Excuse Me, Professor

Challenging the Myths of Progressivism

Lawrence W. Reed

• Publisher: Regnery
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781621574651
• eBook ISBN:
  9781621574668
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching Social Science

There's little truly "progressive" about Progressivism. True progress happens when humans are free, yet the Progressive agenda substantially diminishes freedom while promising the unachievable. Excuse Me, Professor provides a handy reference for anyone actively engaged in advancing liberty, with essential essays debunking more than 50 Progressive clichés.Does the free market truly ignore the poor? Are humans really destroying the Earth? Is the government truly the first best source to relieve distress?Compiled and edited by Lawrence W. Reed in collaboration with the Foundation for Economic Education and Young America's Foundation, this anthology is an indispensable addition to every freedom lover's arsenal of intellectual ammunition.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• #1. “Income Inequality Arises from Market Forces and Requires Government Intervention”
• #2. “Because We’re Running Out of Resources, Government Must Manage Them”
• #3. “Equality Serves the Common Good”
• #4. “The More Complex the Society, the More Government Control We Need”
• #5. “Income Inequality Is the Great Economic and Moral Crisis of Our Time”
• #6. “Capitalism Fosters Greed and Government Policy Must Temper It”
• #7. “The Free Market Ignores the Poor”
• #8. “The Economy Needs More Planning—Central Planning, That Is”
• #9. “Human Rights Are More Important Than Property Rights”
• #10. “I Have a Right!”
• #11. “Rich People Have an Obligation to Give Back”
• #12. “I Prefer Security to Freedom”
• #13. “Cooperation, Not Competition!”
• #14. “Healthcare Is a Right”
• #15. “We Are Destroying the Earth and Government Must Do Something”
• #16. “Ownership Must Be Tempered by Sharing”
• #17. “All We Need Is the Right People to Run the Government”
• #18. “Humanity Can Be Best Understood in a Collective Context”
• #19. “Big Government Is a Check on Big Business”
• #20. “Government Can Be a Compassionate Alternative to the Harshness of the Marketplace”
• #21. “Capitalism’s Sweatshops and Child Labor Cry Out for Government Intervention”
• #22. “Voluntary, Market-Based Arrangements ‘Use’ People”
• #23. “The Balance of Trade Deficit Requires Government Action”
• #24. “Americans Squander Their Incomes on Themselves While Public Needs Are Neglected”
• #25. “If Government Doesn’t Relieve Distress, Who Will?”
• #26. “Historical Preservation Won’t Happen Unless the Government Takes Charge”
• #27. “Government Must Have the Power to Make People Take Better Care of Themselves”
• #28. “Government Spending Brings Jobs and Prosperity”
• #29. “Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle Proved Regulation Was Required”
• #30. “Capitalism’s Industrial Revolution Cursed the World with the Horror of Child Labor”
• #31. “Labor Unions Raise Wages and the Standard of Living”
• #32. “FDR Was Elected in 1932 on a Progressive Platform to Plan the Economy”
• #33. “The Great Depression Was a Calamity of Unfettered Capitalism”
• #34. “Government Must Subsidize the Arts”
• #35. “Government Is an Inflation Fighter”
• #36. “Outsourcing Is Bad for the Economy”
• #37. “If FDR’s New Deal Didn’t End the Depression, Then World War II Did”
• #38. “The Minimum Wage Helps the Poor”
• #39. “Free Markets Exploit Women”
• #40. “The Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor Are Getting Poorer”
• #41. “Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company Proved We Needed Antitrust Laws to Fight Market Monopolies”
• #42. “Jesus Christ Was a Progressive Because He Advocated Income Redistribution to Help the Poor”
• #43. “The Free Market Cannot Provide Public Education”
• #44. “Warren Buffett’s Federal Tax Rate Is Less Than His Secretary’s”
• #45. “Profit Is Evidence of Suspicious Behavior”
• #46. “Robots and Computerization Cause Unemployment”
• #47. “Statistical Disparities between Races Prove Discrimination”
• #48. “The Solution to Over-Population Is Population Control”
• #49. “Resource-Poor Countries Need Strong Central Planning to Develop”
• #50. “People Love the Robin Hood Story Because He Took From the Rich to Give to the Poor”
• #51. “Greedy Capitalists Take Advantage of People in Natural Disasters; Price Controls Are the Answer”
• #52. “Progressives Have Good Intentions, So What Else Is Required?”
• About the Editor and Co-Author
• Contributing Authors
• Suggested Reading List
• Index