Rediscovering Americanism: And the Tyranny of Progressivism

by Mark R. Levin

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  To my wonderful parents, Jack and Norma

  CONTENTS

  ONE

  Americanism

  TWO

  The Progressive Masterminds

  THREE

  The Philosopher-Kings

  FOUR

  Administrative-State Tyranny

  FIVE

  Liberty and Republicanism

  SIX

  Liberty and Property

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Notes

  ONE

  * * *

  AMERICANISM

  I OFTEN WONDER WHAT Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison, John Adams, George Mason, Benjamin Franklin, and the other Founders would think about today’s America. What about the earliest Boston revolutionaries, men like Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, John Hancock, and Paul Revere? Of course, they would be mesmerized by all the modern inventions and conveniences of everyday life, but what of the ubiquitous nature of the federal government? Surely they would object.

  In Liberty and Tyranny I wrote: “So distant is America today from its founding principles that it is difficult to precisely describe the nature of American government. It is not strictly a constitutional republic, because the Constitution has been and continues to be easily altered by a judicial oligarchy that mostly enforces, if not expands, the Statist’s agenda. It is not strictly a representative republic, because so many edicts are produced by a maze of administrative departments that are unknown to the public and detached from its sentiment. It is not strictly a federal republic, because the states that gave the central government life now live at its behest. What, then, is it? It is a society steadily transitioning toward statism.”1

  Moreover, do most Americans appreciate liberty, the civil society, republicanism, and economic prosperity or fear their loss? Of course, if you ask someone the question about himself, he is likely to answer yes, although he might wonder about his fellow citizens’ grasp and gratitude. But the issue is more perplexing and vital to the future of the American republic than one might initially imagine. An incalculable number of philosophers and scholars, ancient to modern, have written extensively about these topics. It is beyond my mortal competence or the physical limitations of this book to catalog or probe them all here. Although five of my six earlier books have addressed these subjects in various ways, there is great value if not urgency in exploring them further from an additional or a more thorough perspective, given what I believe to be their precariousness in modern America. Thus we must tackle the matter of first principles. After all, this is our heritage. This is not a mere academic or theoretical exercise among elitists, of interest only to professors and navel-gazers. It sits at the core of human existence and American society and, therefore, is relevant to us all. These principles, and understanding them, serve as the antidote to tyrannical regimes and governments.

  I am well aware that this book will not change the course of history. But if it can open a few eyes it will have served its purpose. I shall do my best to make my writing accessible and interesting to the broadest audience without compromising content. In this book, I quote substantially and directly from various philosophers and thinkers to provide the reader with a real understanding and feel for what is being argued and proposed. In addition to extensive endnotes, I also provide book and essay titles and sources throughout the body of this book, thereby making it easier for the reader to go to those sources on their own should they want to further explore them. Nonetheless, this book will require the reader’s focus and engagement as it covers much material in relatively short order.

  * * *

  It is fitting to begin our journey with the final letter written by one of America’s greatest Founders, Thomas Jefferson. On June 24, 1826, Jefferson, who was quite ill, wrote to Roger Weightman from Monticello, declining his invitation to participate in the fiftieth-anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson would become bedridden two days later and die on July 4, the same day his good friend in later years, John Adams, passed away.

  In great pain from numerous ailments, and now writing with his left hand since he had earlier broken his right hand, which never healed properly, Jefferson wrote:

  Monticello

  June 24. 1826

  Respected Sir

  The kind invitation I receive from you on the part of the citizens of the city of Washington, to be present with them at their celebration of the 50th. anniversary of American independence; as one of the surviving signers of an instrument pregnant with our own, and the fate of the world, is most flattering to myself, and heightened by the honorable accompaniment proposed for the comfort of such a journey. [I]t adds sensibly to the sufferings of sickness, to be deprived by it of a personal participation in the rejoicings of that day. [B]ut acquiescence is a duty, under circumstances not placed among those we are permitted to control. I should, indeed, with peculiar delight, have met and exchanged there congratulations personally with the small band, the remnant of that host of worthies, who joined with us on that day, in the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between submission or the sword; and to have enjoyed with them the consolatory fact, that our fellow citizens, after half a century of experience and prosperity, continue to approve the choice we made. [M]ay it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings & security of self-government. [T]hat form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. [A]ll eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. [T]he general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view. [T]he palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. [T]hese are grounds of hope for others. [F]or ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them. (Italics added)

  I will ask permission here to express the pleasure with which I should have met my ancient neighbors of the City of Washington and of its vicinities, with whom I passed so many years of a pleasing social intercourse; an intercourse which so much relieved the anxieties of the public cares, and left impressions so deeply engraved in my affections, as never to be forgotten. With my regret that ill health forbids me the gratification of an acceptance, be pleased to receive for yourself, and those for whom you write, the assurance of my highest respect and friendly attachments.

  Th. Jefferson2

  As Jefferson wished, we now “refresh our recollection of these rights” and turn straightaway to the Declaration of Independence and carefully examine its language. Its wording is crucial and purposeful. And its link to natural law is inextricable and imperative. It begins as follows: “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to ass
ume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind.” It states further: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”3 (Italics added)

  The near-universal appeal of this wording and these principles among America’s Founders is underscored further in other important historical documents of this period. The Virginia Declaration of Rights was adopted on June 12, 1776, thereby predating the Declaration of Independence by a few weeks. It was principally drafted by George Mason, who would also play a significant role at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The prominence of the Virginia Declaration is indisputable as some of its language was, in fact, borrowed by Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence. Moreover, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Samuel Adams used similar language in drafting future declarations of rights and constitutions for their own states.

  Section 1 of the Virginia Declaration provides: “That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”4 (Italics added)

  The Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, adopted on August 16, 1776, and whose main author was Franklin, states, in Section 1: “That all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and inalienable rights, amongst which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”5 (Italics added)

  Article I of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, ­adopted in 1780, and whose authors included John Adams and Samuel Adams, states: “All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.”6 (Italics added)

  But the Declaration of Independence rightly stands as the formal, consensus proclamation for America’s independence and founding. After several iterations, it was adopted by the Second Continental Congress, which had initially convened in Philadelphia in May 1775 after the battles of Lexington and Concord. All the colonies were represented. And while most of the delegates initially opposed independence, as Congress’s entreaties for peace were met with intensified British military aggression it became clear that the colonies would have to choose either independence or subjugation.

  On May 8, 1825, forty-nine years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, in a letter replying to Henry Lee about the source of the ideas and language in the Declaration, Jefferson succinctly explained: “[W]ith respect to our rights, and the acts of the British government contravening those rights, there was but one opinion on this side of the water. All American whigs thought alike on these subjects. When forced, therefore, to resort to arms for redress, an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed proper for our justification. This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take. Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion. All its authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day, whether expressed in conversation, in letters, printed essays, or in the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, &c. The historical documents which you mention as in your possession, ought all to be found, and I am persuaded you will find, to be corroborative of the facts and principles advanced in that Declaration.”7 (Italics added)

  From where do these all-important ideas come? If we wish to truly understand liberty, the civil society, and America’s founding—that is, our birthright—we must examine further, although in short, the philosophers Jefferson rightly cites as authorities upon whom he and the nation’s forefathers relied for their illumination of natural law—which is the foundational principle at the core of American society. As will become apparent, philosophy and practical politics are linked and, therefore, have a real effect on the life of the individual.

  The most influential philosopher during the revolutionary period was the indispensable English thinker John Locke (1632–1704), who in The Second Treatise of Government (1689) inspired countless leading American colonists and Founders, including the delegates who gathered at the Second Continental Congress. Indeed, having studied the philosophical origins of the American Revolution, Harvard University professor Bernard Bailyn found that “[i]n pamphlet after pamphlet the American writers cited Locke on natural rights and on the social and governmental contract. . . .”8

  Locke wrote that man is born with God-given inalienable rights—among them, personal and individual liberty. “The state of Nature has a law of Nature to govern it, which obliges everyone, and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in life, health, liberty or possessions; for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker; all the servants of one sovereign Master, sent into the world by His order and about his business; they are His property, whose workmanship they are made to last during His, not one another’s pleasure. And being furnished with like faculties, sharing all in one community of Nature, there cannot be supposed any such subordination among us that may authorize us to destroy one another, as if we were made for one another’s uses, as the inferior ranks of creatures are for ours. Everyone as he is bound to preserve himself, and not to quit his station willfully, so by the like reason, when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought to be as much as he can preserve the rest of mankind, and not unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away or impair the life or what tends to the preservation of life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.”9

  Locke said that there is a circle of freedom surrounding each person and all people at birth. And within that circle is the absolute human right to live and live freely. This is a natural right born of natural law or the law of nature. It is divine and eternal, unalterable by mankind. Moreover, man also has the ability to reason. And it is through reason that he discovers and discerns natural law, his natural rights, and their application to all of humanity.

  Let us explore further Locke’s understanding of reason in this regard. In his essay “Is There a Rule of Morals, or Law of Nature Given to Us? Yes,” Locke acknowledged that “there is the title of right reason, to which everyone who considers himself a human being lays claim, and that it is about which the various parties of men contend so fiercely among themselves, and which each one alleges to be the foundation of its doctrine. By reason, however, I do not think is meant here that faculty of the understanding which forms the trains of thought and deduces proofs, but certain definite principles of action from which springs all virtues and whatever is necessary for the proper moulding of morals. For that which is correctly derived from these principles is justly said to be in accordance with right reason.”10

  Locke explained further that while “all people are by nature endowed with reason, and I say that natural law can be known by reason, but from this it does not necessarily follow that it is known to any and every one. For there are some who make no use of the light of reason but prefer darkness and
would not wish to show themselves to themselves. But even the sun shows a man the way to go, unless he opens his eyes and is well prepared for the journey. . . .”11 In other words, the fact that every person has the ability to reason and discover natural law, and the divine rights that flow from it, does not mean that all people will do so.

  In addition, Locke pointed out that natural law, not man-made law, is the origin and compass of human morality. “[W]ithout natural law there would be neither virtue nor vice, neither the reward of goodness nor the punishment of evil: there is no fault, no guilt, where there is no law. Everything would have to depend on human will, and, since there would be nothing to demand dutiful action, it seems that man would not be bound to do anything but what utility or pleasure might recommend, or what a blind and lawless impulse might happen perchance to fasten on. The terms ‘upright’ and ‘virtuous’ would disappear as meaningless or be nothing at all but empty names. . . . [F]or the nature of good and evil is eternal and certain, and their value cannot be determined either by the public ordinances of men or by any private opinion.”12

  Even before Locke, the Greek philosopher Aristotle, the Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero, and the Italian philosopher Thomas Aquinas, among others, all explored the true nature of man and the meaning of his existence. Why does this matter? Again, it is the foundation of human morality on which republics are built, including and especially the American republic. The principle of natural law permeated American thought from the beginning of our republic and well before.

  Aristotle (384–322 BC), a student of Plato, is one of mankind’s greatest intellectuals and philosophers. Although not the first to do so, Aristotle identified the existence of natural law and, crucially, distinguished it from man-made law. Locke himself referred to Aristotle’s “Nicomachean Ethics (350 BC), Book I, Chapter 7,” pointing out that Aristotle “says that ‘the special function of man is active exercise of the mind’s faculties in accordance with rational principle.’ For since in the preceding passages he had shown by various examples that there is a special sort of work each thing is designed to perform, he tried to find out what this may be in the case of a human being also. Thus, having taken account of all the operations of the vegetal and sentient faculties which men have in common with animals and plants, in the end he rightly concluded that the proper function of man is acting in conformity with reason, so much so that man must of necessity perform what reason prescribes. Likewise in Book V, chapter 7, where he drew the distinction between legal justice and natural justice, Aristotle said ‘A natural rule of justice is one which has the same validity everywhere.’ Hence it is rightly concluded that there is a law of nature, since there is a law which obtains everywhere.”13