Progressing to Serf Hood?

When authority presents itself in the guise of organization, it develops charms fascinating enough to convert communities of free people into totalitarian States. Hayek

Today we hear a lot about progress. In the political arena we even have those, who refer to themselves as progressives. Of course, in calling themselves progressives they infer that everyone else is rather backward or slow, and then they wonder why some dislike them.  The truth is that progressives do believe that they are out in front of the herd and that they see something, which the rest us backward folks do not. They believe that they see the ultimate good for humanity and they feel their ideas will get us there. Therefore, if you do not agree with them you must be backward and you are definitely not moving forward. To progressives moving forward is thinking and doing things their way.

Now, to be a real progressive, you must have a goal to be progressing towards, if not you would have no bench mark to judge your progress. So, what is the progressives’ goal? Is it justice, fairness, equality or to make heaven on earth? All of these things seem like worthy goals. The question is how do we progress toward them? In the past we have used political ideology coupled with the power of the state.  The political ideology has taken the forms of liberalism, communism and socialism. The results have been a century of fighting and bloodshed among these ideological cousins; fighting over the methods and the extent of control[1].  Basically, the warring has been over who will do the planning, for in the end there can be only one central planner.

The truth is that all the political systems including the progressive one all have the same goal and they all have the same method of accomplishing it.  That method is enforced centralized planning by the federal government. Of course, as planning increases the individual continues to lose more and more control to the centralized government. As this all enfolds the original goal of the progressives is lost and the new one of total control takes its place. This goal seems to be the goal of many of our leaders in both of our political parties in America and those who support them, the ones Lenin called useful idiots.

We are at the point of decision, we can decide to have more central planning which will mean the loss of freedom or we can decide to take responsibility for ourselves and organize and plan our own communities. If we choose the latter we may have to work harder but we will be free men and women. If we choose the former we choose to be serfs under a totalitarian federal government. Only time will tell if we make the right decision.

[1] The cold war has been between American liberalism, European socialism and Russian communism.  All of these isms are grounded in European liberalism. All end up  as a form of totalitarianism with the state becoming the master.