Why I am not Progressive

In order to understand, I'll have to define terms. Progressivism is a political ideology that was originally developed to reform political and social movemens in response to the modernization of the late 1800's. This isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about modern Progressivism, which really isn't all that different, only applying to current issues instead of being a reaction to industrialization, urbanization, and the big changes that we faced when growing into a world power.

It's not that I oppose a lot of the touchstone issues of modern progressives. I believe that same sex couples should have the same legal rights and privledges as standard marriages. I believe that environmental conservation is important. Social Justice issues matter deeply to me. Change in these things are ultimately beneficial and I would argue inevitable. The same sex marriage issue is more an issue of the term "marriage" than anything else, redefining all laws pertaining to marriage as laws referring to civil unions would remove any reasonable opposition to that sort of thing.

There are some things that I do disagree with. My big one is extensive unionization. It's not that I don't like the idea of unions, but I am not particularly fond with what they are. Unions in skilled jobs are nothing more the medeval trade guilds in a more modern form. Even unions in the unskilled jobs that need the collective barganing to ensure that the employee's concerns are heard can kill companies when they are too powerful relative to management or are unnecesarily adversaral. Don't believe me ask Eastern Air Lines where continued labor unrest in conjunction with tough competition led to the liquidation of the entire company (and more than twenty thousand jobs) in a matter of a couple of years. Yes, companies have an obligation to their employees, but they also have obligations to the shareholders and customers. What's best for the employees needs to be weighed against what's good for everyone else. The same is true when considering the position of consumers and the shareholders. I don't believe that political power should be used to support any one of those groups at the expense of any others.

Still, even with my disagreements about unionism, universal health care, fixed rent housing, gun control, environmentalism, and the like that doesn't define my opposition to progressivism. I oppose the methodology more than anything else. The government does a lot well, but it simply does not replace other things.

The government cannot force social change. The tools of the government are repression (violence, jail time) and taxation. The government punishing people for thinking "bad" thing and rewarding them for doing "good" things is always a disaster. The fact that the government can do such a thing is bad thing. I don't care how good the change is. I don't care how much better the world can be if the change is made. The fact of the matter is that the power to define "good" and "bad" is a power that I don't trust for myself, much less anyone else. And I shudder to think what would happen if someone would decide that something that is a fundimental part of my world view is "bad".

Change on things like same sex marriage, reproductive rights, abolition of the death penalty, and immigration reform has to happen in our "marketplace of ideas" first, and follow in law only when the issue is largely settled. People have to mostly agree, or there will be horrible problems. How are those positions changed? Well, the debate we have in daily life makes those changes happen.