Progressives: On wrong side of history

Dear Mr. Farah,

Happy New Year, sir!

I'm writing today about your recent column, "The crummy deal 'progressives' sell." As usual, it contains a great measure of wisdom. But you left out a few things I thought I would bring to your attention.

The column's biggest lapse – and I hope you'll take this in the spirit of constructive criticism – is that it doesn't deliver on the broader implications of the headline. You mention only one way in which progressivism has been rotten for America. The fact is, the deal progressives sell has ALWAYS been a crummy one, going all the way back through our nation's history. Below I've listed a handful of examples:

1. Progressives in the South created American slavery, and worked hard to perpetuate that evil institution and subjugation of the black race. Conservatives, of course, abhorred slavery and fought hard to abolish it. This is why the pro-slavery progressives started the Civil War, against anti-slavery conservatives. And it killed more Americans than the combined death toll from all the other military conflicts our nation has every engaged in. It was all the fault of progressives!

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2. Who cheered when the Supreme Court announced its odious Dred Scott decision, in which the court ruled that Negroes had no right to citizenship, and that for census purposes, they counted as only a fraction of a white person? Progressives, that's who! The decision was written by Justice Roger Taney, who was from Maryland, which is a progressive state.

3. After they lost the Civil War, and following Reconstruction, progressives in the South re-instituted the old order via Jim Crow laws. These relegated freed blacks to a permanent underclass. And a subset of those progressives (such as the Ku Klux Klan) engaged in terroristic campaigns to keep American Negros in the underclass.

4. It was conservatives, such as Susan B. Anthony, who led the fight for women's suffrage and ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Progressives, of course, fought Anthony and her movement every step of the way.

5. Perhaps you recall reading about early industrialization in America, and how children as young as 9 or 10 were employed as virtual slaves in factories. Child labor was an institution invented and perpetuated by child-hating progressives. Thankfully, after a long battle – including a few rounds in the U.S. Supreme Court – conservatives prevailed and it was abolished, like slavery. Fortunately, the progressives did not start a war over it.

6. Not many people realize this, but Rosa Parks was a conservative. She led the fight in the American South against Jim Crow laws in public transportation, and this spawned anti-discrimination movements in schools, housing, employment, at lunch counters, etc. Those were led by black conservatives, such as Thurgood Marshall and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Progressives fought them every step of the way – and even lynched thousands of American Negros to instill fear against the black-equality movement.

7. Who led the American labor movement, and the fight for workers' rights, higher wages, benefits and better working conditions? It was conservatives, that's who. Everybody knows they're the champion of the worker, and that progressive robber barons fought workers' rights every step of the way.

That's merely seven examples. I could go on and on about the many other evils instituted or perpetuated by progressives and the heroic and courageous actions conservatives took to fight them. When you look closely, you can find a progressive behind just about every ugly moment in American history. Fortunately, they lost all the important battles to conservatives, so history is squarely on our side.

All of which is to say, the crummy "deal" progressives have been selling this country since its inception is much deeper, broader and more malevolent than simply women in the workforce, subsidized childcare and the economic ills that plague the average household today. Progressives have been the principal plague on America for generations. It's frankly a wonder that we conservatives have tolerated them for so long.

I hope you will note all or part of the above in your next column about how badly progressivism has screwed our country.

Your fan,

Arthur Mofodopoulis