Is There a Link Between Progressivism and Depression? – IOTW Report

Is There a Link Between Progressivism and Depression?

American Thinker— The basic philosophy of progressivism is that both man and society are perfectible. Conservatism has been distorted and smeared over the years, but at its most elemental it is a philosophy of “small is better” and is reflected in politics when one hears calls for limited government and less taxes. Edmund Burke, political philosopher and theorist, and the ‘father’ of conservatism said the primary characteristics for a well-functioning society are tradition and obligation.

Because progressivism believes in unbridled individual freedom, that means whether the left realizes it or not, it requires the destruction of limitations because limits put the brakes on behavior that knows no boundaries and therefore crosses over into the boundaries of other people. This will usually require state intervention to enforce the maintenance of boundaries that have been violated, a vicious circle if there ever was one and pinpoints how progressivism inevitably leads to statism and authoritarianism.

Progressivism has led to today’s postmodernism that in turn leads people to think that life is unlimited (who knows how many self-help books use that word over and over again) and is aptly described in the following from a recent essay in The Imaginative Conservative, “Orestes Brownson and the Limits of Freedom:”

Postmodern man — especially in the United States, where issues such as transgender, transsexuality, and transhumanism are popular topics in mainstream society — has constructed for himself a hell of subjectivism that is ultimately as superficial and irrational as calling a dog a cat and then acting as if this designation is legitimate by feeding the dog cat food, offering it catnip, and setting up a scratching post for the dog to sharpen its claws. It is an old problem, one that has its roots in ancient Greece with the sophist Protagoras’ declaration that “Man is the measure of all things.” If man is the measure of all things, there can be no God. Man cannot measure the infinite.

Essentially Progressivism calls for never-ending change, another area where it differs with conservativism in a big way.  MORE HERE

22 Comments on Is There a Link Between Progressivism and Depression?

  1. The last 100 or so pages of Atlas Shrugged depict the lefty mindset very well. Galt shows them (the “looters” in charge of everything) that they really do NOT want to live as free human intellects, while he does. Rand surely was very prescient.

  2. Call it what you want, I call it messin with the kid. There’s an oldie for you. Of course progs are depressed, they still can’t get over the fact that there is no Santa Claus.

  3. Their lives would be so much better if only everyone was as perfect as they are. They create their own misery, their expectations cannot and will never be met to their satisfaction, even by each other.
    What sad, insufferable prigs they are.

  4. How can anyone be happy if their view of the world is that everything is broken & needs to be fixed & the more you fix,the more you think it’s broken. It’s a circle in hell that can lead to nothing but despair that festers into anger & then explodes into violence.

  5. Libertarians are the ultimate believers in individual freedom and resistance to anything
    but essential government controls. Unfortunately, this leave-me-alone-and-I’ll-leave-you-alone attitude makes it impossible for them to become organized enough to get any candidates elected.

    🙂

  6. I have three relatives who practice medicine in Seattle & Portland and all patients must fill out medical histories. Almost to a one their patients who subscribe to utopian statism are on anti depressant medication and they all conclude that is a big part of what is exacerbating their physical health issues. They talk shop among themselves when at family functions and I have overheard them discuss this phenomenon many times over the decades.

  7. My libtard lawyer brother
    & and his Obongo bumper stickered
    Cayenne progtard wife never look
    happy to me…The kids used to hide
    in the closet when the screaming matchs
    were in session.

  8. What, there is no Santa Claus, now I am all bummed out and depressed. Betcha there’s no Easter Bunny either. But somehow or another mythical unicorns and fairies and pixies and elves etc. are real according to progtards. If you don’t believe in God you’ll believe in anything and if I didn’t have God in my life I’d be depressed too.

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