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Roundly described, socialism is a proposition that every community, by means of whatever forms of organization may be most effective for the purpose, see to it for itself that each one of its members finds the employment for which he is best suited and is rewarded according to his diligence and merit, all proper surroundings of moral influence being secured to him by the public authority. ‘State socialism’ is willing to act through state authority as it is at present organized. It proposes that all idea of a limitation of public authority by individual rights be put out of view, and that the State consider itself bound to stop only at what is unwise or futile in its universal superintendence alike of individual and of public interests. The thesis of the state socialist is, that no line can be drawn between private and public affairs which the State may not cross at will; that omnipotence of legislation is the first postulate of all just political theory.

Applied in a democratic state, such doctrine sounds radical, but not revolutionary. It is only an acceptance of the extremest logical conclusions deducible from democratic principles long ago received as respectable. For it is very clear that, in fundamental theory, socialism and democracy are almost, if not quite, one and the same. They both rest at bottom upon the absolute right of the community to determine its own destiny and that of its members. Men as communities are supreme over men as individuals. Limits of wisdom and convenience to the public control there may be: limits of principle there are, upon strict analysis, none.

The idea of Progressivism grew from the European political think tanks in the late 19th century by applying Darwinism to social policy. Progressivism seeks a limitless (i.e. no individual rights, no constitutional limitations) central government which will allow government to evolve into what it needs to be at that time.

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Progressives don't want the Federal government in our bedrooms, we don't want the Federal government choosing which recreational substances to enjoy, we don't want the Federal government favoring one religion over another, we don't want the Federal government favoring one sexual orientation over another, we don't want the Federal government sending us off to war to satisfy their corporate sponsors, and on and on and on....

You don't understand Progressivism. You aren't alone.