Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on May 24, 2010

Champion of the Progressive movement, adored by former community organizer Barack H. Obama, was Saul Alinsky. Alinksy’s Rules for Radicals is the sacred handbook of the radical Democrats in Congress and the White House. Alinsky once said on how to change a group of people’s thinking (in this case, all Americans) which applies to accepting a dismantling of our Constitution,

“There’s another reason for working inside the system. Taking a new step is what people fear most. Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people. They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and change the future.“

Quickie definition of the Progressive movement, from HubPages — much of this is quite familiar to those who have been paying attention since Obama took office on January 20, 2009.

The Progressive Movement began late in the 19th Century.  Central Tenets are Statism, Income Redistribution, Unionism, Government Management of the Economy, womb to tomb provision for its citizens, and a Libertine Social Policy.

To accomplish these aims, The Progressive Movement believes in State Ownership of Businesses—instead of Entrepreneurial Free Enterprise;  Central Planning by the Government of the supply of goods and services, including fixing prices of wages, and of goods and services—instead of Free Market Capitalism;  That all Citizens should have equal wealth except for the Elite Rulers;  And that Sovereignty does not belong to Individual Citizens—but that the People only exist for the benefit of the National State.  Various large parts of this Ideology are identical to Socialism and Fascism, including the ideas that the use of courts, bureaucracies—even the police and military—should be used to accomplish goals that would never be approved by a Democracy or a Republic (such as The United States of America under its current Constitution).

Which leads to my intended point on Obama’s blatant, relentless buck-passing, finger-pointing, and blame-gaming (Bush did it!) on all national crises, misjudgments, flaws, foibles, and failures of his administration.

There’s an excellent piece at Heritage Foundation’s The Foundry today… here’s the opening of Morning Bell: The Buck Stops Nowhere:

May 24, 2010

According to best estimates, the collapsed Deepwater Horizon oil rig is pumping about 210,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico every day. But don’t worry, President Barack Obama has appointed an “independent” commission to investigate the spill. Our federal government will post an estimated $1.5 trillion budget deficit this year, and our debt is projected to equal 140 percent of gross domestic product within two decades. But don’t worry, President Obama has appointed a debt commission to solve the problem. Our nation’s southern border has degenerated into a violent, lawless and lethal zone. But don’t worry, Congress wants to empower a new commission to control the problem. And millions of Americans don’t know whether or not their health plan will be exempted from Obamacare. But don’t worry, faceless bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services are already hard at work determining whether or not you will be allowed to keep your current health insurance.

Is this any way to run a country? Should the President of the United States be passing off responsibility to “independent” commissions? Should Congress be passing off responsibility for securing our nation’s borders to an unaccountable commission of experts? How is any of this consistent with our nation’s First Principles or the United States Constitution? It’s not. The authors of our Constitution never meant to create a federal government with the power to force you to buy health insurance, let alone one where it would be unelected bureaucrats who determine what type of health insurance you could buy.

Our Founding Fathers specifically created a Constitution dividing the legislative, executive and judicial functions of government into three branches so that the separation of these powers would limit the size and scope of the federal government. Americans would know who to punish for bad policies at the ballot box because it would be clear who was responsible for creating and enforcing them. But that is very obviously not the system we have today. Our federal government has devolved into an incomprehensible mish-mash of alphabet soup government agencies and commissions that no one American could possibly understand. Why is our country in this state? What happened?

The Progressive movement happened.

Associate Professor of Political Science Ronald Pestritto at Hillsdale College then is quoted, briefly explaining how the Progressive movement strives to empower government to be ever-changing and why our nation’s separation-of-powers constitutionalism drives progressives to destroy it. Back at the beginning to the 20th century, progressive Pres. Woodrow Wilson pushed for undermining what our nation’s founding fathers intended for this new nation. Wilson saw how the Constitution would limit what the Progressive movement could do. So, he tried to instill the belief that the Constitution was “a living organism” rather than a fixed rule book — if it were regarded by Americans as a “living, breathing document,” the scope and powers of government could be easily changed anytime, for any reason, for any progressive’s purpose. Appointing numerous unelected people — many of whom are radicals who share a similar progressive ideology into government positions of power, such as positions in newly created commissions or as czars — who would not be subject to vetting or close scrutiny by American voters as they would be in an election is but one method of expanding government powers.

Chilling.

Not included in the Foundry piece is this portion from Pestritto’s original article on the progressive movement:

For those who hold the Constitution of the United States in high regard and who are concerned about the fate of its principles in our contemporary practice of government, the modern state ought to receive significant attention. The reason for this is that the ideas that gave rise to what is today called “the administrative state” are fundamentally at odds with those that gave rise to our Constitution. In fact, the original Progressive-Era architects of the administrative state understood this quite clearly, as they made advocacy of this new approach to government an important part of their direct, open, comprehensive attack on the American Constitution.

As a practical matter, the modern state comes out of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, which launched a large bureaucracy and empowered it with broad governing authority. Also, as a practical matter, the agencies comprising the bureaucracy reside within the executive branch of our national government, but their powers transcend the traditional boundaries of executive power to include both legislative and judicial functions, and these powers are often exercised in a manner that is largely independent of presidential control and altogether independent of political control.

More from The Foundry piece:

President Barack Obama, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are the modern heirs of the Progressive campaign to eviscerate the rule-of-law-based limited government envisioned by the U.S. Constitution and replace it with an expert-ruled European welfare state. Everything this regime has done since assuming power (TARP, the Presidential Task Force on Autos, Obamacare, EPA global warming regulations) empowers unaccountable expert committees and commissions. Commenting on Congress’ new immigration commission, Rutgers University political science professor Ross Baker told The Washington Post: “It’s the ultimate expression for the need for political cover.” Enough cover. It’s time Washington is held accountable.

I recommend that you read and study both articles in their entirety. These well-written, well-researched pieces shed light on the depth of what conservatives and moderates are up against.

Arm yourself with knowledge. As we enter the next few months preceding the November election, the statists will not hold back, will not easily relinquish their ill-gotten power, will fight dirty and ruthlessly to create their own elitist vision of America. They will mask their intent with carefully chosen, ambiguous words or euphemisms that will cloud their true intention.

Knowledge of history, of one’s opponents’ strengths and limitations are the best tools for American patriots to master to topple the Democrats and Team Obama from further remaking America into a European socialist-progressive nightmare with little to no separation of powers between the branches of government. No checks or balances — no “We The People”.

We all need to understand the sinister machinery of the progressive movement, its obsessive desire to twist and change America from its founding roots of power of the people to power of the government. We must recognize and understand that machinery so that we are well equipped to derail it.

Knowledge is power, dear patriots. Become knowledgeable so that we can preserve America and what has made her so great for more than two centuries.

Assorted recommended reading for the past few months:
Andrew C. McCarthy, NRO: The House Divided
Frugal Café Blog Zone: The Gulf & Golf: Oil Continues to Gush & Contaminate Louisiana Coastline, Bureaucrat Commission Named in Lieu of Actually Getting Involved, & Obama Golfs… Again (video) and Sarah Palin at Boston Tea Party with Tea Party Express… Mark Levin’s Historical Overview… God Bless America! (video) and Another Promise Bites the Dust: Obama Now “Agnostic” about Raising Taxes on Middle-Class Families and Mark Levin’s Scathing Opinion of Barack Obama’s Budget and My “Barack Roundup”: George F. Will, Ann Coulter, Charles Krauthammer, Tony Blankley Weigh in on POTUS
Ace of Spades HQ: Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller: Hey, That Obama Feller Is Sort of a Liar, Isn’t He?
Michelle Malkin: No wonder finger-pointing Obama wants oil spill finger-pointing to stop and Read Obama’s lips: Don’t believe anything that passes his lips and Porkulus II: Return of the Phony Jobs Boondoggle
Nice Deb: Obama’s America Must Fail and Obama Losing The Trust Of The American People
Moe Lane, RedState: San Diego to Arizona: “Look, just because we called you racist bigots…”
Larry O’Connor, Big Hollywood: Leftist Hollywood Injects Divisive Politics Into Miss USA Pageant… Again
The Conservative Pup: Divide And Conquer: The 2010 Democrat Strategy
Gateway Pundit: Redistributor in Chief… Private Pay Shrinks to Historic Lows – Government Handouts Soar and Kirsten Powers: Obama Administration’s Response to Gulf Oil Spill “Is Not About Campaign Donations, It’s About Incompetence” (Video) and Thick Blobs of Tar Begin Washing Up on Alabama Shore – Obama Goes Golfing and Yuk-Yuk… Obama and Democrats Get Together- Crack Jokes About $1.4 Trillion Deficit (Video) and Democrats Applaud Increasing National Debt by $1.9 Trillion (Video) and Greenspan Confirms: Team Obama Cooking the Books on Unemployment and Nevada Governor Slams Obama: “Doesn’t He Know That Thousands of Vegas Families Are Suffering Because of His Failed Policies?”
Doug Powers, Michelle Malkin: Obama’s Tireless Efforts On the Basketball Court and Golf Course Cause BP to Successfully Insert New Pipe to Siphon Oil to Surface
Legal Insurrection: Why Are These Angry People Smiling?
Another Black Conservative: Obama is getting “agnostic” about raising taxes on the middle class
On My Watch – the writings of SamHenry: Radical Lifestyle Changes Under Obama
The Lonely Conservative: Now Obama’s Making Stuff Up Out of Whole Cloth

Categories: Business & Economy, Conservatism, Government, Law & Constitution, Social and Political Climate
Tags: America, Barack Obama, Barack Obama lazy, blame, blame Bush, BP oil leak, Congress, Constitution, Democrat, fascism, federal government, free market principles, government control, government regulation, government takeover, Obama blames, Obama lazy, oil leak, oil spill disaster, progressive, progressive movement, Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky, socialist, statist, US Constitution, Woodrow Wilson