*Comrade Mulindwa, This John Dewey is a very progressive educationist. He is taught in tertiary institutions in Uganda. This right wing nut who disparages Dewey is out of his wits. *
On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 6:36 PM, Mulindwa Edward <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Don't think that policies Obama is touting haven't been touted before. > Jonah Goldberg > > October 28, 2008 > > > http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg28-2008oct28,0,6803276.column > > There's an old saying: The oldest word in American politics is "new." Only > in that sense is there anything new to Barack Obama. > > Obama prefers the word "progressive" to "liberal" because it makes it sound > like he's shedding old liberal ideas. But if he is, it's only to embrace > older ones. > > America first encountered the vision Obama espouses under Woodrow Wilson, > the first progressive president, and the first to openly disparage the U.S. > Constitution as a hindrance to enlightened government. His new idea was to > replace it with a "living constitution" that empowered government to evolve > beyond that document's constraints. The Bill of Rights, lamented the > progressives, inhibited what the government can do *to *people, but it > failed to delineate what it must do *for *people. > > The old conception of individualism needed to be replaced by a new system > in which the citizen "married his interests to the state," in Wilson's > words. This would allow the state to fulfill the progressive pledge to > "spread the prosperity around." Obama shares Wilson's faith in a living > constitution and has argued that Supreme Court judges should be confirmed > based on their empathy for the downtrodden. > > In a vital essay in the current Claremont Review of Books, Charles Kesler > notes that Obama mentions Franklin Roosevelt in his book, "The Audacity of > Hope," more times than any living Democratic politician. That's not > surprising, given that FDR -- a veteran of the Wilson administration -- > carried the progressive vision of government much further than Wilson > himself. > > In 1944, FDR proposed updating the Bill of Rights with a new "economic bill > of rights" that would define freedom not as liberty from government > intrusion but as the possession of goodies provided by government. > "Necessitous men are not free men," FDR proclaimed. It's a statement Obama > surely agrees with; his advisor, Cass Sunstein, wrote a book saying FDR's > "second bill of rights" should become the defining principle of American > politics. > > Wilson, Roosevelt and now Obama -- all their ideas sprung forth from the > work of John Dewey, the most important liberal philosopher of the 20th > century. Dewey held that "natural rights and natural liberties exist only in > the kingdom of mythological social zoology," and that "organized social > control" via a "socialized economy" was the only means to create "free" > individuals. Dewey proposed that statism be taught as a kind of civic > religion in our schools so that Americans could be raised to see the > government as the solution to all of our problems. > > Dewey lives on too in the education reform ideas espoused by former > Weatherman Bill Ayers. Ayers, now an education professor at the University > of Illinois at Chicago, often invokes Dewey when justifying his own dream of > indoctrinating public school students in "social justice." Obama doesn't > condone Ayers' '70s-era bombings, but he certainly subscribes to Ayers' > educational vision. In fact, Ayers' educational work is the primary defense > for the candidate's association with an unrepentant terrorist. > > Much has been made of Obama's comment to "Joe the Plumber" that things are > better when we "spread the wealth around." The Obama campaign, with the > usual willing accomplices, has rebuffed charges of "socialism" or > "radicalism" with the usual eye-rolling. > > But Obama's words that day in Ohio were perfectly consistent with his past > statements. > > A just-unearthed 2001 interview with Obama on Chicago public radio reveals > as much. Then a law school instructor and state legislator, Obama offered an > eloquent indictment of the Warren court for not being radical enough. While > the court rightly gave blacks traditional rights, argued Obama, the > "tragedy" was that "the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of > redistribution of wealth." Unfortunately, according to Obama, "it didn't > break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding > fathers and the Constitution." > > Officially, Obama says he is not advocating single-payer healthcare. That > would seem too un-moderate. But in 2003, Obama told the AFL-CIO that "I > happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal healthcare program. ... > And that's what I'd like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get > there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we > have to back the Senate, and we have to take back the House." > > Note: If Obama wins next week, all three of his preconditions will have > been met, and his colleagues in the House and Senate are itching like > junkies for a new New Deal. Only in a country of amnesiacs could one claim > that socialized medicine is a "new idea." > > Blowing away the dust and cobwebs from ancient wares doesn't make them new. > Save for his skin color, Obama doesn't represent anything novel. Rather, he > symbolizes a return to an older vision of the United States that was seen as > the "wave of the future" eight decades ago. > > I for one have no desire to go back to that future. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED]<http://uk.mc260.mail.yahoo.com/mc/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > The Mulindwas Communication Group > "With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" > Groupe de communication Mulindwas > "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie" > > _______________________________________________ > Ugandanet mailing list > [email protected] > http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet > % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ > > > The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including > attachments if any). 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