What Is the Progressive Vs Conservative Dispute All About?

Posted by Sarah Addyson on December 9th, 2020

There are and have been a lot of debates in the United States regarding how the country should be run. One of these is the progressive vs conservative debate, which has many people arguing over who should lead the country. Another one is the limited government in the constitution one, which has citizens wondering how far can the Federal Government go before infringing on State government and even individual responsibility. All of these hot button issues have to be discussed and people have to understand that they have to make the right decision in order to get the most out of their elected officials and country as a whole.

What Are the Main Progressive vs Conservative Differences?

The United States of America have been a breeding ground for political ideologies and one of the best testing grounds for most of them over its history, the US has seen its fair share of statesmen that have proposed numerous ways of handling the country. They ranged from the absolutely ridiculous to the outstandingly brilliant. The main resemblance among them was that the people got to choose which one to use. But this lead to serious debates and long standing disagreements between various parties or party factions. This is why it is very important that people learn the basic differences between the things they have to choose before making that choice. In politics, particularly, this principle must be upheld and understood by all citizens.

One of such disputes that have been going on since the dawn of the nation is the  progressive vs conservative  one. This debate has people on both sides arguing that their point of view is the bets and that the other party is wrong. These ideologies, although completely different in the way they see the country’s future, claim to have the Constitution as their fundamental guide. Unfortunately, over the course of history, progressives have sought to reinterpret and even rewrite passages of the Constitution in order to better bend it to fit their own agenda. Even more worrying than that is the fact that the Supreme Court has been known to favor the progressive cause and to lean towards a more socialist point of view.
Understanding what an ideology is actually about can take years in order to do the research and come up with the basic ideas. But there is an easier way of getting to know what the progressives and the conservatives stand for:

Conservative ideology:
• Reduced Federal Government with limited power.
• Letting the States or citizens handle matters themselves. Basically, giving power back to the people.
• Robust National Defense capability.
• Minimum Federal Government involvement in the National Economy.
• Guaranteed freedom to achieve personal goals, and the responsibility to take care for one’s self.
• Defending the fundamental Rights granted by our Federal Constitution, or by God.

Progressive or Socialist Ideology:
• Large, omnipresent and omnipotent Federal Government.
• A reduced National Defense capability.
• No personal accountability and a fixed income guaranteed and subsidized by the Federal Government.
• The unfair distribution of wealth and resources by neglecting those who actually produce and favoring those who do not.
• State sponsored abortions, recognizing more than 2 sexes and the acceptance of gay marriage and same-sex unions.

When choosing a side in the progressive vs conservative dispute it is important to remember that conservatives understand personal freedom and individual liberty and responsibility, and will go to great lengths to ensure them. Progressives on the other hand tend to ignore such values and argue that they can do so by invoking Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has ruled that the meaning of various sections, including this one, can be interpreted somewhat different than they were originally intended to be. This leads to a state of confusion among citizens and lets progressives get away with a socialist infused agenda.

The article refers to the powers a Government has and how it should act. In the document it is stated that the Government can take certain actions if they are for the benefit of all citizens. This has been interpreted over the years by progressives as a loophole that lets the Government intrude in any aspect of society as long as they claim they are doing it for the good of all citizens. But conservatives adhere to a more literal understanding of the phrasing and want people to understand that Government can’t have unlimited powers and can’t favor only a certain group of citizens based solely on socioeconomic status or ethnic background.

What Does Limited Government in the Constitution Actually Means?

When the Founding Fathers of the United States of America sat down to write the Constitution a couple of issues were immediately clear and needed to be addressed. One of them was the power the new Government would have. Having just come out of British rule, the Founding Fathers understood that no matter what type of Government they would end up having, it had to be free of any kind of dictatorship by excellence. So they set out to limit the powers of the new Government through the Constitution itself.

In order to have limited government in the constitution , the Founders devised a Federal Legislature. This is what is today know as Congress. The Congress is formed of two bodies, or rooms. The House of Representatives, in which people sent the ones elected by them directly in order to represent them, and the Senate, which is designed to be the place where states sent their representatives. Each state can only have 2 senators with overlapping terms of office. This ensured that all parties are represented and that power isn’t concentrated into one single governing body or person.

But that wasn’t enough. So, in order to further have limited Government in the Constitution, Article 1, Section 8 lists the powers of the Federal Government. These are known as the Enumerated Powers and represent what the Federal Government is allowed to do. Several of these powers are:

• “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;”
• “To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;”
• “To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;”
• “To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;”
• “To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;”
• “To provide and maintain a Navy;”

The powers listed are just a few of the Federal Government but anyone can understand why they must be reserved only for a federal level of governance. In order to further the idea of what a Federal Government can and cannot do, the 10th Amendment of the Constitution clearly states that the Enumerated Powers are reserved for Federal Government, all other matters that are not listed being the responsibility of each State and even individual.