Given 170 years of Progressivism, the century of history of alcohol prohibition, 80 years of (some) drug prohibition, and more, where do we stand in 2020? (This commentary continues the series, with the original postings found Here, Here, and Here.)

Regressivism – socialism in various style (national, international, transnational) it comes in; left-wing politics, Progressive liberalism, whatever – is far from dead. Although it has been rolled back numerous times, it has been very successful for a long time. And across the world. While it is just one form of statism, it is a virulent form indeed. The kind of progressivism preached and practiced by the likes of Wilson, FDR, JFK, Jimmy Carter, and the like has a distinct flavor. But so does the kind practiced by Harding, Hoover, Eisenhower, Nixon, and the Bushes. (And do not forget all the Congressional ones, Statehouse hangers-on, and right down to your friendly dogcatcher, sheriff and alderman.) However sweet they may taste, the flavors are bitter in the mouth and the stomach.

We live with the evil products of Progressive control of government, society, and the economy every day. Here are a few examples:

• The federal, state, local, and personal debt crisis – mixed with the fiat money and banking credit system.
• Prohibitions on drugs of all kinds – not just “recreational” or “addicting” drugs, but all types; and massive control systems on the rest “for our own good.”
• The regulatory state, dictating everything from the colors of our houses’ roof to the kind of light bulbs, capacity of toilets, and what kinds of clothing you can buy.

But in the future, unless the stranglehold of Progressives, is just going to be more and more of this sort of thing. More difficulties in our economy, society, and less freedoms and liberties. Whatever propaganda is spread on-line and broadcast by the media. That effort is pushed and led by Regressivists of ALL political parties: Democrat, Republican, Constitutionalist, Libertarian, Labour, Conservative, Social Democrats, Christian Democrats. It is worldwide.

The excuse will always be that people must be controlled to be protected from not only the bad actions of others, but their own actions. That people cannot make good decisions and so some other men and women must take control over them. That it doesn’t just take a village to raise a child, but a village to let people live.

These, like the Nazis and Fascists and Communist regimes of the past, will always declare that the groups – der Folk, We (the People), the hyphenated-Americans, etc. – are more important than individuals. That people are just cogs in the machine. That the Elite (yet another group) must be in control to ensure the survival of the Homeland, the Fatherland, the Motherland, whatever. And that humans – individual people – must be and will be sacrificed to that end.

And the mechanism for achieving all of this continues to be the State and government. No matter how that is hidden – or through what shills the power of the State is exercised. Mercenaries, contractors, non-government organizations, “grassroots movements,” and whatever they can come up with.

Unless we stop them. Dead in their tracks.

How?

First, by REFUSAL. We must refuse to play their game. Call it Galt’s Gulch, or dropping out, or civil disobedience or something else. It means not cooperating with them, even though it creates inconvenience for us and lost opportunities for physical wealth and security.

Second, by RECOGNITION. We must educate ourselves AND as many people as we can. Teaching not just what the price of liberty is. We need to teach them the costs of serfdom, of submission to men, of obedience to tyrants. And we need to remind ourselves constantly of the costs we endure. TANSTAAFL.

Third, by RECONCILIATION. We must convert our enemies, not just hate them, or ignore them, or neutralize them. Rather, we must win them to our side, to the side of liberty, of good, of freedom.

Fourth, by RESISTANCE. We must do what is necessary to actively resist those who would control and abuse and destroy us. In word, in peaceful actions, but ultimately, in armed self-defense.

Whatever we do, we must do it while resisting the horrific temptation to become like our enemies: using their strategy and tactics to defeat them just turns us into them. If we make the group more important than the individual, if we compromise for the sake of advantage, if we take aggressive actions against them – we lose.

What we are seeing today is the controllers, the Progressives, the socialists and leftists and communists and fascists response to refusal, recognition, reconciliation, and resistance to their ideals and actions by ordinary people. By those who love liberty and truth, their families, and their friends and neighbors. The more pressed that these Progressives and their ilk are, the harder they will fight back.

But I am confident that we – individual people – can win.