Progressive Dystopia

Perhaps more than any other election in American history, the 2024 presidential race represents a clash between two starkly different visions for the country. Donald Trump has built a platform focused on meaningful employment, public safety, world peace, technological innovation, and a renewed emphasis on public health. He has joined forces with Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, Robert Kennedy Jr., and J.D. Vance to promote a vision of restoring the American Dream.

The Kamala Harris campaign has the opposite vision. The Democratic platform embraces hedonism, mutilation, and the destruction of the families and communities that have been the foundation of America’s greatness. Despite Democrats once condemning Dick Cheney as the devil incarnate for his role in the Iraq War, Harris now proudly touts his endorsement. The porn industry, concerned that a Trump administration would target their vice, is actively campaigning for Harris. And for Harris voters, abortion remains their top priority.

Come to think of it, nearly every policy for which Harris and the Democrats advocate is designed to break down the bonds of society. Obviously, they would claim they are building a more tolerant and diverse world, but the proof in the pudding is in the eating. Generation Z is on track to be the first generation in American history with a lower quality of life than their parents, and why? Our culture has become trapped in a downward spiral of chasing a utopia that never arrives despite the best of intentions.

More than two millennia ago, the Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote a treatise on how to live properly and honorably called De Officiis, which means “On Duties”. In this treatise, written as a letter to his son, Cicero explains how to know what is honorable, how to know what is beneficial, and what to do when those two goals conflict. I am always amazed at the wisdom of men who lived so long ago; it’s a reminder that while technology and philosophy can change and advance, human nature remains the same.

Cicero wrote something in this work that has stuck with me for a long time:

The first bond of society is the marriage tie; the next our children; then the whole family of our house, and all things in common.

What might have been obvious to our grandparents’ generation seems old fashioned to us now: a nation is built on communities, and communities are built on families. The typical family unit of Father, Mother, and Children is the basis for even the greatest of empires. Ideally, children are brought up in a safe and loving home by their biological parents who love them and teach them how to live. The wisdom and tradition of ancestors are passed down within the family, just as Cicero taught his son. Children generally learn strength, courage, and loyalty from their fathers, as well as compassion, empathy, and nurturing from their mothers. These things combine to make a whole person, a citizen who can then take his or her place in the world.

Dismantling this time-tested system seems to be the primary goal of the progressive left. No-fault divorce, two-earner households, the LGBTQ+ agenda, and other leftist programs have chipped away at the family, leaving society as a whole in a precarious position. Yet the position of the progressive left is that we aren’t moving forward fast enough, and that it’s only our insistence on hanging on to outdated traditions like the nuclear family that is holding society back from utopia.

During Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012, he unveiled a slideshow called “The Life of Julia” that was meant to show how one young woman would be better off under his administration than Mitt Romney’s. The slideshow is still viewable via the Wayback Machine.

• At age 3, Julia enrolls in a Head Start program that is generously funded by federal tax dollars thanks to Obama.
• At age 17, Julia takes the SAT, having become prepared for college through generous funding of public schools by the Obama Administration.
• At age 18, Julia receives scholarships and her parents receive tax deductions. Thanks Obama!
• At age 22, Julia has surgery, which is completely covered by Obamacare.
• At age 23, Julia gets a good job in web design in which she is paid the same as men due to federal regulations.
• At age 25, Julia graduates with modest student loans that she is able to eventually pay back due to government oversight of the loan market.
• At age 27, Julia is happily working without worry of pregnancy due to insurance companies being required to cover birth control.
• At age 31, Julia “decides to have a child”. Government provides her with free prenatal care.
• At age 37, Julia sends her son to kindergarten. Public schools are wonderful because of Obama’s investments.
• At age 42, Julia starts her own web design business with a government loan.
• At age 65, Julia enrolls in Medicare, giving her affordable care and prescriptions.
• Finally, Julia retires, with enough income from Social Security to live the rest of her life without worry.

Notice anything missing? Julia obviously had parents, as they received a tax credit for sending her to college, but they play no further role in the story. Who knows where her son came from — a failed marriage, a one-night stand, or even in-vitro fertilization — the slideshow makes no mention of a husband. Julia apparently has no siblings, no extended family, no church, and no community. She is an atomized individual, a single cog in a great machine that requires an all-powerful government to keep working.

This is the progressive agenda: to break down all bonds of society and create a nation of atomized individuals whose primary relationship is with the government. It’s the very society Orwell and Huxley warned us about so many years ago, yet here we are, racing toward this dystopia.

Like the citizens of Airstrip One in Orwell’s 1984, we will be told not to believe our lying eyes—that things have never been better. Even now, we are told the economy is strong (despite skyrocketing grocery prices), that crime is down (despite rising rates), and that diversity is always our strength (despite it actively dismantling community bonds).

Children’s rights advocate Katy Faust explains that children of divorce are often forced to put on a happy face for their parents’ sake, pretending everything is okay. In a similar way, we are the children of a failing nation, yet we’re told to smile and pretend that things have never been better.

The human spirit is resilient, but history shows that cultures and civilizations can easily fall into dark ages that last for generations before they find their way back to the light. Are we on the verge of a new dark age or another American golden age? The choice is ours: continue down the path of endless foreign wars, atomization, deracination, and declining health and quality of life, or choose a new path — one of peace, prosperity, healthy bodies, strong communities, and the rebuilding of the traditional family and the society it sustains.

This doesn’t have to be the end, but we must reject the progressive vision of utopia and return to the time-tested wisdom of our forefathers.

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