Our American consensus (our founding documents) have led to the American dream.  But not everyone has shared the same dream.  After the Civil War and the rise of the Industrial Revolution, many believed America needed to rethink its consensus.  This led to the movement called Progressivism.

It was believed that the old system (our founding principles) had been the cause of the Civil War and didn’t make sense anymore as society was rapidly changing and therefore needed reform.  The new ideas were based on the growing popularity of relativism (the idea that there are no permanent truths), historicism (that placed all ideas into a historical context and denied the relevance of the past to the present or future), and positivism (which emphasized that only empirical or scientific facts were of any use in making decisions without any reliance on tradition or revelation).

This new philosophy brought about a love of “change” for change’s sake, or rather as an end in and of itself.  Thus was born the drive to set aside the old and bring in the new, especially in regards to American governing ideals that had been practiced since the founding.  Their results would lead to transforming the role of government in society to the administrative state we know today, sparked the “social justice” movement (at the time meant promoting socialist programs), nationalized the public education system through John Dewey, which began the erosion of local educational control, and increased federal intrusion in our lives by creating the income tax and the Federal Reserve bank.

After the consequential presidential election of 1912, President Woodrow Wilson led this new movement and paved the way for future waves of progressive government in the presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Barack Obama.  Their goals were to fundamentally transform the principles and practices of American constitutionalism – politically, economically and culturally.  At its root, they parted from the Founders insisting that our rights can only come from government and do not come from a “fictional” natural rights-basis.  Equality was now based on outcome as opposed to an equality of opportunity.

While conservative principles lead toward limited government and ordered liberty, progressives seek to bring all aspects of human life under the control of a strong central government.   Using planning and laws to direct the happiness of its citizens, it distrusts its own citizens in allowing them to pursue their own happiness.  Much of the formal history of the modern conservative movement can be seen as reactions to the successive waves of progressive influence in our nation’s politics.

To help determine the future of Conservatism, it is helpful to consider where progressive thought is headed, for in opposing them will be much of the task of the conservative.