The two main political movements in America today are best described as conservative and progressive.
These ideologies are not defined simply – especially since there is a spectrum of positions that conservatives/progressives take on many issues.
One of the more clarifying issues that accentuate the differences between conservative and progressive thought at a foundational level is their respective approaches to the founding documents of America.
Conservatives view the Declaration of Independence as laying out eternal principles of liberty and equality. Further, the declaration gives us the purpose of government: to secure and protect the unalienable rights of its citizens.
In other words, a just government exists to protect the God-given rights of its citizens; and it is unjust if it doesn’t. Those rights would need to be protected from those outside the country, as well as those inside by enforcing civil laws.
Further, the government should promote the family, as well as some moral duties and responsibilities of a free people.
The Constitution then lays out the form of the government that we have to secure these rights. A major function of the Constitution is the separation of powers. The reason this principle was so important for the Founders is because of the fixed and imperfect nature of man.
James Madison articulated this issue beautifully, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and the next place, oblige it to control itself.”
The checks and balances prescribed in the Constitution was the Founders’ solution to restrain the government.
The progressive view of the founding documents is very different. Woodrow Wilson – an early Progressive – viewed the declaration as a specific remedy for specific problems at a specific time (i.e., historical contingency). Because he thought modern people face much different problems than the Founders faced, he wrote, “If you want to understand the real Declaration of Independence, do not repeat the preface.”
The preface (the first two paragraphs) is what includes the “self-evident” truths that are timeless. The rest of the declaration is a rehearsal of the abuses of King George III against the colonies – things that don’t really apply to us anymore.
This leads Progressives to dislike how the Constitution limits governmental power. They believe that good government shouldn’t be limited and hampered by fighting against itself (i.e., checks and balances). It needs to be free to grow and solve the problems that we now face; it’s a “living thing and not a machine.”
So Progressives view human nature as fluid and hence believe that government exists to shape and create individuals and to make sure that people are equal – through income redistribution. This produces “constitutional rights” that don’t exist in the Constitution.
Which position is most consistent with reality and history?
You be the judge.
Scott Kamps writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, thestableguy@frontier.com.