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Let's get into it:
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas spoke at the University of Texas in Austin on Wednesday night and he lashed out at the horrible political philosophy of progressivism, saying that it's anathema to the Declaration of Independence and the goals set forth in that document. He praised the ethos of the Founding Fathers and urged Americans not to be "passive spectators" in American liberty, but to uphold the Declaration of Independence.
I saw something flit by on social media about Thomas this morning, and as he's a man who upholds the principles of our founding, I stopped to listen. I ended up listening with rapt attention to his entire speech at UT Austin and finding there were more sections that I wanted to clip than I had time to do! It's worth a full listen if you want to check it out, I suggest you do.
He walked through the history of progressivism, saying "At the beginning of the 20th century, a new set of first principles of government was introduced into the American mainstream. The proponents of this new set of first principles, most prominently, the 28th president of our country, Woodrow Wilson called it progressivism. Since Wilson's presidency, progressivism has made many inroads into our system of government and our way of life. It has coexisted uneasily with the principles of the declaration because it is opposed to those principles, it is not possible for the two to coexist forever."
"Progressives like Wilson argued that America needed to leave behind the principles of the founding and catch up with the more advanced and sophisticated system of relatively unimpeded state power, nearly perfect, perfected," Thomas said.
"Progressivism was the first mainstream American political movement, with the possible exception of the pro-slavery reactionaries on the eve of the Civil War, to openly oppose the principles of the Declaration. Progressives strove to undo the Declaration's commitment to equality and natural rights, both of which they denied were self-evident. To Wilson, the unalienable rights of the individual were, 'a lot of nonsense.' Wilson redefined Liberty not as a natural right attendant and accedent to the government, but as, 'the right of those who are governed to adjust government to their own needs and interests.' In other words, Liberty no longer preceded the government as a gift from God, but was to be enjoyed at the grace of the government."
For Thomas, and I would say for all of us who believe in the principles of our founding, "we do not derive our rights from our government," these rights are natural rights, granted to us by God, inherent in the state of being human. "Our rights are inherent," he said, "they do not come from others and they do not come from the government." He went on to say that "none of our rights come from the government. All of the government's authority comes from our consent."
When we push back against progressivism, it isn't because it wouldn't be lovely to live in a utopia where everyone gets free buses or whatever the trending thing is today, but because our lives are worth more than that, our principles of self-determination are more essential than free stuff, and because all of that free stuff comes with the capitulation of our rights to government. We Americans are not a passive people, but one that believes government is meant to serve us, we are not meant to serve government. Once we serve the government, we can be squashed under their cruel thumbs. Thomas is a hero of our time.
Libby