Where's the Freedom in all this "perfectible union"? - Granite Grok

Where’s the Freedom in all this “perfectible union”?

Obama:

“And I confess the progress didn’t come quickly, and it did not come easily,” President Obama said about his time as a community organizer in Chicago. “Sometimes it didn’t come at all. There were times where I thought about giving up and moving on. But what kept me going day in and day out was the same thing that has sustained the Urban League all these years. The same thing that sustains all of you. And that is the belief that in America, change is always possible. That our union may not be perfect, but it is perfectible.”

“That we can strive over time, through effort and sweat and blood and tears until it is the place we imagine. It may come in fits and starts, at a pace that can be slow and frustrating, but if we are willing to push through all the doubt and the cynicism and the weariness, then yes, we can form that more perfect union,” Obama said.

A more perfect union.  The problem is that this lies at the heart of Progressivism – they keep believing that THEY have the ability, that THEY should have the power, to form that more perfect union. A more perfect union – and what would that be?  In a nutshell, it is a collective utopia – that everyone shares the same values, that all share goals, and that all share an equality of outcomes.

In essence, it is the antithesis of  why and how our Founders wanted or designed for our Republic.  Equality for them was for equality before the law and opportunity; Progressives want equality in all areas along with a libertine culture.  Yes, circumstances can prevent the Founders vision from happening but a Law is a law – judges and juries should be slicing a case according to meeting or violating that law.  Unfortunately, it has becomes a “win at any cost” – it seemingly has lost sight of “the truth and nothing but the truth”.  Still, the State was to be a neutral observer in all this and its primary role was to protect our individual freedoms, liberties, and Rights.  Sadly, we seemingly have lost sight of this as Progressives have morphed government from being an umpire to that of being one that determines what behaviors are correct and which are wrong.

Words have meanings and Progressives love to use the same words but with alternative definitions.  What Progressives believe is that to “protect” freedom is not the freedom of Conservatives (freedom from an every intrusive and regulating government weight) but that which stems from “a man cannot be free if he is hungry”.  Instead of defending the intangible and “higher” values, Progressives believe government should protect us from everyday needs, and having accomplished, they are free.  Self-responsibility?  If government did what Progressives want, in their perfectible union”, you would be free from that – there would be no need for it.  Need for shelter?  There is no freedom if one is uncomfortable from weather.  Need for clothes?  Need from responsibility of bad decisions?  Need from dangerous actions?

A “perfectible union” that becomes perfected would supply all taht and more.  Sound nice?  Sure it does – who doesn’t want to be free to do whatever one wants without a thought of outcome?  Nary a thought, however, of how the the Government, in this perfected union, is able to give all that stuff to all those people?   Those concerned with Individual Freedom and Liberty do – for whatever Government gives to some, it first must take from others.

So where is the Freedom in that?  Marx’s axion of “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” really becomes “Take from the successful and give it to the bureaucrats”.  Marx implies a voluntary transaction; in all systems based on his theory, it is (or is becoming) a totalitarian state. To ‘give’ freedom’ to some, to achieve their utopian ideal, Progressives will not dwell on the other side of the equation – a loss of freedom for others.  This is not only just financial (as in the current “the rich need to pay their fair share”) but also in our lifestyles – we must eat the right foods, live in the right places, use only the right energy sources – or suffer a consequence.  Wish to hold other opinions or beliefs that get in the way of the “greater good”?  We are seeing the results of that now; take just two items:

  • Religious conscience must be subsumed to the contraceptive “needs” of others
  • Defending traditional values makes one a target (as in gay marriage)
  • Argue that the ‘collective’ is subsuming the individual, you are called selfish

The list, lately, has become longer and longer.  The biggest hubris that Obama and Progressives make is that humans actually can be perfected – not just on an individual bases but made perfect by others.  In essence, they have set themselves up not to be just teachers but to replace God with their State. THEY believe that they can perfect everyone – and are willing to do what is necessary to make that happen.  That their need for this perfectible union is so overpowering they willingly will do what they feel is necessary , even if they have to force it upon others.

Not one person is perfect – we are all fallen.  By the grace of God, we can become better, but not perfect as “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. Yet, stubborn as they are, the ideal of a heaven on earth (no matter how often it has been tried and failed), Progressives keep trying.

But they forget one other important thing – most people have their own, individual, idea of what a perfect utopia is FOR THEM.  To force them to accept, under duress, another is totalitarian – but Progressives will not allow that freedom from the collective.  That is the goal of Obama – to force his vision on us all.

Instead of realizing that the true genius of the Founders was to set up our Republic for us all to seek our own utopia.  No, very few will ever actually attain it, but that was not the aim.  Instead, it was the Freedom to seek such – a Freedom that Progressives are trying to take away from us.

(H/T: RealClearPolitics via Hot Air)

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