Obama: Brought to You by Ely, Holmes, Dewey, and Croly

The cover story on the December 31 issue of National Review (NR) is an excellent read for anyone wishing to understand the intellectual roots of today’s progressive Lefties. I’ve been meaning for days to finish this posting. But, frankly, it’s just been too much fun enjoying hand-to-hand combat on the web with sarcastic comments. (See my “random droppings” link on the right, or my NY Times Censorship Poll at the top, if this form of amusement appeals to you).


For the uninitiated, NR was founded by the great William F. Buckley, Jr. in 1955. I like to think of NR as the original “conservative underground” (with apologies to Sean Hannity, who has been using this tag line for his radio show). As NR grew in circulation over the years, it gained a well-deserved reputation as the flagship publication for conservative opinion. To this day, if you read it in NR, you can take it to the bank.

The 12-31-09 NR cover story is four short articles describing the careers and influences of four original progressives. NR’s writers plainly show the philosophical line that stretches directly from these men to today’s liberals. If you can break away from the People magazine puff piece on Obama for half an hour, you should give this a read.

Richard Ely was an influential professor of economics at both Johns Hopkins University and the University of Wisconsin. He is credited with a collection of ideas that emphasize the collective over the individual. The one Ely quote on economics that jumped out at me from the article is: “The nation in its economic life is an organism, in which individuals, families, and groups…form parts.” Some of the specific policies he advanced had merit in his time - abolishing child labor, for example. Perhaps his biggest impression on liberals was stylistic. Ely was raised in an extremely pious religious tradition, and he lived out his life literally believing he was doing God’s work (according to how I read the article). Another Ely quote from the article: “It [the State] is religious in its essence …” I get the sense it was Ely who first taught Lefties the ends justify the means.

Ely also influenced many other people who rose to high public positions. One of them was Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who served on the Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932. Holmes was appointed by Theodore Roosevelt, also heavily influenced by Ely. Holmes laid a strong foundation for today’s judicial activism. His three decades on the court are a long record of decisions based on the judge’s interpretation of moral right versus wrong, instead of the previously traditional strict interpretation of the Constitution. The only problem I have with this article is it presents “pragmatism” as a negative “ism” that was behind Holmes’ thinking. I’ve always thought it a virtue to be pragmatic – i.e. taking care to react realistically to the real world, and the opposite of automatic ideological responses. I choose to stick with my interpretation for the remainder of my time on this Earth. It’s beside the point, anyway. Holmes showed Lefties how to use the courts to achieve the ends they fail to achieve in representative bodies.

John Dewey was a professor of philosophy and education who mainly taught at the University of Chicago and Columbia University. He also regularly contributed to New Republic magazine, then edited by our fourth suspect, Herbert Croly (see below). Dewey worked tirelessly to redefine the concept of “freedom.” For Dewey, “freedom” did not simply mean the individual being free of government obstacles. He devoted himself to the proposition “freedom” means the government actively enabling individual results. Dewey indoctrinated Lefties with a belief in “social justice” and a sense of entitlement.

Herbert Croly was an author and editor whose writings were used on university campuses all the way up to the 1960’s. He was a strong proponent of centralized government. He also espoused the idea of cleanly breaking from the past of our Founding. I also interpreted from the article that Croly carried with him a strong streak of elitism.  The governing style of today’s Lefties reflects the attitudes handed down to them by Croly.

The most important reason to read this stuff is today’s Lefties are already planning to change the label they use for themselves. They know they’ve worn out “liberal” with us. They are already starting to pivot back to “progressive,” because they think we’ve forgotten about the history of these original “progressives.” The problem for them, however, is we can look this stuff up for ourselves.

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Footnote 1

JAY! EEE! TEE! ESS!

Jets! Jets! Jets!


Footnote 2

Tomorrow’s election for the Massachusetts Senate seat will be a victory for the Conservative Ascendancy, regardless of which way it falls. Just as Doug Hoffman’s run in New York 23 was. If Coakley (more accurately the Massachusetts Democrat machine) squeaks through; we can just look back at both of these races, along with the Virginia and New Jersey victories, as harbingers for November. If Brown pulls off the improbable win, then all I can say is the Conservative Ascendancy is rising quicker than even I thought. Keep up the charge, patriots!