Limited vs. Unlimited government<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"George Will reviews a book that seems to go to the heart of the difference between conservatism and progressivism: Never Enough: America's Limitless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/06\/limited-vs-unlimited-government\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Limited vs. Unlimited government\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"George Will reviews a book that seems to go to the heart of the difference between conservatism and progressivism: Never Enough: America's Limitless\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/06\/limited-vs-unlimited-government\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-04T02:54:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=cranach-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1594033765\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/06\/limited-vs-unlimited-government\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/06\/limited-vs-unlimited-government\/\",\"name\":\"Limited vs. Unlimited government\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-04T02:54:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-06-04T02:54:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"George Will reviews a book that seems to go to the heart of the difference between conservatism and progressivism: Never Enough: America's Limitless\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/06\/limited-vs-unlimited-government\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/06\/limited-vs-unlimited-government\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2010\/06\/limited-vs-unlimited-government\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Limited vs. Unlimited government\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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\nLack of \u201ca limiting principle\u201d is the essence of progressivism, according to William Voegeli, contributing editor of the Claremont Review of Books, in his new book \u201cNever Enough: America\u2019s Limitless Welfare State.\u201d The Founders, he writes, believed that free government\u2019s purpose, and the threats to it, are found in nature. The threats are desires for untrammeled power, desires which, Madison said, are \u201csown in the nature of man.\u201d Government\u2019s limited purpose is to protect the exercise of natural rights that pre-exist government, rights that human reason can ascertain in unchanging principles of conduct and that are essential to the pursuit of happiness.\n

Wilsonian progressives believe that History is a proper noun, an autonomous thing. It, rather than nature, defines government\u2019s ever-evolving and unlimited purposes. Government exists to dispense an ever-expanding menu of rights \u2014 entitlements that serve an open-ended understanding of material and even spiritual well-being.<\/p>\n

The name \u201cprogressivism\u201d implies criticism of the Founding, which we leave behind as we make progress. And the name is tautological: History is progressive because progress is defined as whatever History produces. History guarantees what the Supreme Court has called \u201cevolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cheerful assumption is that \u201cevolving\u201d must mean \u201cimproving.\u201d Progressivism\u2019s promise is a program for every problem, and progressivism\u2019s premise is that every unfulfilled desire is a problem.<\/p>\n

via George F. Will \u2013 The danger of a government with unlimited power<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Read the whole column, which shows how this plays out in the stated\u00a0 political theory of FDR, LBJ, and others.\u00a0 To you progressives in the audience:\u00a0 Do you accept this characterization?\u00a0 If not, what limits would you place on the role and power of the government?\u00a0 Are there some desires that do not constitute \u201crights\u201d?<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"