Boudreaux on Progresives

From Cafe Hayek:

Here's a letter that I sent today to the Baltimore Sun:

Although de rigueur among "progressives," Jim Salvucci is mistaken to describe bourgeois values as "empty" and consumerism as "mindless" (Letters, November 17). Bourgeois values encourage the substantive and mindful traits of hard work, sobriety, thrift, honesty, and self-reliance - all which earn their practitioners the ability over time to enjoy greater material comforts and amusements.

What is truly empty is the value that counsels A to live off of the wealth given to him by B and which B confiscated from C. And what is truly mindless is the notion that society progresses as greater numbers of us live as A's or as B's, and all the while thinking of C's as being nothing more than contemptible cows to be milked for the "general good."

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux

Boudreaux does an articulate job attacking the realities of the policies that progressives promote. Do we want to build a society of dependence or of responsibility? Do we want to build a society that promotes productivity or that promotes being the most effective free rider?

At the heart of progressive policies is the insistence that individuals become less self-reliant and more dependent on government to run their lives. Progressives want you to become an "A" or "B," and scorn the "C's." Republicans want more productive, responsible individuals and create policies that promote people's abilities to produce for themselves.