased.
Government is a fickle master as the victims of the isms discovered. Dependency breeds subservience and finally bondage after it destroys the aspirational nature fundamental to human happiness.
Since its been abundantly demonstrated for centuries that the progressive approach leads to more human suffering rather than an improvement in the human condition, the leftist/socialist/Marxistists are actually taking us backwards, not forward. Their plans would regress humanity to an earlier and utterly failed model thats left a trail of blood across human history. So lets call them what they are: regressives, not progressives. And lets celebrate Independence Day, not Dependence Day.
Joy Overbeck is a Colorado journalist and author who writes for Townhall.com, The Daily Caller, The Washington Times, American Thinker, BarbWire and elsewhere. More columns: https://www.facebook.com/JoyOverbeckColumnist Follow her on Twitter @JoyOverbeck1
ICYMI: Guidestar Labeled Dozens of Conservative Organizations as 'Hate Groups'
'Morning Joe' Anchors Respond: He's Not the Man We Once Knew
Conservatives Warn McConnell Not to Remove Pro-life Language From Health Care Bill
The rest is here:
Stop Calling Them Progressives - Townhall
- Matthew Syed: Condemn settlers, yes, but beware progressives sinister coalition - The Times - October 4th, 2026 [October 4th, 2026]
- For Progressives, Big Tech is Becoming the New Big Oil - theamericanconservative.com - October 4th, 2026 [October 4th, 2026]
- Progressives need their own story of national renewal Interviews - IPS Journal - October 4th, 2026 [October 4th, 2026]
- Michigan and California Races Test Progressives Broad Appeal - Bloomberg Government News - October 4th, 2026 [October 4th, 2026]
- What a year 2022 has been. So, now what progressives? Tell us your thoughts! - actionnetwork.org - October 4th, 2026 [October 4th, 2026]
- Good Morning, News: Mayor Campaigns Against Progressives, Cyclists Protest Moda Deal, and Trump Uses YOUR Money to Spread Hate - Portland Mercury - October 4th, 2026 [October 4th, 2026]
- Abdul El-Sayed Is Making Headway But Not Just With Progressives - Arab America - October 4th, 2026 [October 4th, 2026]
- The 'Progressives' are not yet ready to work in opposition or in the ruling coalition - Inbox.eu - October 4th, 2026 [October 4th, 2026]
- Progressives' party member expelled over nature of relations with minor / Article - LSM - October 4th, 2026 [October 4th, 2026]
- In North America, the most votes in the Saeima elections were cast for the 'Progressives', 'New Unity', and 'United List' - Inbox.lv - October 4th, 2026 [October 4th, 2026]
- So What Are Progressives Supposed to Do About Public Education? - Slate Magazine - September 28th, 2026 [September 28th, 2026]
- Opinion | Real progressives go to the library - The Pitt News - September 22nd, 2026 [September 22nd, 2026]
- Nikole Hannah-Jones and the hard bigotry of progressives - The Spectator - September 22nd, 2026 [September 22nd, 2026]
- The Kirkaversary speaks to the sickness of progressives - spiked-online.com - September 17th, 2026 [September 17th, 2026]
- Chicago mayor bets progressives will turn out for him in announcing reelection bid - Politico - September 17th, 2026 [September 17th, 2026]
- Republicans talk about the national debt. Its up to progressives to fix it. - ajc.com - September 17th, 2026 [September 17th, 2026]
- Mayor Johnson embarks on reelection bid, says hes best choice in race between real progressives and posers - Chicago Sun-Times - September 17th, 2026 [September 17th, 2026]
- Progressives Supply the Vocabulary. Islamists Supply the Narrative - The Times of Israel - September 17th, 2026 [September 17th, 2026]
- Hasan Piker cheerleads progressives as 80-year-old senator wins six more years - Fox News - September 8th, 2026 [September 8th, 2026]
- DNC Chair Ken Martin on progressives growing the Democratic coalition - Yahoo - September 8th, 2026 [September 8th, 2026]
- Bernie and Mamdani did it, can the rest of the progressives? Democracy and society - IPS Journal - September 8th, 2026 [September 8th, 2026]
- Merkur brings linked progressives and new cabinets to G2E 2026 - Yogonet - September 8th, 2026 [September 8th, 2026]
- Policy Pro: Council progressives push fall housing agenda - The Real Deal - September 8th, 2026 [September 8th, 2026]
- Transcript: How Progressives Can Revive the Police Reform Movement - The New Republic - September 8th, 2026 [September 8th, 2026]
- Progressives are learning the hard way how to survive Fox News - Politico - August 31st, 2026 [August 31st, 2026]
- Senator Markey fields national progressives to make his case in primary race against Moulton - The Boston Globe - August 31st, 2026 [August 31st, 2026]
- Progressives Warn Democrats Endlessly Invoking Hasan Piker to 'Get Their Shit Together' - Common Dreams - August 31st, 2026 [August 31st, 2026]
- In the Age of Trump, Progressives Should Stand Up for Sovereignty - Inkstick Media - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Aspiring politician? NJ progressives are actively recruiting candidates for 2027. - Gothamist - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Democrats and progressives wrestle with the Woke 1.0 era - Yahoo - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Democrats and progressives wrestle with the Woke 1.0 era - The Week - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Mass. primary is pitting new progressives against old-school organized labor - Spectrum News - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Are Too Many Vancouver Progressives Running for Mayor? - The Tyee - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Two Black Progressives Made History Tuesday Night. Neither Waited for Permission. - The Root - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- The Information State: Progressives Road to Dystopia - Mises Institute - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Democratic star AOC caught in balancing act between progressives and centrists - The Observer - August 27th, 2026 [August 27th, 2026]
- Why are progressives winning across the United States? Its not complicated | Bernie Sanders - The Guardian - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- In a Big Year for Progressives, Heres Why These Moderates Won Their Primaries - The New York Times - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- South Korean progressives' 'Park Chung-hee' coalition in the AI era - Nikkei Asia - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Trump and Vance lead GOP midterm push as progressives head to Uruguay - Fox News - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Progressives are rising, but Black voters arent sold - Yahoo - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Hillary Clinton to host karaoke night for progressives in NYC - Washington Examiner - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Fox News: Get these sexy progressives away from my hungry eyes - Daily Kos - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Hillary Clinton to host karaoke night for progressives in NYC - Denver Gazette - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Suffolk Dem progressives on the prowl - Newsday - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Its Obvious Now Why Woke 1 Failed. I Have an Idea for How Progressives Can Be Less Annoying Next Time. - slate.com - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Top 5 most heated moments as progressives spar over who is farther to the left in final Dem Senate debate - Fox News - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Hey progressives: Shoplifting isnt need, its just plain greed - New York Post - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Progressives are on the march. Can they break Beacon Hill's status quo? - MassLive - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Opinion | The AI Emergency Is Already Hereand Progressives Must Confront It - Common Dreams - August 22nd, 2026 [August 22nd, 2026]
- Bernie Sanders has a response for progressives upset over Hongs loss in Wisconsin - Politico - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Progressives back substitute teacher over Wasserman Schultz in Florida - theguardian.com - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Before todays progressives, there were Conyers and Jackson | Thompson - The Detroit News - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- GOP targets progressives as frustration over economy grows - The Hill - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Opinion | Progressives in 2026 Are in a Catch-22 - WSJ - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Major tests for progressives and Trump are on tap in Tuesdays primaries - NBC News - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Progressives see a win and a loss in Minnesota and Wisconsin Democratic primaries - prismreports.org - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Op-Ed: Progressives Are Winning the Future of Washington's Legislature - The Urbanist - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Trump ally loses, mixed results for progressives: takeaways from primaries in Minnesota, Wisconsin and beyond - theguardian.com - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Progressives are on the cusp of a huge win. Their biggest stars are staying away. - Politico - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Francesca Hongs loss in Wisconsin is a win for progressives - salon.com - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Why AOC and other progressives are backing off Woke 1 - vox.com - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- Could progressives win over long-term Delaware Democrats? - Bay to Bay News - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- CO-1 candidate Shimon Blau courts progressives after years of mocking them - 9News - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- What Abdul El-Sayeds victory says about progressives, outsiders and the Democratic Party - ThePrint - August 16th, 2026 [August 16th, 2026]
- The Campaign Tactics Helping Progressives Win Primaries Ahead of the 2026 Midterms - The New York Times - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives' wave of success meets choppy waters in Hawaii - USA Today - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives look to shake up Beacon Hill as Sept. 1 primary nears. The key races and why they matter - MassLive.com - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Opinion | Without the Working Class, There's Only So Much Progressives Can Win - Common Dreams - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives must ditch the all-or-nothing approach - The Seattle Times - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives Rack Up Primary Wins, Testing Democratic Assumptions Ahead of the Midterms - Time Magazine - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- The Democratic party needs to do more than represent wealthy progressives | Dustin Guastella - The Guardian - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives expand their reach and money finds its limit: Takeaways from Tuesdays primaries - NBC News - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Progressives didnt get the big election night they wanted - Politico - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Wisconsin is the latest test for progressives, the electability argument and, soon, party unity - Straight Arrow - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Primaries in the Midwest have become a high stakes proving ground for progressives - NPR - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Key Election Takeaways From Progressives Big Night - wsj.com - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- Primaries takeaways: Progressives score big wins and turn to November - ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- How White Progressives Co-Opting Woke Harmed the Black Community - Emerald Book - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]
- El-Sayed gives progressives another victory and a new challenge - The Washington Post - August 11th, 2026 [August 11th, 2026]