Progressivism an Authoritarian Religious Cult

by Lewis Loflin

Progressivism has morphed into an even more irrational religion called Wokism.

Progressives see the world and human nature as malleable. That "experts" being in power can create a paradise here and now. They can perfect people. After 100 years, there is no proof of this anywhere. Just the opposite as Progressivism tends towards tyranny and extremism.

In 2020, COVID-19 has brought out the authoritarian "woke" nature of liberals-Progressives.

See 84% of Americans Fear the Government for Good Reason

Note that here Progressive and Liberal refer to the same thing even though Liberal was once very different from Progressive.

The main difference at one time between liberals and Progressives is the use of government. Liberals use government incentives (bribes and rewards) to control behavior.

Progressives are more likely to use government force. This force includes crushing legal action and courts few can afford to fight.

Making extensive and vague laws and regulations the average person can't hope to understand - necessitating hiring costly "experts" only the rich can afford.

Progressivism or Wokism is a religion of the rich, empowering the rich and transferring massive wealth and power to the ruling class.

According to Michael P. Federici notes how Progressivism has many characteristics of a religion:

The philosophical fathers of Progressivism include Francis Bacon, Hegel, Marx, Comte, Rousseau, Condoret, Bentham, Mill and Edward Bellamy... One of the main characteristics of these thinkers' Progressivism was its pseudo spirituality, or relation of humanity. In this substitute religion, faith in a transcendent moral order is replaced by faith in nature, science, technology, and reason.

But what happens when reason and empirical proof contradict the narrative? And "faith" in science has nothing to do with the proper role of science. It is faith in "experts" hiding behind science to promote a political or social agenda - scientific authority overrules scientific fact.

Typical is the refusal of government agencies such as the EPA to disclose the studies and basis for their decisions. These often secretive decisions can destroy the lives and livelihoods of millions. Drive people into poverty, disposes citizens of their civil and property rights.

See Why Public Disclosure is a Right.

To continue:

This faith also involves a sort of humanitarian sentimentalism that attempts to satisfy an inner desire to serve mankind and the world by engaging in reforms meant to uplift the less fortunate. Yet these reforms are not intended to effect inner spiritual reform, but rather to change institutions and thus improve society through outer reform. Conservatives argue that progressive humanitarianism is both a diversion and escape from individual moral responsibility.

Progressivism also includes the idea that human perfectibility is possible in history. This doctrine holds that it is unnecessary to wait for the afterlife for human perfection; the fulfillment of human nature can take place in earthly life. Scientific progressives, like Bacon, believe that progress is a predicate of scientific knowledge and technological developments. Social progressives, like Croly, believe that human nature can be transformed through political reform...

But transforming society "through political reform" has always led to tyranny and mass murder. It doesn't matter if it is the French Revolution and Robespierre, Marxism under Lenin, Stalin, or Mao, or jailing a Colorado baker for refusing to bake a cake for a homosexual wedding.

How many people have Putin arrested or fined over a cake? It all comes down to force to enforce conformity.

Progressivism is intimately tied to modern liberalism and the politics of the welfare state, which holds that the transformation of society can only be achieved by a centralized government that has sufficient power to remake society...

Finally, Progressivism has in it a gnostic element. That is, progressives believe that they possess the knowledge needed to transform society and human nature. They are greatly dissatisfied with the world as it is and are impatient with life and the very structure of reality because these fall short of perfection or the progressive ideal. These gnostic attributes are part of an existential disposition that fails to accept the permanence of evil in earthly life - in theological terms, original sin.

By contrast, most conservatives believe that the structure of reality, including human nature, is permanent. Attempts to transform the human condition end up in disaster, as Huxley and Orwell suggest in their dystopias Brave New World (1932) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)...

Here again lies the underlying assumption of Progressivism: evil is the result of a poorly organized world. Reorganization of the world in accordance with progressive ideas will usher in a new age of freedom, equality, and peace.

From: American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia and Michael P. Federici.

Navigation

The following are gateway pages to my three websites.