by Daniel Gardner

President Obama and progressives are destroying America in the name of transforming America into a utopian, socialist state. In the last hundred years progressives have taken over nearly every aspect of American life and economy, beginning in 1913 with formation of the Federal Reserve System that controls American banking and money.

What could one buy with a dollar in 1913: $23.53 worth of goods with today's currency! Think about what you could get today for $23.53. In 1913 you could get the same thing for $1. How did the American dollar fare before the government took over: the dollar actually gained value under the free market. Thank you progressive government for reducing Americans' buying power.

This is just one example of how progressive government drives up costs. Progressives have controlled both major political parties for decades. Progressive politics is neither a Republican nor a Democratic thing, though this latest wave of Democrats has put progressive policies and regulations on steroids. George W. Bush and Republican leaders in Congress grew progressive government nearly as fast as President Obama and his party's progressive leadership.

We've been very fortunate government has not completely overwhelmed our formerly free-market, capitalistic economy (I'm talking about the 1800s). The American experiment launched by our Founding Fathers whereby citizens were granted the right to govern themselves with a very weak and limited central government, and stronger governance given to the states and to the people (see the 10th Amendment) created the most productive nation and society in history.

How do Americans fare compared with citizens of all other nations? To be among the richest 1-percent in the whole world, one would need an annual income of $34,000 according to World Bank economist Branko Milanovic's 2010 book The Haves and the Have-Nots. Americans have no idea how well we have it here compared with billions of people in other nations.

President Obama and progressives in both parties want to redistribute wealth, want to reduce the income gap, and want government to meet all of our needs. More than half of Americans now depend on the government for some kind of benefit to maintain their standard of living. Where does government get money to provide these benefits? Fewer than half of us give way more to the government than we receive in government benefits. The government takes money from fewer than half of us who have earned that money and gives it to more than half of us who have become dependent on government dollars and benefits.

Our Founding Fathers formed America to protect individual rights from oppressive, centralized governance, and to provide opportunities for individuals to succeed. For the last 100 years in general and the last 50 years in particular, progressives have transformed America from the land of opportunity and the land of the free into a bunch of special interest groups bribing career politicians for bigger government handouts.

Make no mistake. Progressives like President Obama despise our constitutional republic, complaining the Constitution only states what government "can't do to you, but it doesn't say what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf." It's time to replace career politicians of both parties with representatives who abide by the Constitution and care about the America our Fathers founded.

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