If the Progressives had merely intended to take my money and to give it to a poor person, that'd even be tolerable. Except, in no country in the world do Progressives restrain themselves to just that. At no time through human history have socialists 'just' taken people's money and funded welfare with it. That would have already been wrong, but that is not the goal of Progressivism. The desire of progressives is to manage every bit of my life, for my own good of course.
If the Progressives merely intended to take my money for funding an education system in which the children of the poor would be taught, that would be a far superior system than what is experienced in many states in the Old World , where private schools are either actively suppressed by the government – like in Israel – or, as in Europe, regulated to the point of becoming virtually identical to public schools. And homeschooling is of course illegal.
Let us take healthcare. The plan is not merely to fund the health care of the poor, of course, but to control health care and related issues. As such they will tax cigarettes, and they will tax (and eventually no doubt ban) 'unhealthy' food and soda and so forth – already Congress is debating a tax on carbonated drinks. Because they're unhealthy of course. Similarly, they prohibit you from selling your own kidneys – though selling your own kidney is less dangerous than playing a season of football – or even, in some countries, your own sperm.
Now, I know what you will say. You will say – 'Microbalrog, but surely that is not oppression! After all you surely do not claim that you have some form of basic civil right to eat whatever the hell you choose! Why, if you did that, we'd have to cover your health care expenses!'
Forget, here, that had you not undertaken to underwrite my expenses, this whole argument wouldn't have existed. The problem here is that throughout its history, Progressivism has sought to regulate trade – in absolutely everything – and absolutely any kind of human activity. In the European countries you point your finger at, and Israel, which imitates them, the progressives had gone and regulated (or banned) fireworks, sweet drinks, video games, horse racing, automotive racing, firearm possession, and so forth. Where I live, automotive racing is illegal, and so are any and all fireworks, and so are energy drinks over a certain grade of caffeine content, and so is digital radio, and cryonics, and most traditional forms of burial known to man. Child protection services are allowed to seize children without trial and judicial review occurs only after the child has been removed, with the burden of proof on the family.
And of course, you're going to tell me that you're not oppressing me.
Because after all, there's no guaranteed right to unhealthy food, outline anywhere, right?
And there's no guaranteed right to NASCAR racing, right?
And no guaranteed right to hunt, and to be cryonically frozen, and to launch model rockets, and to launch fireworks, and play poker, right?
But the problem is, little tiny things add up. We already – as you pointed out – live in a universe where hundreds, thousands of little tiny things are made unavailable to us by the fiat of people who decided – based on their own little cultural prejudices, their superior college educations, knowing two languages rather than one – that they knew better than us. We have grown so accustomed to this universe that we now believe that this is normal, and this is freedom. We don't even know about the opportunities we might have had if we were free.
Progressives believe that since a few token rights – a vestige of free speech, for example – are not denied us, we are still free.
“So, you've already accepted all of those tons of infringements, just another little one, it won't hurt,” - they cajole.
Sometimes this is likened to a salami. A huge salami, and the Statists are taking turns taking up slice by slice. Medicare! Social Security! Income Taxes! Compulsory Education!
So just because you've managed to establish all of this 'anti-capitalist' stuff before I was born, I'm supposed to give up the rest of the Salami, too? Why don't you be a darling and give my salami back?
