Commentary

Some 10 years ago, while writing op-eds and letters to editors while living in the conservative Hill Country of Texas, I enjoyed taking on a handful of Democrat contributors to a regular column in the Boerne Star called “Progressive Views.”

One of the regulars on the left blamed conservatives for “befouling the word liberal to the point that many who possess the qualities of a liberal have abandoned the term in favor of the more palatable word – progressive.”

However, I had to hand it one of them, who wrote that the liberal tag was a “badge of honor.”  I couldn’t resist responding with a quote from Freidrich Hayek, who wrote, “Liberalism is The Road to Serfdom.”

When I think of progressive, I think of progress and improvement, and I see no evidence of that in their political agenda.

One of the lefties criticized my reference to the Democrat Party, insisting that it should be referred to as the Democratic Party.  I told him there was nothing democratic about his party.

During a Democrat primary debate in June of 2007, Hillary Clinton said, “I consider myself a modern progressive,” presumably not like the 1948 progressivism of Henry A. Wallace. 

“Unfortunately,” she wrote, “in the last 30, 40 years, the word liberal has been turned up on its head and it’s been made to seem as though it is a word that describes big government.”  Indeed.  That and more.

While the term “progressive” hasn’t fared well as a replacement tag for liberal, Hillary said, “I consider myself a proud Modern American progressive.”

Privately, she must seethe over the way Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez & Company has befouled the term, progressive.

Progressives and the Spending Bill

The massive social spending and climate bill, filled with progressive provisions designed to further cradle to grave dependence on the government, is now in the hands of the Senate, where Democrats Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema are being pressured to support their party.

The bill will undoubtedly suffer severe cuts before it is returned to the House, so it would be folly for me to list the so-called safety net provisions, like amnesty, four-weeks of paid leave and tax credits even for families living comfortably. In previous postings I wrote of the provisions designed to alter climate change.

And, of course, it will all be paid for.  Remember Milton Friedman’s declaration that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

Progressives on Criminal and Prison Reform

While Americans were shocked by the low-bail release of the SUV driver who indiscriminately took the lives of participants and attendees of the Christmas parade in Waukesha, we learned of the progressive thinking of the Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.

A proponent of diverting nonviolent offenders from the traditional criminal justice system, he provided those arrested with a second chance.  However, the SUV driver had some 50 “second chances” on his multi-page rap sheet.

Seemingly aware that his decisions endangered the public, during a 2007 interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Chisholm said “Is there going to be an individual I divert, or I put into treatment, who’s going to go out and kill somebody?  You bet.  Guaranteed.  It’s guaranteed to happen.  It does not invalidate the overall approach.”

House Tone Deaf Progressives

With the tragedy of Waukesha still on the minds of Americans, New York Representatives Maloney and Ocasio-Cortez, along with Maryland Rep. Raskin sent a letter to New York’s five district attorneys stating grave concern over excessive bail amounts that are forcing detainees to languish in unsafe city jails simply because they cannot afford to pay.

Then there’s Michigan’s progressive Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who endorsed a bill that would abolish federal prisons.  Her BREATHE Act calls for the DOJ and HHS to create a “roadmap for prison abolition” within 10 years, and a moratorium on all new federal prison, jail, immigrant and youth detention construction.

Obviously flummoxed when AXIOS reporter Jonathan Swan pressed her with, “To what extent have you wrestled with the downsides of releasing into society every single person currently in a federal prison?”  She conceded that all people cannot be rehabilitated, revealing she had not thought through her ridiculous plan.

A Perfect Transition

Jane Menton, writing in the blog Manhattan Contrarian, was amazed that after two full weeks of livestreamed trial anyone could not consider justice was served in the Rittenhouse trial.

In her piece, “Can a Progressive Be Convinced By Facts?” she chronicles her attempt to “get through” the closed mind of a progressive friend of hers.

You just knew it was going to be a lost cause when she asked her friend if she followed to facts of the case. “No,” she replied, “what did I miss?  I heard he was a blubbering idiot?”

Not deterred, Menton sent her friend a copy of what she considered an even-handed breakdown of the case.  It went downhill through 20 back and forth e-mails.

“I left the conversation more discouraged than ever,” wrote Menton.  There seems to be no understanding or awareness among my peers that in pursuit of “equity,” progressivism is pulling us further and further from something that resembles true equity – that is, a world where we can trust that the same rules will apply to all and people will be treated equally under the law.”

“Is there any point in engaging with progressives on these subjects?’ she writes as she concludes with quotes from Wisconsin’s Democrat Governor Tony Evers and Rep. Gwen Moore, and New York’s Democrat Mayor Bill DeBlasio, all of whom saw it as a miscarriage of justice.

Now, more than ever … may God continue to bless the United States of America.