Progressives are Too Conservative

I stumbled upon an essay today making the case that progressives are really ultra-conservatives in disguise, with a sprinkling of elitism thrown in for good measure:

“Progressives want comfort and certainty. They want to lock things down the way they are. They want to know that such and such job will be there tomorrow and next decade, and will always pay at least X amount. That is why, in the end, progressives are all statists, because, to paraphrase Hayek, only a government with totalitarian powers can bring the order and certainty and control of individual decision-making that they crave.”

While this gets pretty close to the mark, there’s one important additional point to make: trying to design a society effectively requires perfect information, which doesn’t exist. Without it, the law of unintended consequences always applies. Would-be builders of the social utopia would be better off working on limitless energy and non-slave workers rather than trying to cement the status quo through totalitarianism.

Also found on that site was a link to a link to a link of a DVD ISO explaining the philosophy of individual liberty you can burn for your friends.