The topic suggested for this month was: "Whether the current political environment is a backlash to the "victory" of progressivism symbolized by the election of President Obama." I will begin by saying I reject completely the second part of this statement, specifically, that the election of President Obama represented a "victory for progressivism". President Obama was elected because he was young, he was anti-George Bush and he was a stark contrast to John McCain. He did not win election or re-election because voters had determined to embrace progressivism.

To be clear on terminology, "progressivism" is not just some feel-good collection of liberal policies. Progressivism is a philosophy that rejects the American ideals of individual liberty, freedom, and responsibility, and instead embraces the notion that advancing the interests of collective groups, not individuals, is the goal of society. Progressive policies, therefore, subjugate the liberties of the individual citizen to serve the needs of the "collective", and it is the state, not the individual, that determines progressive policies.

The oxymoronically-named "Affordable Care Act" is one of the best examples of President Obama's progressive policies. The ACA was and is a state-formulated, state-mandated maze of healthcare regulations that diminishes each individual's control of their health care and cedes that authority to the state, purportedly for the greater good of the collective. As polls and town hall meetings across the country made clear, the ACA never enjoyed popular support and was passed through Congress with no bilateral political support, using untruths, coercion, and kickbacks to reach the President's desk. The ACA can hardly be viewed as a "victory for progressivism" but was instead an example of Democrats imposing a state-mandated system on citizens against their will. When it came time to go to the polls, Democrats who supported the ACA lost in record numbers.

As to the first part of the proposition, above, that the current political environment is a backlash to the Obama-era's progressive policies, there is merit. As addressed earlier, in the view of progressive Democrats, America is not a nation of individual citizens, we are instead mere members of groups divided by race, gender, nationality, income, sexual preference, and age.

Progressive politicians promote identity-politics, advocating the interests of groups over individuals, and pitting these groups against each other for the sake of votes.

Progressive policies are designed to allow the state to reward the groups that progressives approve and to punish disfavored groups.

As we saw during the Obama presidency, under progressivism, the individual becomes increasingly irrelevant, and the state dictates and regulates daily life, from health care to the use of public bathrooms to forcing nuns to fund birth control.

Nothing could be more antithetical to the uniquely American concepts of individual liberty and freedom than these "progressive" policies, and enduring eight years of progressivism was more than enough. The prospect of continuing down this progressive spiral proved to be a strong catalyst for the Republicans taking both the House and the Senate during the Obama presidency and setting the stage for the 2016 election of President Trump.