Progressivism: Suppressing the Truth

1. Progressivism:Suppressing the Truth Brad Tupi, January 29, 2012

2. Biblical Truth Jesus to Pontius Pilate: “For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” John 18:37-38

3. Outline: Progressivism Abandons Truth • Redefines Government. • Excludes Religion. • Reshapes Education. • Degrades Sexual Mores. • Reduces Property Rights.

4. 9/12 Project: 12 Values • Honesty • Reverence • Hope • Thrift • Humility • Charity • Sincerity • Moderation • Hard Work • Courage • Personal Responsibility • Gratitude

5. The 9/12 Project • God-centered. • Family-centered. • Honesty is fundamental. • Hard work and personal responsibility are essential. • Founding Fathers understood the Truth about human nature and, therefore, government.

6. Contrast Progressivism • Arrogance, not humility • Atheism, not reverence • Spending, not thrift • Propaganda, not honesty • Envy, not hope • Welfare, not hard work • Entitlement, not gratitude • Compulsion, not charity

7. Declaration of Independence When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them. . . .

8. “Nature and Nature’s God” The laws of nature and of nature's God of course presupposes the existence of a God, the moral ruler of the universe, and a rule of right and wrong, of just and unjust, binding upon man, preceding all institutions of human society and of government. John Quincy Adams, 1839

9. Eternal Rules of Order “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.” GEORGE WASHINGTON First Inaugural Address, 1789

10. Natural Law • St. Thomas Aquinas: “The natural law is the light of understanding placed in us by God; through it we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God has given this law at the creation.” • Adam knew he was naked • Cain understood he had done wrong • An atheist can be moral • God’s natural law was the basis for America

11. Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

12. The Declaration’s Signers Of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, 24 (nearly half) held seminary or divinity degrees.

13. Men Are Not Angels But what is government but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. . . . In framing a government to be administered by men, you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. James Madison Federalist No. 51

14. Morality and Government “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports.” GEORGE WASHINGTON Farewell Address, 1796

15. Relativism “What is right or good or true to one person or group, may not be considered so by others . . . “There are no absolute standards. . . . Relativism urges suspension of judgment about right or wrong . . . .” R. H. Popkin, Relativism

16. Implications of Relativism • Absolute standards are abandoned. • Rights come from government, not God. • Law is evolving, changeable. • Law seeks to address endless specific circumstances instead of using general laws based on immutable principles. • Government grows, freedom and personal responsibility diminish.

17. Roots of Progressivism • Marx: materialism and collectivism • French Revolution: anti-Church • Darwinism: abandoning old truths • Statism: central planning • Machiavelli: ends justify means • Lenin: political correctness

18. Political Correctness • Misuse of language to compel conformity • Examples: • Choice • Investment • Corporate greed • Hate speech • Fairness

19. Relentless Propaganda “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” V. I. Lenin

20. Big Lies, Big Government • Founders were not Christians • Founders supported slavery • Living Constitution • America is no better than any other nation • Free markets don’t work • More money means better schools • Separation of Church and State

21. The First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . . .

22. George Washington “It would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe.”

23. Morality and Government “[It is] the duty of all wise, free, and virtuous governments to countenance and encourage virtue and religion.” John Jay

24. Northwest Ordinance “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” 24

25. On Education “The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this, there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty. . . .” Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence 25

26. Beginnings of American Education • First public schools in Connecticut and Massachusetts • Teach children to read Scripture • Bible was text

27. Harvard University (1636) Founded by Calvinists as seminary Let every Student be plainly instructed to consider well that the main end of his studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, and to lay Christ as the only foundation of learning. 27

28. Changes in American Education • Late 1800s: industrial age demands “scientific” approach, a rational social order. • “Best” people should make the decisions. • Government schools as a means to eradicate poverty and social injustice. • Early indoctrination of children would create an orderly society.

29. John Dewey (1859-1952) • Father of modern public education. • Social change thru education faster than thru political process.

30. John Dewey • Saw Christianity as a “dying myth” based on “prejudice and ignorance.” • Collectivism: “Mere absorbing of facts and truths is so exclusively individual . . . There is no clear social gain. . . . “ • Works translated by Bolsheviks.

31. John Dewey, 1927 “The belief in political fixity, of the sanctity of some form of state consecrated by the efforts of our fathers and hallowed by tradition, is one of the stumbling-blocks in the way of orderly and directed change.”

32. John Dewey’s Legacy • “New math” • “Whole language” reading • Cooperative learning • Schools as incubators of social change • Bill Ayers

33. John Dewey’s Legacy 2009: Wisconsin law mandates labor history and collective bargaining be taught in public high schools. 2011: California adds “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender” as underrepresented groups to be featured in curriculum .

34. On Education “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” --Lenin

35. Wilson on Education “Our problem is not merely to help the students to adjust themselves to world life, but to make them as unlike their fathers as we can.”

36. Teddy Roosevelt,Progressive President 1901-09. Tried to move Republican Party toward Progressivism. More regulation of business. Trust busting.

37. Teddy Roosevelt and Private Property • Private property is Biblical. • Natural law tells us that the fruits of my labor are mine. • The Commandments prohibit not only stealing, but even coveting. • Teddy Roosevelt saw it differently.

38. Teddy Roosevelt and Private Property • “Every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it.” • Hard work vs. public welfare • Charity vs. compulsion

39. Woodrow Wilson and the “Living Constitution” Nation is living organism, not machine. Constitution must be treated as living thing. Constitution should be interpreted by the Darwinian principle.

40. Woodrow Wilson and the “Living Constitution” • Jefferson’s idea of limited government idea now obsolete. • Expanding government is natural evolution. • “Government does now whatever experience permits or the times demand.”

41. Wilson on Spending “The people do not wish to curtail the activities of Government; they wish, rather, to enlarge them; and with every enlarge-ment . . . there must come, of course, the inevitable increase of expense. . . .” From 1916 to 1919 national debt grew from $3.6 B to $27.4 B. Thrift vs. consumption.

42. The Income Tax • 16th Amendment 1913. • 98% of Americans were exempt. • By 1921, goal became redistribution of wealth, and top rate was 73%. • Adam Smith: “When the rule of arithmetical proportion has been broken, the door is open to extortion.” • Charity vs. compulsion.

43. FDR and the New American Compact • 1932 campaign speech in San Francisco: A new social contract. • Centralized government to protect newly-defined rights against the “princes of property.” • Groundwork for social programs, redistribution. • “Taxes shall be levied according to the ability to pay.”

44. John Maynard Keynes • FDR’s economics guru. • Rejected tradition of frugality. • Consumption is economic goal. • Spending would cure Depression. • Politicians: spending is good for economy. • From 1933 to 1940, federal spending doubled.

45. Keynesianism • Spending did not revive economy. • Treasury Secretary Robert Morgenthau in 1939: “We have tried spending. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work.” • Today we call this “stimulus.” • Thrift vs. borrowing. • Arrogance vs. humility.

46. Socialist Candidate Norman Thomas, 1944 Six-time Presidential candidate. "The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened.”

47. Joe McCarthy Was Right • In 1995, government released Soviet cables that had been intercepted by Venona Project. • Proved beyond doubt there were Communist spies working in the U.S. government.

48. Joe McCarthy Was Right • Soviet agents in Roosevelt and Truman administrations • Alger Hiss, State Department • Harold Ickes, Interior Secretary • Frank Coe, U.S. rep to IMF • Klaus Fuchs, top atomic scientist • Harry Dexter White, Treasury Department • Lauchlin Currie, White House

49. Damage to American Interests • FDR gave diplomatic recognition to USSR in 1933 • Alger Hiss at Yalta: FDR gave Poland to Stalin • Yugoslavia: Tito over Mihailovich • Annie Lee Moss in Pentagon code room • George C. Marshall: Mao just agrarian reformer • Marshall encouraged Truman to fire MacArthur • Ethel and Julius Rosenberg gave nuclear secrets

50. 1963 Communist Party Platform: Foreign Policy • Disarmament by the United States. • Recognition of Red China. • Promote the U.N. • Internationalize the Panama Canal.