Progressivism's Second Coming

30Oct09
As a modern progressive Barack Obama has been compared to Woodrow Wilson with good reason. More than any other President, Wilson was responsible for deviation from the founders vision of this nation. The public at large seems in disbelief that one man, one presidential term, could transform the direction of a country so quickly. But if Wilson was any indication, we're in for trouble.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson, America's 28th President, was considered among the leading intellectuals of the progressive era.

The progressives believed in the ability of the political/intellectual elite to govern society more effectively than the people at large, through the application of science as a disinterested expertise. The progressives sought sweeping change in the nature of American society through a wide ranging program of economic, political, social and moral reformations.

In just his first term Wilson, aided by a Democratic congress; passed the 16th Amendment to the constitution, instituted progressive income tax with the Revenue Act of 1913, the Clayton Antitrust Act, the Federal Farm Loan Act, created the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Reserve. Wilson promoted growth of labor unions, central supervision of food production, he nationalized the railroads and suppressed anti war movements.

The Wilson administration created the American Protective League, a group of 250,000 members empowered by the Justice Department to conduct warrant less searches and interrogations, while spying on Americans for anti - government behavior.

The Wilson administration created the Committee on Public Information, run by George Creel. The committee trained more than 75,000 volunteers to be "four minute men", under the direction of William McCormick Blair the volunteers made canned 4-minute speeches on administration talking points in various public venues, reaching more than 11 million people in eighteen months.

Wilson pioneered the use of media to encourage uncritical loyalty to government, through systematic praise, and attacks upon detractors as unpatriotic. Wilson was depicted in a series of official photographs as a charismatic and selfless figure, and in words as a leader without which the nation would falter.

Is any of this sounding familiar? Obama is determined to finish what Wilson started, the transformation of this country from a constitutional republic, into a socialist oligarchy in the guise of participatory democracy. The administration is using the media, and community organizations to bully and silence opposition, creating a transformative leader without which the promised "change" cannot occur.

Oppose the administration. Speak up, speak out. Do not be silenced by the derision of neighbors and peers who drank the kool-aid. You are in the right.