Allen West ruffled a few feathers recently when he suggested that 78 to 81 Democrats in Congress are Communists. He has been berated by the mainstream media since he made the claims. Watch CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien ridicule West while he calmly restated his case.
What is a Progressive and who are these Democrats Allen West is speaking of? Progressivism was America’s version of a world-wide movement toward top down socialism. The idea goal was an utopian society where the government must drive policy to solve social problems and establish fairness in economic matters. Overseas, this era gave the world Germany’s Nazism, Italy’s fascism, and Russia’s Communism. At the start of the American Progressive movement, both the press and the left alike, praised and admired the Bolsheviks and the Fascist movements as popular, scientific experiments in democracy.
Woodrow Wilson is viewed by many as the father of American Progressivism. Even though Wilson passionately believed that giving African-Americans the right to vote was “the foundation of every evil in this country”, he viewed Abraham Lincoln as a hero. He did not admire the ends that Lincoln achieved, rather the means. He loved Lincoln’s ability to impose his will on the entire country – the suspension of habeas corpus, the draft, and the dramatic changes made by the Republicans after the Civil War. The Progressive party shares Barack Obama’s interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Wilson explained that “living constitutions must be Darwinian in structure and in practice. Society is a living organism that must obey the laws of life.”
Barack Obama has said, “I am someone who is no doubt progressive”, and so has the congressmen and women of the Progressive Caucus, including Bernie Sanders, Danny Davis, Charles Rangel, Bobby Rush, and Maxine Waters. Progressives were the real social Darwinists - they believed in eugenics, were imperialists, and were convinced that the government could, through planning and administration, create a pure race; a utopian society of new men. They were openly hostile toward individualism and used religion as a political tool. The Progressives viewed the founder’s traditional system of constitutional check and balances as a barrier to progress. They viewed those who advocated for democratic practices, the U.S. Constitution, and antiquated laws as the enemy.
Sound familiar? It should, toss in a little Saul Alinsky and this is exactly what the left and the mainstream media are doing today. Allen West is right, the Progressive Caucus clearly are not proponents of free markets or individual economic freedom. Call it what you will, communism, progressivism, Marxism, socialism, Statism, – or as Stuart Chase called it Political System X – the policies, strategies and the tactics of the far left are where our current administration are taking us. 2012 will be the fork in the road where we, as a nation, choose our ideology of governance. The American people need an open and honest debate on whether we want to rebuild our country using the blueprint for success that our founders gave us or do we finally progress toward the final plank of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto.
