1. When political theorist Hannah Arendt, originated the term of art, "the banality of evil," she was correctly encapsulating the idea that for much of the evil done by mankind, the horrors, its origin is no more than the desire for efficiency, a business-as-usual outlook.
a. "Arendt states that aside from a desire for improving his career, [Adolf] Eichmann showed no trace of antisemitism or psychological damage. Her subtitle famously introduced the phrase the "banality of evil," which also serves as the final words of the book. In part, at least, the phrase refers to Eichmann's deportment at the trial, displaying neither guilt nor hatred, claiming he bore no responsibility because he was simply "doing his job" Eichmann in Jerusalem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amazing? Events that rank as some of the most heinous in history, simply getting the job done.
2. The lesson to be gleaned from the above is how easily and seamlessly evil finds a home within human nature. And, a more careful look will document how that the same kind of evil is embedded in the political philosophy known as 'Progressivism.' Begin with a look at the first Progressive President, Woodrow Wilson.
3. Wilson wrote in “The State,” 1889, that "Government does now whatever experience permits or the times demand." His writings attack the Constitution, and the ideas of natural and individual rights. Along with Frank J. Goodnow, they pioneered the concept of the ‘administrative state,’ which separated the administration of government from the limitations of constitutional government.
American Progressivism: A Reader - Google Books
Administrative government.....just getting the job done....efficiently.
a. . “…no one was more important to the origins of the administrative state in America than Woodrow Wilson and Frank Goodnow. Wilson served as the 26th President of the United States and was a leading academic advocate of Progressive ideas long before his entry into politics. Much of his contribution to Progressive thought came in his work from the 1880s,…”
The Birth of the Administrative State: Where It Came From and What It Means for Limited Government
The view was that good men of unquestioned virtue, bureaucrats, could and would carry out the best interests of society without the restrictions of law, accountability, the Constitution. And this view is the very heart of Progressives.
So...your vote means you trust these individuals with your life.
b. The new Administrative State 1) politicians were to be elected 2) technocrats, civil servants, bureaucrats, experts draft the regulations. “…the agencies comprising the bureaucracy reside within the executive branch of our national government, but their powers transcend the traditional boundaries of executive power to include both legislative and judicial functions, and these powers are often exercised in a manner that is largely independent of presidential control and altogether independent of political control.” The Birth of the Administrative State: Where It Came From and What It Means for Limited Government
[Does the name Kathleen Sebelius ring a bell?....how about the unbridled powers of the EPA?]
4. The work of Eichmann was one example of a bureaucrat attempting to be helpful, to get the job done. Related to exactly the same idea was that Progressives put forward in the United States, and, in fact led to Eichmann's plans: 'Eugenics.' Bureaucrats simply wanted to solve society's ills, ’ the use of state power to improve the racial, genetic, or biological health of the community.
a. Hitler wrote to the president of the American Eugenics Society to ask for a copy of his “The Case for Sterilization.” (Margaret Sanger and Sterilization)
German race science stood on American progressive’s shoulders.
b. ' One bestseller, Madison Grant's The Passing of the Great Race (1916), discussed the concept of "race suicide," the theory that inferior races were out-breeding their betters. President Theodore Roosevelt was one of many Progressives captivated by this notion: He opposed voting rights for African-American men, which were guaranteed by the 15th amendment, on the grounds that the black race was still in its adolescence. Such thinking, which emphasized "expert" opinion and advocated sweeping governmental power, fit perfectly within the Progressive worldview,” http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1568/is_1_38/ai_n16439695/
5. And the contemporary example of the same notions, the same disrespect for human lives, can be seen in the ObamaCare 'Death Panels,' and the 'bioethicists' who were put in charge of developing the program.
Like all good bureaucrats, they equate dollars and cents with human lives.
a. Here is the very center of ObamaCare, and the basis for its rationing and death panels:
"... comparative effectiveness research is generally code for limiting care based on the patient's age. Economists are familiar with the formula already in use in the U.K., where the cost of a treatment is divided by the number of years (called QALYS or quality-adjusted life years) the patient is likely to benefit. In the U.K., the formula leads to denying treatments for age-related diseases because older patients have a denominator problem -- fewer years to benefit than younger patients with other diseases. In 2006, older patients with macular degeneration, which causes blindness, were told that they had to go totally blind in one eye before they could get an expensive new drug..." The American Spectator : Downgrading American Medical Care
How did "progress" come to mean that human beings are no more significant than a cypher, a number, a bean to be counted?
Is this your 'brave new world?'
a. "Arendt states that aside from a desire for improving his career, [Adolf] Eichmann showed no trace of antisemitism or psychological damage. Her subtitle famously introduced the phrase the "banality of evil," which also serves as the final words of the book. In part, at least, the phrase refers to Eichmann's deportment at the trial, displaying neither guilt nor hatred, claiming he bore no responsibility because he was simply "doing his job" Eichmann in Jerusalem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amazing? Events that rank as some of the most heinous in history, simply getting the job done.
2. The lesson to be gleaned from the above is how easily and seamlessly evil finds a home within human nature. And, a more careful look will document how that the same kind of evil is embedded in the political philosophy known as 'Progressivism.' Begin with a look at the first Progressive President, Woodrow Wilson.
3. Wilson wrote in “The State,” 1889, that "Government does now whatever experience permits or the times demand." His writings attack the Constitution, and the ideas of natural and individual rights. Along with Frank J. Goodnow, they pioneered the concept of the ‘administrative state,’ which separated the administration of government from the limitations of constitutional government.
American Progressivism: A Reader - Google Books
Administrative government.....just getting the job done....efficiently.
a. . “…no one was more important to the origins of the administrative state in America than Woodrow Wilson and Frank Goodnow. Wilson served as the 26th President of the United States and was a leading academic advocate of Progressive ideas long before his entry into politics. Much of his contribution to Progressive thought came in his work from the 1880s,…”
The Birth of the Administrative State: Where It Came From and What It Means for Limited Government
The view was that good men of unquestioned virtue, bureaucrats, could and would carry out the best interests of society without the restrictions of law, accountability, the Constitution. And this view is the very heart of Progressives.
So...your vote means you trust these individuals with your life.
b. The new Administrative State 1) politicians were to be elected 2) technocrats, civil servants, bureaucrats, experts draft the regulations. “…the agencies comprising the bureaucracy reside within the executive branch of our national government, but their powers transcend the traditional boundaries of executive power to include both legislative and judicial functions, and these powers are often exercised in a manner that is largely independent of presidential control and altogether independent of political control.” The Birth of the Administrative State: Where It Came From and What It Means for Limited Government
[Does the name Kathleen Sebelius ring a bell?....how about the unbridled powers of the EPA?]
4. The work of Eichmann was one example of a bureaucrat attempting to be helpful, to get the job done. Related to exactly the same idea was that Progressives put forward in the United States, and, in fact led to Eichmann's plans: 'Eugenics.' Bureaucrats simply wanted to solve society's ills, ’ the use of state power to improve the racial, genetic, or biological health of the community.
a. Hitler wrote to the president of the American Eugenics Society to ask for a copy of his “The Case for Sterilization.” (Margaret Sanger and Sterilization)
German race science stood on American progressive’s shoulders.
b. ' One bestseller, Madison Grant's The Passing of the Great Race (1916), discussed the concept of "race suicide," the theory that inferior races were out-breeding their betters. President Theodore Roosevelt was one of many Progressives captivated by this notion: He opposed voting rights for African-American men, which were guaranteed by the 15th amendment, on the grounds that the black race was still in its adolescence. Such thinking, which emphasized "expert" opinion and advocated sweeping governmental power, fit perfectly within the Progressive worldview,” http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1568/is_1_38/ai_n16439695/
5. And the contemporary example of the same notions, the same disrespect for human lives, can be seen in the ObamaCare 'Death Panels,' and the 'bioethicists' who were put in charge of developing the program.
Like all good bureaucrats, they equate dollars and cents with human lives.
a. Here is the very center of ObamaCare, and the basis for its rationing and death panels:
"... comparative effectiveness research is generally code for limiting care based on the patient's age. Economists are familiar with the formula already in use in the U.K., where the cost of a treatment is divided by the number of years (called QALYS or quality-adjusted life years) the patient is likely to benefit. In the U.K., the formula leads to denying treatments for age-related diseases because older patients have a denominator problem -- fewer years to benefit than younger patients with other diseases. In 2006, older patients with macular degeneration, which causes blindness, were told that they had to go totally blind in one eye before they could get an expensive new drug..." The American Spectator : Downgrading American Medical Care
How did "progress" come to mean that human beings are no more significant than a cypher, a number, a bean to be counted?
Is this your 'brave new world?'
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