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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas delivered an address Wednesday that is being applauded nationwide for its crystal clear vision of how “progressivism” has sought to “replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence, and hence our form of government.”
In a televised lecture at the University of Texas Austin, Thomas contrasted the framers’ definition of liberty as “a gift from God” that “preceded the government,” with that of progressivism, which views liberty as something “to be enjoyed at the grace of the government.”
Within the context of the nation’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas traced the rise of progressivism in America to President Woodrow Wilson and underscored for his audience that the political philosophy was “not native to America.”
“Wilson and the progressives candidly admitted that they took it from Otto von Bismarck’s Germany, whose state-centric society they admired,” he explained, adding:
Progressives like Wilson argued that America needed to leave behind the principles of the founding and catch up with the more advanced and sophisticated system of relatively unimpeded state power, nearly perfect, ah … perfected. He acknowledged that it was a foreign science speaking very little of the language of English, or American principle, which offers none but, what are to our minds, alien ideas. He thus described America still stuck with its original system of government as, quote, slow to see the superiority of the European system.
Progressivism, Thomas continued, requires people to adopt a “subservience and weakness” that is “incompatible with a constitution premised on the transcendent origin of our rights.”
European progressives looked upon Americans with “contempt,” he said, noting that, prior to becoming president, Wilson himself described Americans as “selfish, ignorant, timid, stubborn and foolish,” Thomas quoted the former president.
“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’d use them as tools,” the justice elaborated. “He once again aspired to be like Germany, where the people, he said admiringly, were docile and acquiescent.”
Despite Wilson’s view of progressivism as “nearly perfect,” 20th century Americans didn’t buy into it, largely because it grew into the tyrannical governments led by Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and Mao – all of whom, Thomas observed, “were opposed to the natural rights on which our Declaration is based.”
“Fascism, which, after all, was national socialism, triggered wars in Europe and Asia that killed tens of millions,” he observed. “The socialism of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China proceeded to kill more tens of millions of their own people.”
Thomas quoted President Calvin Coolidge on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence:
If all men are created equal that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the government, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which they can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individuals, no rule of the people.
“As we are gathered to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, we may be tempted to do so as if we are passive spectators,” Thomas said, envisioning some looking upon the Declaration as “a shiny object or a keepsake.”
Rather than look upon the Declaration as a relic of the past, however, Thomas urged that we “find in ourselves that same level of courage that the signers of the Declaration had so that we can do for our future what they did for theirs.”
Thomas then posed a challenge to his listeners who, he said, would all confront situations in their daily lives in which they would be required to “respond with timidity or with courage, as the signers of the Declaration did.”
“It will, of course, not be easy,” he said. “It never is. But if, like me, you need a greater source of strength than yourselves, you will need to rely on your faith to guide and to sustain you through it all. You will disappoint people you thought were friends and endure personal attacks – as well as attacks on those you care about.”
“But if you stand, you will find that courage, like cowardice, can be habit-forming, and it will become a part of your life and a part of who you are,” he asserted. “And I may dare say, it is liberating. You will also be a living example for others to emulate.”
“So, by all means, celebrate the Declaration of Independence,” Thomas said, concluding. “It is the most important act of American history, the foundation of our Constitution, and as Lincoln said, the sheet anchor of our Republic.”
“But I implore you to celebrate it by standing up for it, by defending it and by recommitting yourselves to living up to its ideals,” the justice urged. “Channel the courage of the men who faced down a king and signed it, or a president who led the nation in a civil war, rather than permit this house to be divided by the great contradiction of slavery. Take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure, and with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, let us mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
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