The New Progressive Era: The Age of Corruption
Those of you who can remember your U.S. History, recall the turn of the 20th century “Progressives” who among other things, attempted to reduce political corruption. Many leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt fought the entrenched forces of Tammany Hall, advocated for a professional civil service based on merit, supported voter initiatives and recalls, and promoted “muckraking” journalists that sought to expose corruption in both the public and private sector.
The movement’s goals were to clean up corrupt government and corporate monopolies.
Elements of the movement may have done some good but relied too heavily on the government to pursue goodness. Once the reformers were in power, they acted pretty much like the other special interests they were trying to reform. It is an old problem: who regulates the regulators? And then there is the other problem noted by Lord Acton: Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Today’s Progressives no longer promote “muckraking”, unless it is against political opponents. They instead promote university-enforced group think, book publisher group think, film and stage group think, and the monopolistic practices of Big Tech. Instead of busting up monopolies like Facebook and Twitter, they now employ them to shut down discussion. Through these corporations, they shadow ban and de-platform anyone who muckrakes any aspect about Progressive governance. The reform instinct has been transformed from “sunshine is the best antiseptic” into cancel culture.
Perhaps the worst of the backsliding is evident in the attitudes toward corruption and the ethics for public service. Recently the Wall Street Journal reported that more than 130 Federal judges violated both Federal law and judicial ethics by trying corporate legal cases in which the judges, or their families, held stock. So far, none have resigned in shame.
Two members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Eric Rosengren of the Boston Fed and Robert Kaplan of the Dallas Fed, have just resigned because they too used their position and knowledge of monetary policy shifts to enrich themselves and their families. A third member, the Deputy Director of the Fed Richard Clarida, also traded stocks in his own account before Fed announcements and is still clinging to his office. Meanwhile, the former Chairwoman of the Fed and now Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had to acknowledge that she made over $7 million on speaking fees, paid for by the banks she is supposed to regulate. She got rewarded with a cabinet position.
It would seem today’s Progressives believe the government is their personal vehicle to loot the country with the mainstream press as their getaway driver.
Numerous members of Congress have been caught speculating in stocks as well, often of companies they can affect through legislation. Nancy Pelosi’s husband has done quite well, pushing Nancy into the top three in Congressional wealth.
And what about Joe Biden. Politifact has now determined that early stories from The New York Post about his son’s laptop were completely valid. Undeterred by payoffs in the Ukraine and China (while his Dad was Vice President), he is gone on to auction “art” to influential people. Even the Obama-era ethics czar Walter Shaub has harshly criticized the Biden family. But no Progressive muckrakers seem to be able to find either their voice or a publisher. Corruption it would seem is now like incest and best kept within the family.
And of course, we have the Clinton Foundation, one the cleverest of all pay-for-play schemes.
We can’t leave out the Russian collusion scandal, the mobilization of the FBI and the intelligence agencies to undermine an elected President, all with information paid for by Democrats.
And speaking of the FBI, the Inspector General has determined they either falsified or made mistakes on about 400 FISA applications, as well as being implicated in a false flag operation during the January 6th Capitol riot. How the mighty have fallen!
Progressives at one time had a reputation for cleaning up corrupt city governments as well. Today’s Progressives seem to take pride in turning Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and many other places into over-taxed, crime-ridden sanctuaries for the so-called homeless. Why is a slum of tents better than a tenement building?
So deeply does corruption now run in the political bloodstream of America that some just call it generically, THE SWAMP. Crowds often break into spontaneously shouting “lock him or her up”, out of frustration knowing that today’s Progressive corruption will never be held to account. Progressives have become the very “establishment” that so many in the 1960s inveighed against.
Today Progressives are great at hectoring others without looking at themselves. Do this for the environment, do that to fight Covid, do these other things for racial harmony. Their desire to conduct central planning is so insatiable and they turn almost everything from sports to vaccinations, to vaccinations in sport, into a political struggle that they must control. If you don’t respond to their hectoring, there is no need for them to explain themselves. Coercion is the next step.
Sure, some self-examination is long overdue by Progressives but don’t hold your breath waiting for that to occur. The new reformers, the new muckrakers, are going to have to be Conservatives.
