Progress, Obama Style

At Liberty Law Blog, Ken Masugi writes on Obama's radicalism in light of his recent attack on the "American work ethic."  And he also brings us back to both TR and Woodrow Wilson and contends that far from being the arbiter of new theories and new ways of looking at things, Obama is simply repeating old Progressive doctrines.  Here is Ken on the similarities between that first professor-president and Obama:

As Woodrow Wilson put it, 100 years ago, “Living political constitutions must be Darwinian in structure and in practice.” And thus we must recognize, Wilson argues, that the Declaration of Independence is not relevant for our time, as we have evolved beyond it. All that we previously valued politically, such as rights, freedom, and equality, must be understood in a new way, Professor Wilson insists.  Professor Obama follows the Wilson argument and redoubles it and more.

Obama obscures what young scholar Woodrow Wilson wrote in an unpublished paper in 1887, in which he argued that there was no fundamental difference between socialism and democracy—for each claimed unlimited power over the definition of the common or public good.  “[F]or  it is very clear that, in fundamental theory, socialism and democracy are almost, if not quite, one and the same. They both rest at bottom upon the absolute right of the community to determine its own destiny and that of its members. Men as communities are supreme over men as individuals.”

And here is some much needed advice on how conservatives should counter Obama's rhetoric:

Thus, in attacking the Obama update on socialism, the focus should not only be on business success, or the success of great entrepreneurs, but on the successful lives of most Americans. Obama is not only out to attack the 1% but transform the 100% in their understanding of the meaning of America and its fundamental ideals. The response to Obama that he’s waging “class warfare” merely plays into Progressive hands—it assumes with Progressivism that there are two warring classes instead of one overarching, uniting principle of individual rights.