Dead on analysis of the Progressive agenda. Barry and his leftist cohorts are doing their best to destroy America and remake her into a Marxist-Socialist state. May they burn in hell.

Oh, and will they ever, forever, Robert.

Reagan said it's not about moving to the right or to the left, it's about going up or going down.

I used to believe that Satanists and the God-fearing had similar goals, but they were just walking the one path in different ways. Man, was I ever confused.

There is no adversary, no Devil, no spiritual enemy. This lie the Devil himself advocates with nearly endless brilliance, hiding, strengthened, and laughing behind the cloud of the dispersion of his own myth.

I can personally attest that Marxists are not interested in the success of their respective countries - they only want submission and exploitation of the masses by giving it enough to get by from day to day, to beg the government for more and be told no, bringing the country on the brink of disaster, leaving it vulnerable to the "enemy" from which the ruling elite would "save it."

In the communist minds there are spies lurking at every corner, every honest citizen is a spy who must be spied upon or imprisoned, and nobody is deserving of the largesse that the omniscient and omnipotent government is "lavishing" upon its citizens. How lavishing, you say? Long lines winding around the corners of many streets, encompassing 500 people or more at a time to the point that a banana or an orange become a luxury and people fight over toilette paper or vitamins. Anything that is life-sustaining or life-improving is worth its weight in gold.

Is this how Americans want to live? Are their spoiled and pampered lives (and they are in comparison to ANYBODY else on the planet) so bad that they must exchange everything for an empty utopian promise from the very government that is responsible for bankrupting everything they have ever touched?

I can only imagine how painful it must be for Mr Prager to realize that these Leftists really don't have the same goals we do. I expect it was a source of comfort to believe that Liberals merely differed in means rather than ends. It's perhaps quite dismaying to discover that their ends not only differ sharply from ours, but are inhumanly destructive as well.

Can we dispense with the esoterica that "left" and "liberal" are distinctly different things? Labels are a source of great confusion among many people, as they try to figure out what Left, Liberal and Progressive really mean. It doesn't help when there are plenty of websites out there deliberately offering disinformation in an effort to increase confusion rather than understanding.

What we used to call "liberal" bears no relation to what is known as "Liberal" today. The former can be represented by the libertarian values of the Founding Fathers, the modern Libertarians and even the ancient Greeks. What is called Liberal today (differentiated by the upper-case L) is Marxist, Socialist, Statist -- few if any similarities shared with classical liberalism.

In fact, these modern Liberals used to be the Progressives back in the 20s and 30s. They adored European Fascism, urged America to emulate the "successful" systems emerging in Italy and Germany, embraced eugenics, Marxist economic theory, and so forth. After WWII when the horrors of German Fascism came to light, the Progressives had trouble shaking their prior support for those systems. So they changed their name, called themselves "liberals," blamed support for the Nazis on their opponents, repackaged their Leftist ideas as classical liberalism, and conducted business as usual.

But of course, their policies were the farthest thing from actual liberalism. The Founders would have fainted at the thought of Statist control over individuals. So modern "liberalism" is nothing more than repackaged Progressivism. In order to clear up the confusion and help clarify terms, many writers have taken to using the capitalization trick, such that classical liberals remain unchanged whereas modern Liberals are easily identified as the thug-o-crats-formerly-known-as-Progressives.

All this stems from the multi-cultural belief that no country is better or greater than another. Of course, that is a matter of theology with the Liberals, but America presents a continual problem -- if no country can be better than another, how do we explain the staggering success, prosperity and freedoms of America? It *could* be that our Constitution, our values and our resources tend to make us more successful. Or it could be that America is an evil, horrible, racist, predatory country that victimizes and oppresses other nations and steals their resources.

Liberals, naturally, brush the first possibility aside without consideration -- and assume the second one is correct. Thus America is always the bad guy, always the oppressor, always in the wrong. All bad things in the world are laid at America's feet, according to Liberals.

Combine that twisted view with the fact that Liberals also believe as a matter of theology that Humanity needs to be ruled by a one-world government body, a central authority that benignly runs the entire planet at peak efficiency with "green" policies, and it's easy to see why the Left views a dismantled dollar, a weakened America and a third-rate economy as GOOD things. These aren't even problems, to the Left. They're GOALS.

Ileana,

I have never been forced to live in such conditions; but, I know several people who have lived that way. They were the guests of the Soviets in Poland from 1945 through 1975. They finally were allowed to leave and they moved to America and they have been happy ever since.

It is a shame that the leftists in this country are determined to repeat the failures of the communists here at home. I guess they feel that, since they are more thoughtful and they are more caring about the issues,they should never be questioned about the destruction they will cause.

I will not sit idly by and watch the obama-ites destroy this country just so they can feel good about themselves. Change is coming!!

Duke

Excellent analysis Mr. Prager! AND, spot on follow-up commentary and analysis Ileana and Michael. Couldn't agree more.

"Who is John Galt?" ~ Ayn Rand - 'Atlas Shrugged'

I raised this question yesterday in a comment on another column, but it bears repeating: Why does the Left think it can make a success of a political system that has FAILED in every country it has been instituted in, ever? And don't point at China as the shining example of successful communism, because it's nowhere close. China is not entirely communist. There is a *lot* of capitalism going on over there. Now, about this word, "progressive": the root of progressive is progress, which means to go forward, to go forth, to proceed. How can you be "progressive" when you advocate a political system that would *regress* society? When you saw news clips from the old USSR back in the day, did they look like they were moving forward? Look at Cuba, most Cubans live in hovels. This is progress? When progressives talk about "redistribution of wealth", they mean redistrubiting wealth from your paycheck into their pockets. Probably less than 10% of every entitlement dollar is actually spent on the entitlement itself, the other 90 cents tend to stick to a number of fingers on their way from your paycheck to the welfare line. And this is what they have in store for health care? Oh, joy, where do I sign up? ;-P

When will the republican leaders (still an oxymoron) call BHO what he is, a "communist"? Don't hang by your thumbs waiting for it to happen. Also when will they say, "where is the birth certificate"? Look at who the republicans are pushing in the various senate primaries. They are RINO's at best. And who are they pushing for President in 12, why Gingrich and Romney. Gingrich is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the one world government crowd (remmeber Bush 1 with the New world Order). Anyone know the difference between the CFR and the communists? It is a difference without a distinction. Romney when gov. of Taxachussetts pushed through the legislature, have medical insurance or pay a fine to the state. The only difference between that and BarryCare is one of degree.

It behooves us not to wait for a savior from the ranks of the Republican Party. I was a member for many decades and I am as disapointed about the Repuplican Party then I am disgusted about the Dems.

The time has come to sweep those fat cats and logn term career politicians out of office, take our Constitution for what it is: THE LAW and act upon it. We should not have leaders in washington...We do the leading, they execute what we the People want. We need term limits and a fresh start or this nation, the nation of the Free will cease to exist and become a side note in world history of tyranny and supression of personal liberties