A tool for any number crunchers: Bureau of Labor Statistics On Line Data, in case you want to check the growth in Wisconsin State, Local and Educational Services employees. On a strictly numerical basis there is an ongoing progressive expansion of the government payroll.
I keep thinking that as a stand alone word, ‘progressive’ is essentially meaningless. It’s a modifier without an object to give it definition, or a force without a mass to make it measurable. Once upon a time in America, progressive was linked to individual liberty and the progressive movement aimed to diminish the obligation an individual owed to the government. Every single self avowed progressive these days intends just the opposite. The progressive government advocates cherish the mutual obligation between the individual and the community and the State. Too much freedom is dangerous and too much obligation is equally harmful.
Hat Tip to Mike at Cooler Near The Lake for Defining Conservatism Down, which a bit of a plowing through difficult terrain type of read. It was this quote, which Mike highlighted, that caught my attention by saying bluntly that America no longer has the original concept of citizen government.
Liberalism came of age in the New Deal, which finally succeeded in replacing representative government with a European-style administrative state, staffed by the nation’s ablest, most idealistic men. After World War II, when the national mood no longer favored reform, liberals turned to an even more elite institution—the Supreme Court—to continue remaking American society. For a generation, liberalism so dominated American life that, while conservatives saw conservatism as the taste of a saving remnant, liberals became convinced that their ideology expressed the natural sentiments of the American people.I don’t believe we either need or should revert back to our 18th Century experiment, but I also don’t believe we are well served by permanent politicians. The balance between freedom and obligation needs adjusting. Personally, I believe term limits need to be imposed on the political class precisely to force their focus back on doing what is right for the public rather than doing what is safe enough to retain employment.
Doing what is right and not popular is described in words and photos by a combat reporter in Iraq. Look at the pictures then read about our soldiers: Gates of Fire.
