Wilson and Obama: Connecting the DotsWriting for National Review's The Corner, Jonah Goldberg hits on a slew of good points regarding Progressivism and Woodrow Wilson. In doing so, he also links to an outstanding piece by George Will, who comments on Wilson's folly and, more importantly, highlights the strains of Wilsonianism found in Obama.
Here's an excerpt from Will:
Wilson, once a professor of political science, said that the Princeton he led as its president was dedicated to unbiased expertise, and he thought government could be "reduced to science." Progressives are forever longing to replace the governance of people by the administration of things. Because they are entirely public-spirited, progressives volunteer to be the administrators, and to be as disinterested as the dickens...Emphasis added
Wilson was the first president to criticize the Founding Fathers. He faulted them for designing a government too susceptible to factions that impede disinterested experts from getting on with government undistracted. Like Princeton's former president, Obama's grievance is with the greatest Princetonian, the "father of the Constitution," James Madison, Class of 1771.
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