Coming off of the Woodrow Wilson years, the Democrat Party was the de-facto Progressive Party in the United States. Theodore Roosevelt's efforts had failed, and the GOP remained as having some constitutional elements in it.
With the rise of Calvin Coolidge and the roaring 20's coupled with a reduction in government that makes most of us jealous, progressivism was looking like it was permanently eliminated.
Technically, it was. In order to ensure its own survival, progressivism had to lie and say it was something else. That chosen title was "liberalism". Most of the time, when you and I think about how liberals are destroying this country - um, no, they aren't.
Liberals are not destroying America. Progressives are destroying America. So, who re-introduced progressivism as liberalism, and when did this re-branding occur?
It was rebranded by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, at his acceptance speech for the 1932 Presidential nomination. He said:
Yes, the people of this country want a genuine choice this year, not a choice between two names for the same reactionary doctrine. Ours must be a party of liberal thought, of planned action, of enlightened international outlook, and of the greatest good to the greatest number of our citizens
Liberalism never stood for "planned action". Liberalism never stood for the utilitarian "greatest good to the greatest number". "Reactionary" isn't a liberal word. This is the perversion.
This, is where it took place.
July 2, 1932. Mark the date.
http://tinyurl.com/jmd4jzk
There are other parts of this speech which deserve mention. From the 5-8 pargraphs, he talks about the Democrat party being the party of progress, without proclaiming himself as a progressive. This is important. This is a part of the re-branding.
ReplyDeleteHe proclaims that the "great indomitable, unquenchable, progressive soul" of Wilson is with them.
Paragraph 8 is the key - where he conflates "progress" and "liberalism" as being the same thing. That's the turning point. That turning point - it is very difficult to understate how important that is. And finally, paragraph 15, which I quoted above in the main body of blog posting.
Re-branding and re-naming has a long history, rooted in the ideology of progressivism, we see them do that today with for example, anybody remember the ACORN scandal? The progressives have been re-naming and re-branding themselves since Edward Bellamy and the Nationalist movement jump started this nightmare.