There are many views as to what motivates the economic policies of the Progressives, but in my opinion the answer is easy: Progressivism is the economic embodiment of envy. Envy of the successful, jealously of the rich, and coveting of the possessions of others are all that is needed to explain Progressive economics.
First, Progressives always discuss economics from an "us vs. them" point of view. The rich have too much. The successful are greedy. The rich don't pay their fair share. The gap between rich and poor is growing. These are all part of the Progressive mantra. What one essentially never hears are points like these: the country is hardly growing, the government is preventing creation of new businesses and jobs, personal incomes are stagnant. What concerns the Progressive is not improving the lot of all, but getting what the rich and successful have.
Second, class warfare, a staple of the left, is the societal embodiment of envy. People are divided into groups by what they have. Those with less are told that they must take from those with more. The emphasis is on taking away what other have rather than on improving one's own lot to move from the have nots to the haves. Progressives worry that groups in society have too much and not about whether or not society as a whole grows economically.
Third, the tenor of Progressive politics is such that opponents are always either members of the rich class or misguided servants of the rich. In a given election (like 2008), Wall Street fat cats may give overwhelming support to the Democrat/Progressive candidate, but the pitch from the Progressives to voters still remains that it is the Republican/Conservative side that serves the interests of the wealthy. Indeed, a great many public opinion surveys show that the core Republican constituency is strongest in the middle income groups, but for the Progressives that reality does not matter.
Progressives want a society where all are financially equal. They do not care much if everyone is equally poor, just so long as they are equal. Indeed, rather than trying to bring the poor up to the level of the wealthy, most Progressive policies are aimed at bringing the wealthy down to the level of the poor.
Envy is an inherently unsatisfactory basis for an economic program. Indeed, were the Progressives to succeed in creating their perfect society, we would all find ourselves living in the modern day version of Russia in the 1920s where the wealthy were gone and everyone lived in great poverty and depradation. It is not something to hope for.
First, Progressives always discuss economics from an "us vs. them" point of view. The rich have too much. The successful are greedy. The rich don't pay their fair share. The gap between rich and poor is growing. These are all part of the Progressive mantra. What one essentially never hears are points like these: the country is hardly growing, the government is preventing creation of new businesses and jobs, personal incomes are stagnant. What concerns the Progressive is not improving the lot of all, but getting what the rich and successful have.
Second, class warfare, a staple of the left, is the societal embodiment of envy. People are divided into groups by what they have. Those with less are told that they must take from those with more. The emphasis is on taking away what other have rather than on improving one's own lot to move from the have nots to the haves. Progressives worry that groups in society have too much and not about whether or not society as a whole grows economically.
Third, the tenor of Progressive politics is such that opponents are always either members of the rich class or misguided servants of the rich. In a given election (like 2008), Wall Street fat cats may give overwhelming support to the Democrat/Progressive candidate, but the pitch from the Progressives to voters still remains that it is the Republican/Conservative side that serves the interests of the wealthy. Indeed, a great many public opinion surveys show that the core Republican constituency is strongest in the middle income groups, but for the Progressives that reality does not matter.
Progressives want a society where all are financially equal. They do not care much if everyone is equally poor, just so long as they are equal. Indeed, rather than trying to bring the poor up to the level of the wealthy, most Progressive policies are aimed at bringing the wealthy down to the level of the poor.
Envy is an inherently unsatisfactory basis for an economic program. Indeed, were the Progressives to succeed in creating their perfect society, we would all find ourselves living in the modern day version of Russia in the 1920s where the wealthy were gone and everyone lived in great poverty and depradation. It is not something to hope for.
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