“Progressivism was the first mainstream American political movement — with the possible exception of the pro-slavery reactionaries on the eve of the Civil War — to openly oppose the principles of the Declaration. Progressives strove to undo the Declaration’s commitment to equality and natural rights, both of which they denied were self-evident. To Wilson, the inalienable rights of the individual were “a lot of nonsense.” Wilson redefined “liberty” not as a natural right antecedent to the government, but as “the right of those who are governed to adjust government to their own needs and interests.” In other words, liberty no longer preceded the government as a gift from God, but was to be enjoyed at the grace of the government. The government, as Wilson reconceived of it, would be “beneficent and indispensable.” Progressives such as John Dewey attacked the Framers for believing that “their ideas [were] immutable truth good at all times and places,” when instead they were “historically conditioned, and relevant only to their own time.” Now, Dewey and the progressives argued, those ideas were to be repealed.
Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence, and hence our form of government. It holds that our rights and our dignities come not from God, but from the Government. It requires of the people a subservience and weakness incompatible with a Constitution premised on the transcendent origin of our rights.
You will not be surprised to learn that the progressives had a great deal of contempt for us, the American people. Before he entered politics, Wilson would describe the American people as “selfish, ignorant, timid, stubborn,” and “foolish.” He lamented that we “do too much by vote” and too little by expert rule. He proposed that the people be ruled by administrators who use them as “tools.” He once again aspired to be like Germany, where the people, he said admiringly, were “docile and acquiescent.”
The century of progressivism did not go well. The European system that Wilson and the progressives scolded Americans for not adopting, which he called nearly perfect, led to the governments that caused the most awful century that the world has ever seen. Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and Mao all were intertwined with the rise of progressivism, and all were opposed to the natural rights on which our Declaration was based. Many progressives expressed admiration for each of them shortly before their governments killed tens of millions of people”…
— Justice Clarence Thomas
As outlined in Thumos — The Fire of Western Civilisation [LINK], United States Secretary of State Mark Rubio gave a speech on 7 October 2026 at The Pnyx, Athens, Greece.
The remarks were a call to action in order to re-ignite the fire & spirit (i.e. the Thumos) and once again stand on the shoulders of the intellectual giants [LINK] that were foundational in building Western Civilisation.
The Christian Faith, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Roman Law & Governance, a Mindset of Discovery (e.g. Open Inquiry, Epistemological Humility, Fallibilism [LINK]) and Human Agency.
An Etic & Emic Orientation [LINK] that reflected Conscious Man’s relationship with the Natural World (Contingent Being) and Being Itself (God — Necessary Being).
A recognition of the possible (Leibniz, Peirce) intelligibility of Reality and a common anthropology view of Man within the Universe and Natural Order [LINK].
“Where others looked inward, the Greeks were the first to direct their focus outward, to chase the thrill and glory of seeing all that was strange and new. It was this trait — it was this trait that would push the West to create and build things that others could not, marking us out from so many other cultures and civilizations where stability and subsistence were the highest ends of life.
But it is not just the ambition to explore the unknown that we inherit from the Greeks; it is the conviction that the unknown can be known. The confidence that the world can be charted and measured and mapped and understood — and that there is a rational order to the cosmos, governed by certain fundamental laws, laws that men can observe and the mind can come to understand.
This was the foundation of the Western mind: our math, our science, our medicine. Our philosophy, ethics, and religion. It paved the way for the gospel of Jesus Christ to find fertile soil in Europe and flourish into the empire of Christendom. It was the foundation of the riches of Christian theology — of Augustine and Aquinas and the whole tradition of natural law.
It gave birth to a civilization marked not just by a common culture, it was marked by a common anthropology — a common view of man and his place in the universe. Its descendants would share not just the idea of a natural order, but a distinctive understanding of virtue; of destiny and fate; of truth, goodness, and beauty; of a code that dictates how men ought to live; of objective standards and ideals to strive towards”…
— Marco Rubio
[LINK]
Where certain leading intellectual and political figures praised Marco Rubio’s speech [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] in calling for a renewal in Western Civilisation.
Athens, Mount Sinai, and the Foundations of Western Civilisation [LINK]
“America’s crisis is not simply political, economic, or military. It reaches into the homes, churches, schools, and institutions shaping the next generation.
What we’re doing is spiritual; the by-product is political.
For what good is the power to conquer the world if we have lost the wisdom to govern ourselves?
The Founders understood what Solomon taught: A people who cannot govern themselves will eventually invite others to govern them, forfeiting the freedoms their forefathers labored to secure.”…
— Athens, Mount Sinai, and the Foundations of Western Civilization
[LINK]
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Other commentators were critical of Rubio’s analysis and comments.
Metaphysical Bifurcation
Was this divergence in the interpretation of Marco Rubio’s speech symptomatic of a far deeper rupture and malaise across Western Civilisation?
[LINK] — What happened to the Anglosphere? The Tale of Two Enlightenments
“The idea of Revolution is the opposite of the idea of Providence. Indeed, the Revolution reckons that man can redeem himself through the liberation process. The idea of Providence, on the contrary, reckons that history is not entirely made by men, and instead something which does not belong to man, which is not decided by him, intervenes in its course and its outcomes”…
— Marxism Died in the East Because It Realized Itself in the West: Augusto Del Noce
[LINK]
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Literally, a metaphysical bifurcation in how Modern and Post-Modern Man understood the nature of Reality.
The difference between Revolution and Restoration?
A distinction between an intelligibility of Reality grounded in a Divine Order where Man participates in Reality through the act of Being that reflects Conscious Man’s triadic relationship to Contingent Being (e.g. Natural World) and Being Itself (i.e. God).
“Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants”…
— Benjamin Franklin
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”…
— John Adams
Or a Reality that is socially constructed by the powerful [LINK] ( i.e. a Primacy of Conscious Man) imposed through material force [LINK], technology [LINK] and politicisation of human thought [LINK] (i.e. indoctrination).
“The issue is never the issue. The issue is always the revolution”…
– David Horowitz
“You don’t understand the class structure of American society,” said Smetana, “or you would not ask such a question.
In the United States, the working class are Democrats.
The middle class are Republicans.
The upper class are Communists”…
― Whittaker Chambers
In other words, anti-Being and therefore, anti-Human [LINK].
“The plan to smuggle in a revolution is in full swing. That’s what democratic socialism is — an explicit revolution…
… About their aims, don’t believe me, believe their own program. The Democratic Socialists of America on its official website calls for a new constitution, abolition of the Senate and Electoral College, and replacement of the presidency and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress. This movement is growing and must be understood as a literal plan for revolution”….
— Democrats’ Open Border Policies Will Import A Revolution
[LINK]
Footnote:
“The simple step of the courageous individual is to not take part in the lie”…
– Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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Postscript:
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