Here's why I joined (although I am an active participant in its activities) in a nutshell -- because it has been my opinion for quite some time that the government has gotten too large and has too much influence over our lives and that some of the things that the government has tried to manage have shown my concern to be valid. It's that simple. I'm a big believer in our Constitution, all 17 pages of it. I believe that the construction outlined by our forefathers is brilliant and amazing and that it does not lose applicability with the passage of time. And another change that has occurred in me is that it appears that my leanings are towards the Libertarians, another group that has been pigeon-holed and misunderstood. Basically, to be a libertarian means that liberty is valued most highly. It often means that government is not trusted, and apparently in that vein I am in good company.
My concern is towards progressivism, a movement that got its start mostly during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, a chief proponent. Wilson was an academic, coming from being President of Princeton. He was very busy during his first term, securing a number of bills that allowed the government to control elements of business for one thing. His call to Progressivism was interwoven with his moralistic vision of the country, and yet he was quite racist and only went along with giving the vote for women when it became obvious that he had to.
His second wife (his first wife died during his first term) was related to Pocahontas and was a strong woman who actually signed papers for her husband after his stroke. In a book on CD that I listened to some years ago about all of the first ladies, her role in her husband's presidency was well documented, including how she kept key members of her husband's administration in the dark about what she was doing. In essence, Edith Galt WAS the president for a time. There's nothing wrong with a woman president, but she wasn't elected to the office.
My overall impression of progressivism is that at its very core is a deep distrust of our system of government, that it will lead us in the right direction if left alone. To me, it seems that the progressives are always tinkering.
What I see is a country that has become much more divided, especially with rich and poor at odds. A recent poll suggests that a majority of the country wants to do something about the disparity of income, and one of the major ways that they prefer that be handled is by getting more money from the rich. I am opposed to that concept, because we should ALL pay taxes and basically at the same proportion. Because someone has been enterprising and successful does not mean that we have the right to claim what they earned. It suggests jealousy to me, and a preoccupation with what the "Joneses" are doing, rather than taking care of one's own business. It suggests that the accumulation of material goods is the end-all-be-all and is at the heart of the jealousy, when other studies have also shown that being happy has very little to do with this kind of thing.
If there is more disparity between the rich and the poor, perhaps a good deal of the problem is the shrinking middle class. This group has really gotten hit hard and as the stalwart backbone of the country, its influence is greatly missed. As many have said, our children will never be able to achieve the standard of living that we have, we who came out of the ashes of World War II and were born to parents who knew what it was to sacrifice for a cause.
Look, I'm not trying to be "political" here. I'm just worried because I see trends and patterns emerging that I've never seen before. All of us have to be vigilant and guard against those who would trample on freedom, on our Constitution, and forget how to be thankful to God and those who came before us, those who gave so much, in order to make America truly the home of the brave.
Today I pray for America.
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