The classical Democrat from the early 20th century supported individual independence. That changed in a number of important steps. Today we hear Progressive-Socialist-Communist Democrats steal the rhetoric of the 1920s as they promote the communism of 1917. That is a contradiction, and you can’t have it both ways. Citizens were better off with the old Democrats who were classical liberals.
Classical Liberalism — I disapprove of what you say,
but will defend to the death your right to say it.
Progressivism — I disapprove of what you say, and I will publicly shame you,
lobby to have you censored and demand you be fired from your job!
We’ve always had the problem of big-government colluding with big-industry. In the 1870s, the railroad shouldn’t be able to control the farmer. In the 1910s, the county road commissioner shouldn’t be able to extort bribes from the rural manufacturer who needed a road to his small factory. In the 1920s, the mine owner shouldn’t own the mine-town and its labor force. The common theme is that we want a number of employers who compete for local labor and who also compete against each other. That made sense back in the 1700s and it makes sense today. Back in the 1700s, Americans didn’t much care for government-granted monopolies, and we don’t much care for them today either.
In some ways, we have the same problems, except the Democrats, now rebranded as Progressive-Socialists-Communist Democrats, switched to the other side. Today, Google and your ISP shouldn’t own every online-click you ever made. The single mom should be able to arm herself and protect her family rather than have to beg her local bureaucrats for police protection from the drug gangs working her street.
From our perspective today, we can see the transition of the Democrats as they switched into the new labor coalition. The movement that was once filled with trade unions of the 1920s is now filled with the public employee unions of the 1970s. Today, the Socialists control state employees, who are then expected to politically support the state Socialist party. Sadly, any other activity of state government is incidental to the big-state Socialist politicians. That explains why schools and roads are so bad despite the high taxes in Progressive-Socialist-Communist Democrat controlled cities and states.
Look at Democrat politicians today. Rather than oppose the local mine owner, the Democrats now want to control our local Internet Service Provider, the big tech firms, the public school employees, and the local bank. The Socialists want to choose winners and losers.
The chief attribute of these firms isn’t the likely size of their entrepreneurial success, but the size of the political kickbacks and political control they guarantee. Money talks now as it did before. Big failures and big political donations are far more politically profitable than small commercial successes.
Some things never change. We need a reformation away from big-state politics with their big-government “solutions”. That was true in the 1700’s and it’s true today. Big-government collusion with big-business oppressed the Americans of the 1700s and they do today as well.
The more I learn, the more I want the politicians out of my life. Don’t you?
~_~_
I gave you 500 words for free. Please leave a comment and share. RM
Image: Excerpted from: https://pixabay.com/en/chains-feet-sand-bondage-prison-19176/
