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Why Are Progressives so Bad at Governing?


Muda69

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https://mises.org/wire/why-are-progressives-so-bad-governing

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n the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Paul Krugman declared that the Bush administration failed in its response to the flooding of New Orleans because the administration consisted of people, according to Krugman, who didn’t “believe in government.” One cannot say that about progressives who truly believe in government, and believe in unlimited government at that. Yet, it also is clear that when in power — and especially when they face no real opposition — progressives generally govern very badly. Why this is so — in direct contradiction to Krugman’s stated belief — requires an examination of the progressive mindset, something Krugman probably is intellectually and emotionally incapable of doing.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: New York’s Progressive Disaster

The first thing to understand about progressives in government is that they have a much different view of “progress” than most other people. For example, even though whatever positive changes New York made in the 1990s and 2000s has been waning during the terms of Mayor Bill de Blasio, de Blasio believes that future “progress” now must come in the form of something other than the decline of crime rates and business growth. Instead, de Blasio, who wears his socialist cap proudly declares that the real threat to New York’s future is private property. He says:

Our legal system is structured to favor private property, (but) people would like to have the city government be able to determine which building goes where, how high it will be, who gets to live in it, what the rent will be. If I had my druthers, the city government would determine every single plot of land, how development would proceed. And there would be very stringent requirements around income levels and rents. That’s a world I’d love to see.

Any competent (or even incompetent, for that matter) economist can tell us how such a scenario plays out in the long run, and the economic chaos that was the former Soviet Union stands as Exhibit A, while the New York of the 1970s and the 1980s is Exhibit B. Yes, even in the face of hardcore evidence against his position, de Blasio stands firm. In fact, an entire new wave of politicians in this country calling themselves “progressives” are trying to fashion a “new” economy, one based upon a “Green New Deal,” and other massive interventions into private economic activity. That the experience of socialism never matches its utopian rhetoric seems not to have changed a mind among this new generation of progressives.

...

Progressive Failures Multiply

This year’s herd of nominees for the Democrats’ candidate for president are following in de Blasio’s footsteps in calling for a future of progressive governance. Like de Blasio (whom City Journal has nicknamed “Mayor de Bolshevik”), they call for highly-symbolic measures that by themselves will not make their alleged intended targets — poor and middle-class Americans — better off. However, while their legislative initiatives, such as raising taxes to confiscatory levels, establishing socialized medicine, sinking vast sums of money into questionable public works ventures like the ill-fated “Bullet Train” in California.

...

Progressive Government in California

If there is an Exhibit A of the combination of progressive and incompetent government, it is California, which outdoes even the progressive New York when it comes to outright fiscal folly.

Steven Greenhut of R Street Corporation and a former editorial writer for the Orange County Register has been covering California politics for many years and never is surprised at the latest outrage from the nation’s most progressive state.

Not only does California give us the ill-fated “Bullet Train,” but it also has become the national “leader” in homelessness, out-of-control housing prices, and regular natural disasters such as the huge wildfires that burned throughout the state in 2018 causing much death and destruction. And, unlike their predecessors — political liberals who at least championed freedom of the press and due process of law — progressives have no problem using police state tactics to muzzle journalists and suppress free speech.

...

Unfortunately, progressives have a different worldview. They claim that they can rejuvenate an economy by imposing confiscatory tax rates, regulating business decisions, and create a “fair and just world” by putting into law the latest pronouncements from the Sexual Revolution and enforcing those laws with an iron fist. That these things, as Rothbard puts it, violate human nature, then progressives must change human nature, and by force, if necessary.

This is the kind of “progressivism” that leads to totalitarianism, the kind of totalitarianism that wracked China during its Cultural Revolution. While I doubt that progressives will be able to create a Cult of Bill de Blasio as was the case with Mao and China, nonetheless they can make it difficult for people of opposing beliefs to find work in certain fields, like medicine.

...

Progressivism is not a blueprint for governing. It is a blueprint for disaster. We have seen the wreckage in many places, but there is one thing progressives apparently need not fear: paying a political price for their misdeeds. As long as these electoral and governance patterns exist, progressives will expand their power bases — and continue to govern badly.

Yep, New York and California are prime examples of where progressivism leads.

 

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Why is the uni-party bad at governing?

Because the first and highest priority of any uni-party drone is to get re-elected, actual governing and representing your constitutionency are down on the list.

 

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4 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

maybe if they taxed more like Chicago and Cook County.....wait a minute......

Yes, the progressive belief in Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) aka "Just Print As Much Much Money As You Want,  Everything Will Be Fine" will save us all.

 

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9 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

The mayor of Seattle.....what is her political party? 

One hour before: "What someone is registered doesn't mean much.  My Dad was a registered Dem from the JFK days.He rarely voted that way after him."-Trojan Dad

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1 hour ago, TrojanDad said:

Registered to a party is one thing....running for office representing said party and having widely known views is another...

You don't know much about politics do you?

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18 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

Registered to a party is one thing....running for office representing said party and having widely known views is another....

poor attempt....try again

now for the important question....how do you feel about her action since you skated right around the real issue to come at me?

I get what you're saying........but please find me a Republican in Washington? Because all I can find are RINO's. 

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14 minutes ago, TrojanDad said:

Can you find me any GOP led cities that are finding logic in the approach that is being used by the Mayor in Seattle with e-cigs vs. heroin?  I get people want to avoid this specific issue, but can anyone find logic in this approach?

If you want some logic, look at their weed laws. There is no logic. 

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24 minutes ago, TrojanDad said:

Can you find me any GOP led cities that are finding logic in the approach that is being used by the Mayor in Seattle with e-cigs vs. heroin?  I get people want to avoid this specific issue, but can anyone find logic in this approach?

Can you find me any GOP-led cities?

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2 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

C’mon Dante...if you really want to know, you can quickly look up US cities with Republican mayors. 

Shall we talk about the poorest ran cities?  http://denver.cbslocal.com/2018/07/10/survey-washington-worst-run-cities/

Even Mayor Pete has some work to do....

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/22/south-bend-poor-say-democrat-pete-buttigieg-left-them-behind.html

 

The burden of proof is on he who accuses, not he who denies.

1 hour ago, Muda69 said:

Not exactly in the same category as Baltimore.

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3 hours ago, TrojanDad said:

Ok..will do. 

Why are u avoiding this issue with Seattle? 

I’m not avoiding, frankly I don’t know what it is.....I’m not following along very closely. I’m assuming they give away free needles and have banned vaping. It’s about the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of....

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13 hours ago, DanteEstonia said:

The burden of proof is on he who accuses, not he who denies.

Not exactly in the same category as Baltimore.

You asked, I answered.  You didn't stipulate any sort of category other than "GOP-led".  Frankfort has has a GOP mayor and a GOP city council for at least 18 out of the last 22 years.  And those 4 years was when an actual independent won the mayor's seat, yet the city council was still dominated by uni-party Republicans.

 

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27 minutes ago, TrojanDad said:

Burden of proof isn't extended to people that could take <5 min to help themselves.  That's called lazy.  You ask questions you could easily find out for yourself if you got off the couch.

But to play games with you, some GOP mayor cites off the top of my head include Miami, San Diego, Jacksonville, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Omaha, etc.  

Did you read the article on the poorest ran cities?  Can you tell me about the party of those mayors?

 

Thank god for the leadership of Dick Lugar and Bill Hudnut back in the day. Indianapolis could certainly have gone another direction. Their vision and leadership shaped the city for years to come. 

Cities are one thing, look at the doughnut communities that make up the metro area. Right off the top of my head locally, Carmel R, Fishers R, Noblesville R, Greenwood R, Westfield R. And they're all thriving communities. Personally I wouldn't live in any of them, but they do seem to have a lot going on. 

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2 hours ago, Impartial_Observer said:

Thank god for the leadership of Dick Lugar and Bill Hudnut back in the day. Indianapolis could certainly have gone another direction. Their vision and leadership shaped the city for years to come. 

Cities are one thing, look at the doughnut communities that make up the metro area. Right off the top of my head locally, Carmel R, Fishers R, Noblesville R, Greenwood R, Westfield R. And they're all thriving communities. Personally I wouldn't live in any of them, but they do seem to have a lot going on. 

Lugar also kept Indy schools segregated in practice.

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