The Founders vs. The Progressives Overview lecture summary

Progressivism was a radical departure from the Founding and the Founders' ideas of liberty and equality had nothing to do with the progressive liberal transformation of America.

Here are the differences between the two:

1. What is freedom?
   • Founders view: People are created equal with unalienable rights such as life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, religious liberty and property. The source of these rights are laws of nature and nature's God. These laws are discovered by human reason although their truth is confirmed by the Bible. We are obliged to respect those rights in others. These rights and duties constitute a natural moral order. Everyone is born free and no-one has the right to make a slave of another.
   • Progressives view: People are not born free. Freedom is a product of human making. Historical relativity: Human values change over time. History is changing in the right direction--more freedom. Negative freedom- freedom from the control & will of others. Negative freedom is good. True freedom is not just negative but positive or effective freedom. Positive freedom- positive control of resources and mental equipment including trained powers of initiative and reflection. Positive freedom requires transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor and education--shaping the mind for growth and development. Self development for the sake of others is the aim of social ethics.
2. Purpose of gov't
   • Founders: Main task of gov’t is to secure the natural rights listed in the Declaration of Independence and other founding documents. Law should protect life, liberty and property from predators. Otherwise leave people alone. Founders knew in a free society there would be inequality of wealth but since people own their own body, minds, and talents, gov’t should protect these unequal talents. The attempt to make everyone equal would destroy liberty; it would deprive the people of the possibility of failure—their best incentive to master their destructive impulses and cultivate their talents. Founders did believe in a safety net for those who couldn’t find any help otherwise. 
   • Progressives: The only way positive freedom can be realizes is to take away someone else’s negative freedom—someone else’s property. Human beings by nature are unfree and unequal. It becomes the main task of gov’t to make them equal. The State has the responsibility to create institutions to help individuals realize their potentiality that is theirs. Laws and institutions are there to create individuals by redistribution of resources and transforming the character of the inferior citizens by a process called Uplift.  Social conditions, not God, is in which man moves, lives and has his being. Gov’t has to create individuals because on their own they are nothing. 
3. Domestic policy
   • Founders: State gov’ts took care of almost all domestic policy. A tough criminal law is essential. Civil law must define contract, property and minor injuries so people can effectively their right to acquire and possess property and sue people for less than criminal injuries.  State laws must protect the integrity of the family by defining marriage and specifying duties and rights of family members. Local gov’t provides a safety net. Gov’t supports the minimum moral conditions of a free society through schools, the encouragement of religion, public monuments to the nation’s heroes, and other means. Beyond these tasks gov’t leaves citizens alone to take care of their affairs. Besides a national defense a gov’t can maintain nationwide free trade by preventing states from interfering with trade between states and by defining money as gold or silver coin to prevent gov’t from using inflation as a tool of public policy. The Founders promoted the virtues of justice; moderation and frugality for self-restraint; and sturdy self-reliance. They promoted courage and vigilance for the defense of freedom. And they promoted enlightenment of rights and duties. Unfair trade practices mean violence and/or fraud.
   • Progressives: Income and wealth redistribution. Private property will always harm the poor or be mismanaged in some way. Businesses must then be pervasively regulated. Unfair trade practices mean anything that impacts people in a way that bureaucrats disapprove of. Any successful company is likely to be viewed of as unfair. To promote Uplift gov’t support of schools and universities was greatly expanded. Schools were reorganized to promote progressive doctrines. Modern university is the church of progressivism. Prior to WWII, the Uplift agenda segregated the races by gov’t mandate. The progs argued that it is better that blacks be excluded from white society and be forced to provide for themselves.
4. Foreign policy
   • Founders: Defend the rights of Americans from outsiders. The gov’t  maintains a strong national defense against foreign attack. It secures the borders of the nation against the intrusions of non-citizens. They made alliances with foreign nations only if it served the cause of national defense. It is not the gov’t’s job to secure the rights for the rest of the world.
   • Progressives: The progs advocated a policy of benevolent imperialism. They argued that the U. S. has a mission, perhaps a divine mission, to engage in imperialism and nation building. The progs believed that the citizens of the Philippines were like children who were incapable of self-rule so America made the Philippines and other islands colonies. The progs applied the same rule for foreign and domestic affairs: Consent of the governed only matters for civilized people.
5. Consent of the governed
   • Founders: Gov’t can only be fully legitimate if it is based on consent. If we are ruled without consent then we are slaves.
   • Progressives: Gov’t is democratic when feeds, sustains, and directs individuals. To accomplish this gov’t must extend to all the ways of living of the people. Many reforms appear to be expansions of consent like direct elections of senators and primary elections. But these reforms lessen the power of local communities so the elites can get elected who then can put the prog agenda into action.  The result is the people are far removed from those they elect and the politicians get more power.
6. Gov't limited or unlimited?
   • Founders: The Founders wanted gov’t to be limited but strong in the areas where it is supposed to be strong: national defense, protecting individual rights by tough law enforcement and free markets. Individuals were to have a high degree of personal liberty. Private individuals should decide how land should be used.
   • Progressives: The progs favored unlimited power. There is no limit to the right of the state for the gov’t save its ability to do good. A typical prog policy was for the gov’t to own as much land as possible. Prior to 1900 most public land was sold or given to private owners. After 1900 that policy stopped. Now, private owners are viewed as threats to the environment or exploiters of the poor. Progs are impatient with democratic institutions. They are impatient with the view that men are not angels and should not be trusted with unlimited power. Progs therefore give people who believe like they do unlimited power to do good. The Ruling Class gets to extract vast amount of money from the productive people of America to fund themselves and the programs they run.

Source: Hillsdale College’s Constitution 201 lecture series, “The Founders versus The Progressives” (2012) by Dr. Thomas G. West