Can I Fight Progressivism?

Jeff Dumas

Sitting on my couch in the dark after having turned off the

television I was aware of a nervous tension in my body. I had
just watched the Glenn Beck show and was troubled by the
truth of what he says day after day. It seems I am more
aware of my thoughts these days, by that I mean that I stand
back in an almost literal sense and observe my thoughts and
emotions. It was late and I was aware of the silence. I was
aware of the noise of my ceiling fan IN that silence. Why this
anxiety? I guess it’s just the troubling truth that our nation is
in crisis and so many seem to be in denial of that reality.
Then it occurred to me that I cannot change the road we are
on as a nation, after all, I have a hard enough time just trying
to stick to a healthy diet and exercising. I can only practically
work within my own sphere of influence to change the things
I can. In reality that’s all any of us can do, isn’t it? I remind
myself that it is important to be aware of the bigger picture
and stir myself from complacency, but also remember that
it’s most productive to work on the man in the mirror. It is
important to speak the truth and speak out about things that
are troubling and need solutions, but it is also important to
remind ourselves of the good in our lives. It is important to
remember the many blessings we have and not dwell
constantly on the bad and painful things we have endured
both as individuals and as a nation. We should not “rewrite
our history and traditions” but examine them and learn from
them with our eyes wide open. Without mistakes, pain and
suffering there would be no joy, growth or learning. Right
now, at this very moment a child is being abused
somewhere, a woman is being raped, someone is being
robbed or murdered – things of an up close, personal, and
individually traumatic nature. On a broader scale it bothers
me that the President blatantly lies day after day seeking to
gain unlimited and centralized power by undermining the
“flawed” Constitution and imposing “social justice” by any
means necessary which to my mind is nothing more than a
pretext for tyranny. It amazes me that so many seem
mesmerized by equivocal statements and speeches filled
with glaring contradictions from one day to the next and
smothered in hypocrisy are so willing and eager to hand over
not only their own liberty, but also everyone else’s to a snake
oil salesman. How gullible must one be to buy into the
collective salvation being sold. “Workers of the world unite”
is not an empty slogan, but a dangerous ideology. Equal
justice and social justice are very different ideas.
Governmental redistribution of wealth is not charity, it is
theft. It bothers me that so many, maybe thirty to forty
percent of the population, have bought into the progressive
ideology of egomaniacal Pied Pipers, but what can I do other
than speak the truth as I see it and try to keep a sense of
peace within myself by remembering the many blessings in
my life and remaining centered and aware of who I am. This
progressive ideology seems somehow to have become well
ensconced in our educational system and is, I believe, in
lock step with political science and journalism schools across
the country as well as much of the main stream media who
seem more interested in promoting an agenda than reporting
or teaching truth, but it’s disastrous and dangerous effects
on the societies of many countries are well documented and
easy to find. However the Obama administration’s agenda is
labeled – progressivism, Marxism, socialism, communism,
fascism, or even plain old ordinary liberalism, it does not
work. It is an ideology that encourages people to believe that
they are victims and therefore not responsible for their own
lives, an endless blame game that teaches people to look
without rather than within for meaning and success. In my
view it is in almost direct opposition to what I believe to be
true – that we are largely responsible for our own lives and
that we are ultimately responsible for the consequences of
our own decisions. There is abundance in the world, both
material and spiritual, but for most of us the material
abundance isn’t handed to us on a plate, we have to earn it,
and our meaning and spiritual truth comes from within and is
available to all who seek it. Our true worth comes from who
we are and not what we have. Progressivism breeds a
society of mindless, dependent weaklings. The evidence of
its failure both historically and currently is overwhelming. A
bloated government sucks the life out of a people and an
economy. Capitalism, not socialism brings prosperity. In
what world would a rational person espouse the virtues of
Margaret Sanger or Mao Tse-Tung? In what world does a
unionized utopia exist? Progressives seek to supplant the
“capitalist” masters with “academic” masters. They would
have you believe that your rights are enumerated and
dictated by the the government, they are not. Your rights
come from the same place your spirituality does. The
promises of progressives, whether they have an “R” or a “D”
by their name, are empty. Those making them know they are
empty. We are no longer a republic, we are an oligarchy and
those in “the club” are counting on and even fostering the
ignorance of the masses who support them in order to
perpetuate an endless party of privilege for itself. Nancy
Pelosi comes to mind with her own private airline at the
taxpayers expense, – John Murtha with his own private
airport. How does Barney Frank retain his seat after
contributing so much to the financial collapse unless his
constituents are either brainwashed or ignorant? How does
Harold Raines run Fannie and Freedie into the ground and
walk away with ninety million instead of going to jail? I could
go on and on. We send our soldiers to die for the special
interests of a few under the guise of freedom. We maintain a
military presence in far corners of the world, but we don’t
secure our own borders for political games and special
interest groups. We enforce the law, except for when we
don’t. Our justice is equal, except for when it isn’t. Our
leaders speak the truth, except for when they don’t. Our
government is transparent except for when it isn’t. A handful
of people have decided that it is the American taxpayers job
to impose “American values” and “freedom” on cultures that
are not ready for, do not want, or are unwilling to fight for
them. When we do fight we do so with our hands tied behind
our backs. How many American soldiers have thrown their
lives away for political correctness. A handful of people have
decided that it is “our” job to police the world at the taxpayers
expense with an enormously bloated and wasteful military
that has a budget that dwarfs that of any other nation. How is
it moral to borrow money from China to give to foreign
nations and send the bill to people who aren’t even born yet?
How can this be viewed as anything other than selling our
own children into slavery? How can so many lap up empty
words unless they are in a daze of ignorance or delusion? I
guess you have to be a progressive in a position of power to
push it or a lemming to smoke it. It’s something I can’t seem
to get my head around. I am often sadly amused by
commentators who seem to have no limits as to how far they
are willing to twist logic and play word games to justify
irrational positions not only to others, but to themselves as
well. Present many, (especially those who have been
indoctrinated on the left, but the same goes for many on the
right), with a fact that challenges their ideology) and they
become unhinged. Often they look as if their head is about to
explode. It seems to me that their ego is so threatened by a
contradictory viewpoint that they would rather pidgeonhole
someone as a racist or some other convenient label rather
than consider the facts or merits of someone else’s thoughts
or beliefs. Often they seem to be so busy spinning that they
are incapable of honest discourse, the distraction game and
the Uncle Tom game are two of their favorites. Today about
30,000 children will die from starvation. Today a “good
Muslim” will justify beating the hell out of his wife for
speaking to someone she wasn’t supposed to and millions of
the followers of this enlightened religion will give their tacit
approval. If we are nice to the terrorist he’ll stop trying to kill
us. (Maybe if we got the hell out of their countries they’d stop
trying so hard!) Somewhere a politician is taking a kick-back.
Somewhere a speech-writer or press secretary is trying to
figure out some way to sell a lie or distract you from the
truth. How much did we spend today for the illusion of
security by making a little old lady from Miami take off her
shoes so she could fly to San Francisco and visit her sick
relative while a thousand Mexicans walked freely across the
southern border. Our national debt with unfunded liabilities is
over a hundred trillion dollars and we continue to borrow
money to pay for flat-screen televisions for people who
would not hesitate to kill a child. What can I do about it? I
can seek the truth, I can stand on solid principles, I can point
out injustice and dishonesty where I find it, I can help a
neighbor, I can let my brother know that I love him, I can
strive to be a better person and I can try to live my own life in
the best way I can. There is power in that. Believing that the
government is going to take care of anyone is a denial of
reality. The government can’t even build a road it seems
without a five hundred page document, twenty agencies and
a thousand lawyers being involved. How can any rational
person believe the government can manage health-care,
much less the entire economy without rampant abuse and
theft. Those who promote such ideas are either leeches who
benefit from the theft or are from a planet whose language I
do not speak. It takes months to “stop” an oil leak, yet there
are those who promote the idea if we just give the
government enough power, laws and regulations we will be
able to adjust the temperature of the earth fifty years from
now. Even if we were able to enforce these so-called
“beneficial” rules and regulations on our own companies and
citizens how would we get other nations seeking economic
development to comply? How has the environmental
movement “helped” the environment, by forcing oil
companies to drill in deep water? How does a guy who
worked to get Mark Rich pardoned wind up as attorney
general? The questions keep rolling through my mind and I
haven’t even mentioned the Fed. I’m beginning to REALLY
ramble now, I hope you’ll forgive me if you’ve read this far.
One thing I’m pretty sure of, the spending will stop. One way
or another it will stop. I guess my point is this: it is foolish to
embrace the ideology of Barack Obama, it is worth the effort
to try and remove him from power by shining a light on the
“bs”, it’s important not to get distracted or resort to violence,
and it’s important to work on ourselves and let those we love
know that we love them.