Great Vocal Majority Podcast Volume 45: The Evolution of the American Counter-revolution Pt 2

Great Vocal Majority Podcast

THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY: FROM WILSON TO MARX By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American society was undergoing transformational change, ushered in by the Industrial Revolution. The changes were profoundly affecting the way ordinary people lived and worked. Industrialization, the growth of cities, European immigration the emergence of captains of industry and monopolistic corporate power demanded a reaction. Whenever profound changes occur such as those experienced at the turn of the 20th century, it isn't altogether surprising that those with unchecked power will tend to act in their own interest at the expense of others. In America, the unchecked power of business over labor led to labor organizing as a countervailing check on that power. This was a natural consequence of the rapid development experienced at the time, but it was not painless. By 1900, and for about the previous 50 years, new political and economic philosophies were becoming popularized. Two of the most prominent were Progressivism and Marxism, which is often called "scientific socialism" because it is presumably based on the scientific method and observation. Both ideologies saw themselves as new thinking, but they really were not new at all. It was the same old form of historical despotism, just cloaked in the phony and discredited "science" of "scientific socialism" or "progress." Progressives generally share the desire for the central government to be more activist. That is, the default position was 180 degrees out of phase with the position of the Founders and Framers who believed that the Federal government's default position was to not intervene in social and commercial affairs, except under unusual circumstances. Whether they were Marxist adherents to the philosophy of scientific socialism, or they were Progressives, both of these veins of thought were counter-revolutionary ideas to the American revolution. The danger in them was their capitulation to the ancient fear the Framers labored so long to avoid: an all powerful central government. While some right Progressives settled in the Republican Party, Marxists and Left Progressives found their home in the Democratic Party. After the success of the Russian Revolution and the rise of a government based on the principles of scientific socialism, the western democracies, including the United States experienced a "Red Scare". The threat of international communism, however, was blunted at the time because it was recognized as atheistic and antithetical to any of our founding American principles. For that part of the 20th century between the Russian Revolution and the outbreak of the Second World War, Russian Communism was only a curiosity to some Americans on the political left in that Soviet experiment. Left Progressives, however, were entirely another matter. The election of Woodrow Wilson became a watershed moment in the counter-revolution against the principles of the American founding. Wilson thought the Constitution was deficient for modern day 20th century America and proposed a new set of rights. The Constitution has often been referred to as a charter of "negative rights." The word "negative" here is not used to connote something bad. Rather, the Constitution sets out to limit government because the Framers of the Constitution believed the enemy of Liberty and human freedom was a government without any limiting principle. The rights outlined in the Constitution set forth those limitations on government that our Framers believed were essential for the continuation of our republic. Wilson believed the Constitution should also contain a charter of "positive rights." That is, rights you are entitled to and provided to you by the government. Wilson believed this necessary to perfect the American experiment. But Wilson was grievously in error. One problem with positively stated rights is that they are a zero sum game in rights overall. For example, a positively stated right might be expressed as follows: "every American has the right to health care." But in order for this right to be delivered to every American, the government must acquire property (ie., money) from someone who has it. In other words, the government must somehow deprive someone of their rights in order to fund the right to health care. Nothing can be a right if it requires some to lose their rights in order for the right to be provided. Another problem with positively stated rights is that they are subjected to the discretion and definition of those in government holding the power to define what those rights mean in real terms. If the government determines an 80 year old man diagnosed with cancer should not be treated for the disease because resources are limited and needed to treat others who are younger, haven't the health care rights of the 80 year old been violated simply because a faceless government bureaucrat has decided resources cannot be provided? This becomes an exercise in dehumanizing people. This is what the Framers feared. The bastardization of their ideas and hopes for America. The greater the power and scope of the central government, there is an associated diminishing of importance of the individual and individual freedom. Moreover, a nation also experiencing robust growth in its population either through immigration or birthrates will also experience a dilution of representation. In current day America, each member of the House of Representatives has approximately 725,000 constituents in their district. In 1967, 50 years ago, the average was 460,000. This makes the case of the Framers even more powerful that the best government is that which is closest to the people.