A Progressive Obsession The most interesting feature to emerge from the Great Economic Collapse of 2008 is not how

this event forced people to realize what truly takes precedence in their lives, but more importantly, how the common man and woman have been hoodwinked and lied to by the progressive, manipulated into believing political ideas and slogans that turned out to be false, presented with solutions to todays problems that have more to do with undercutting the enlightened freedoms guaranteed by the American Constitution than moving America toward a tomorrow of prosperity. From the ever-evolving issues of climate change (raising taxes on carbon to lower the temperature of the planet), unemployment (lifetime public service jobs and wage increases guaranteed by union muscle), the cost of health care (Obamacare is the biggest tax increase in U.S. history) to the stimulation of a recessionary economy (placing capital in federal government coffers instead of using it as a multiplier in the private sector for the creation of products and goods)at their core, all bracketed solutions of social(ist) justicemost people are beginning to see that this so-called progress offers nothing more than simplistic canards in response to todays most pressing problems. These obfuscations and non sequiturs also reveal a fundamental paradox in the progressives relationship with one particular concept that also drives their rivals policiesmoney. This contradiction reveals a disconcerting emphasis on other peoples money. Even the capitalist instinctively knows money is merely a means to an end. But the progressive mind seems to see it as an end in itself. Pleonexia is the philosophical term for this obsession for things that rightfully belong to others. In further examining their arguments through the microscope of pleonexia, the depth of their obsession is revealed. Endless examples abound of progressive attempts at trying to control the amount of money in politics:1 limiting the tone, tenor and substance of political debate,2 and the passing of legislation that intrudes upon states rights3 or curtails the right of business from choosing their own destiny.4 Of course, the progressives wont admit to such devious behaviour in public; politicians dismiss criticisms as simple misunderstandings of their egalitarianism; left-leaning media acolytes make personal attacks on opponents, hoping it distracts from this fetish, and the progressive academic is always on hand to provide the latest research that shows more control of what others have is to be a priority in the engineering of a prosperous and fair society. But despite their best effort, since 2008, those who put forth the progressive platform have been unable to successfully hide their abnormal fixation from public view.

1 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/04/29/the-movement-the-lefts-war-on-the-first-amendment 3 http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/06/28/supreme-court-obama-health-care-reform-act-isconstitutional/ 4 http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/28/column-epa-coal-fired-power-

To see the end result and damning consequences of progressive policies, one only need look at Europe and the ever-growing power found in the institutions of the European Union5 as leaders try to grapple with the demise of the progressive welfare state. The sovereignty of nation states and the future wellbeing of the individuals who make up the European Union are being sacrificed in favour of an Old World belief in the ideal of unionism, solidarity and an all-powerful, governing central authority. Let not history nor the American public forget the outrageous treatment of the sick,6 the poor,7 the unemployed, the middle class and the elderly pensioner8 in the PIIGS countries at the hands of the European progressivesthese could easily become Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Georgia and South Dakota if progressive policies and ideology are ingrained in a U.S. federal government that is allowed to grow beyond its constitutional limits. In the opinion of this writer, the Great Economic Collapse has not only washed away all the lies and false facades of the progressive argument here in the United States, but it has also pulled back the shadowy curtain that shielded the eyes of those in Europe from seeing the truth of their own society: credit does not buy happiness, big government does not bring prosperity in life, and partial democratic accountability does not guarantee liberty for the individual. It is this reality that confronts the people of the United States as the campaigns for the presidency, U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives begins in earnest. Despite all the talk of social justice and fairness, progressives are perched atop an ideological mountain built upon false promises, failed policies and incongruous solutions that are finally tipping them over the edge onto the wrong side of history. The salvation of the American people is not to be found in the progressive wing of the Democrats. J.R. Werbics is a Canadian writer and philosopher. A fully sourced article is available at www.scribd.com Copyright 2012. J.R.Werbics

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/9551581/Europes-most-powerful-countries-call-forelected-EU-president.html 6 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18343048 7 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/10/greek-homeless-shelters-debt-crisis 8 http://rt.com/business/news/greece-retirement-troika-cuts-620/