Paul Ryan on Progressivism

[NightHawkeye]

Flashback: Glenn Beck Interview With Paul Ryan From 2010 | Video | TheBlaze.com

PAUL RYAN: Right. What I have been trying to do, and if you read the entire Oklahoma speech or read my speech to Hillsdale College that they put in there on Primus Magazine, you can get them on my Facebook page, what I’ve been trying to do is indict the entire vision of progressivism because I see progressivism as the source, the intellectual source for the big government problems that are plaguing us today and so to me it’s really important to flush progressives out into the field of open debate.
GLENN: I love you.
PAUL RYAN: So people can actually see what this ideology means and where it’s going to lead us and how it attacks the American idea.
GLENN: Okay. Hang on just a second. I ‑‑ did you see my speech at CPAC?
PAUL RYAN: I’ve read it. I didn’t see it. I’ve read it, a transcript of it.
GLENN: And I think we’re saying the same thing. I call it ‑‑
PAUL RYAN: We are saying the same thing.
GLENN: It’s a cancer.
PAUL RYAN: Exactly. Look, I come from ‑‑ I’m calling you from Janesville, Wisconsin where I’m born and raised.
GLENN: Holy cow.
PAUL RYAN: Where we raise our family, 35 miles from Madison. I grew up hearing about this stuff. This stuff came from these German intellectuals to Madison‑University of Wisconsin and sort of out there from the beginning of the last century. So this is something we are familiar with where I come from. It never sat right with me. And as I grew up, I learned more about the founders and reading the Austrians and others that this is really a cancer because it basically takes the notion that our rights come from God and nature and turns it on its head and says, no, no, no, no, no, they come from government, and we here in government are here to give you your rights and therefore ration, redistribute and regulate your rights. It’s a complete affront of the whole idea of this country and that is to me what we as conservatives, or classical liberals if you want to get technical.
​

Excellent interview from 2010 ... video or transcript to read ... your choice.

Just in case anyone wanted background info on Paul Ryan.

 

[Rion]

 

[stamperben]

But yet you want to tell me that you once embraced progressivism?
This is what tells my you didn't know what you were talking about.

Now myself?
It’s a complete affront of the whole idea of this country...
I embrace it!

 

[stamperben]

In reading the excerpt provided, Beck looks like the idiot he is.

GLENN: I love you.

GLENN: Okay. Hang on just a second. I ‑‑ did you see my speech at CPAC?

GLENN: And I think we’re saying the same thing. I call it ‑‑
​

GLENN: It’s a cancer.
​

And finally the clincher...

GLENN: Holy cow.

​

 

[Rion]

But yet you want to tell me that you once embraced progressivism?
This is what tells my you didn't know what you were talking about.

Now myself?
It’s a complete affront of the whole idea of this country...
I embrace it!

I was also an agnostic at one time. By your logic, I don't know what an agnostic is.

 

[Grizzly]

How can progressivism be a cancer? It defeated slavery, gave women and african americans the right to vote, and provided a safety net for our senior citizens. Environmental policies it put in place improved our drinking water and gave us cleaner air. Not to mention a certain level of safety in our food supply. I also enjoy the child labor laws and a concept called "the weekend".

Sure, its made some boneheaded moves too. Prohibition was a disaster. I would also pin some of the early eugenics movements on progressives. But its not a cancer. It's not evil. It's a movement that tries to do good things. Sometimes it hits a home run, sometimes it strikes out.

 

[Rion]

How can progressivism be a cancer? It defeated slavery, gave women and african americans the right to vote, and provided a safety net for our senior citizens. Environmental policies it put in place improved our drinking water and gave us cleaner air. Not to mention a certain level of safety in our food supply. I also enjoy the child labor laws and a concept called "the weekend".

Sure, its made some boneheaded moves too. Prohibition was a disaster. I would also pin some of the early eugenics movements on progressives. But its not a cancer. It's not evil. It's a movement that tries to do good things. Sometimes it hits a home run, sometimes it strikes out.

Progressivism did not exist at the time of the Civil War. The closest to a proto-progressive was Andrew Johnson, and I wouldn't want to claim him to my ideology. Then again, you claim Wilson so...

 

[stamperben]

I was also an agnostic at one time. By your logic, I don't know what an agnostic is.

If you insist.

 

[Rion]

If you insist.

I'm sorry you're having trouble understanding. Perhaps I'm being too vague.

Do not keep saying I was never a progressive. Simply because I have rejected that ideology and find it distasteful does not give you the right to say I never was one.

 

[Grizzly]

Progressivism did not exist at the time of the Civil War. The closest to a proto-progressive was Andrew Johnson, and I wouldn't want to claim him to my ideology. Then again, you claim Wilson so...

Clearly the abolition of slavery by government force is progressive. Government intervention to solve a social problem? Progressive.

 

[Grizzly]

I'm sorry you're having trouble understanding. Perhaps I'm being too vague.

Do not keep saying I was never a progressive. Simply because I have rejected that ideology and find it distasteful does not give you the right to say I never was one.

I agree. People here often tell me I was never a Christian. That's a load of hooey. Simply because I rejected that ideology doesn't mean I never was one.

 

[stamperben]

Here in Robert Reich's column he makes the clear distinction between progress and revision.

It matters not where you've been in the past, but where are you now. He talks of social Darwinism, then writes:

But choosing Ryan, Romney has raised for the nation the starkest of choices: Do we want to return to that earlier time, or are we willing and able to move forward — toward a democracy and an economy that works for us all?

 

[stamperben]

I agree. People here often tell me I was never a Christian. That's a load of hooey. Simply because I rejected that ideology doesn't mean I never was one.

Seems that politically Rion is a mirror image of me then. We both have a fire in our bellies. I can accept that and offer my apologies to him.

 

[Rion]

Clearly the abolition of slavery by government force is progressive. Government intervention to solve a social problem? Progressive.

It depends on what you mean. Progressives like to use that term to claim every good thing that's ever happened as their own. Thus, anyone who is against their ideas, for whatever reason, is "regressive." I would argue that the Progressive movement is not actually "progressive" in that sense. The Progressive Party as I know them, are neither progressive nor liberal. Going down the wrong road is not progressive. Wanting to return from that wrong path is not regressive. Giving government more power so they can "intervene" in a social problem is not liberal. That is why I prefer the term Statist, or Authoritarian, because that is far more accurate than the other two.

As for government force abolishing slavery, what do you mean? I see the Civil War as a failure in that we failed to abolish it through actual legal means rather than through brute force.

 

[Rion]

I agree. People here often tell me I was never a Christian. That's a load of hooey. Simply because I rejected that ideology doesn't mean I never was one.

Exactly. I can disagree with your view of Christianity, but I would never say that you never were a Christian or failed to understand it in even the most basic principles.

 

[Rion]

Seems that politically Rion is a mirror image of me then. We both have a fire in our bellies. I can accept that and offer my apologies to him.

Thank you.

 

[NightHawkeye]

Progressive, as referred to by Paul Ryan, is this: Progressivism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Progressive Movement began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in cities with settlement workers and reformers who were interested in helping those facing harsh conditions at home and at work. The reformers spoke out about the need for laws regulating tenement housing and child labor. They also called for better working conditions for women.

Political parties, such as the Progressive Party, organized at the start of the 20th century, and progressivism was embraced in the administrations of American Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson.
...
The term progressivism is used to describe a wide range of views associated with left-wing political movements.
​

PROGRESSIVISM roughly equates with BIG GOVERNMENT.

It is perhaps worth emphasizing that Paul Ryan wants to force Progressives to DEBATE the issues. Such DEBATE being a hallmark of transparency ... and such debate having been lacking in the last major milestone of PROGRESSIVISM, ObamaCare ... which had to be passed before anyone could know what was in it.

It's also worth emphasizing that Paul Ryan has forced debate of the budget by actually offering a budget.

 

[Vylo]

ITT we talk about about people using a term that doesn't describe them.

 

[stamperben]

It is perhaps worth emphasizing that Paul Ryan wants to force Progressives to DEBATE the issues. Such DEBATE being a hallmark of transparency ... and such debate having been lacking in the last major milestone of PROGRESSIVISM, ObamaCare ... which had to be passed before anyone could know what was in it.

Too bad it will only be Biden that he will actually debate as the Socialist, Green or Peace and Freedom party candidates will not be invited to the forum.

 

[NightHawkeye]

ITT we talk about about people using a term that doesn't describe them.

Progressive is a self-description: Congressional Progressive Caucus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) is the largest membership organization within the Democratic Caucus in the United States Congress with 76 declared members. They work to advance progressive issues and positions.
...
The Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) was established in 1991 by six members of the United States House of Representatives: U.S. Representatives Ron Dellums (D-CA), Lane Evans (D-IL), Thomas Andrews (D-ME), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Additional House Members joined soon thereafter, including Major Owens (D-NY), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), David Bonior (D-MI), Bob Filner (D-CA), Barney Frank (D-MA), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Patsy Mink (D-HI), George Miller (D-CA), Pete Stark (D-CA), John Olver (D-MA), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Then-U.S. Representative Bernie Sanders was the convener and first CPC Chairman.
​

Progressive is how they want to be known. Nancy Pelosi was their figurehead for years.

I'm glad to oblige by calling them by their chosen name. You're welcome.