A Article that I found interesting and very True! Who are the Progressives? // Global Macro Roundtable with Wesley A. Whittaker “History is littered with monetary managers who believed they were in total control—until the disaster hit. It is hubris of the first order to believe oneself the master of the universe, but hubris is endemic in Washington.” Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.,founder and chairman of the Mises Institute The Progressive movement started and developed between 1890 and 1920 with a flurry of social activism and reform aimed at purifying government of corruption and the influence of political bosses. The fundamental tenet of the Progressive theology was “Fairness.” If a wealthy lifestyle could not be easily attained and enjoyed by all, then something needed to be corrected in the society to level the playing field. Progressives believed that science, technology, and modern management techniques were the solution to society’s weaknesses. They believed that human beings could be taught, like obedient children or pets, to develop their full potential as productive and caring members of society and that this potential could be harnessed and best utilized within the framework of a scientifically managed economy under the wise control of a benevolent and Progressive federal government. Progressives believed in mankind’s ability to improve the environment and conditions of life by concerted effort, communal cooperation and abandonment of traditional, old-fashioned beliefs in tradition, heritage, religion, or philosophy promoting personal responsibility, morality or individual sovereignty. In order to enforce compliance to that mandate, Progressives believed that society had an obligation to accept and encourage the judicious use of governmental authority to intervene in economic and social affairs. As long as you lived your life as a model modern citizen and happily allowed the government to appropriate a fair share of your profits, society would prosper and peace would prevail. Many of the early Progressives were honest, sincere, and altruistic reformers. They were true believers. Some were blinded by science, some were blinded by religion, and some hoped to reconcile the two. Some just wanted to give back, like Andrew Carnegie’s giving back the one thing he knew was truly valuable—the knowledge contained in one of the 1,689 libraries built in the United States between 1889 and 1929 with funding from the Carnegie Foundation. Some wanted to remake the nation in their own image. A number of early Progressive leaders appeared to acknowledge if not openly embrace socialism, communism, or other anti-American doctrines. Reform in education was a main focus as teaching became a profession and social studies in areas like history, economics, and political organization became social sciences. The Progressives worked hard to reform and modernize the schools at the local level. The era was notable for a dramatic expansion in the number of schools and students served, especially in the fast-growing metropolitan cities. The result was the rapid growth of the educated middle class, who typically were the grassroots supporters of progressive measures because of how and what they were taught. Academic tenure was based on scholarly research and publication in the new scholarly journals and presses, the unintended consequence being the tenured professor’s subjective and often political influence on the curriculum, its tone, and its substance. This produced teachers who were left leaning and sympathetic to the utopian dream of a Progressive society. After almost 100 years of the enlightened influence of Progressives in the American education system, we now have public high schools graduating students who can neither read nor balance a checkbook; we have universities handing out degrees for which there are no legitimate career paths and graduate schools turning out amoral, hedonistic manipulators who view finance, law, and politics as games in which quick riches determine winners and the losers are only the ones who get caught.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 19:41:58 +0000
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