Thomas Just Exposed Progressivism’s War on the Declaration — Congress Should Listen
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas made an incredible speech on April 15, 2026, at the University of Texas at Austin Law School. In it, he laid out a brilliant explanation and proof of the following: progressivism is absolutely incompatible with the principles of our Founding Fathers and the Constitution that has made this country great. He explained that the Constitution is a charter of individual rights. The word “democracy” does not even appear in it. Thomas warned that progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government. It holds that our rights and dignities come not from God, but from the government. It requires subservience and weakness from the people — something incompatible with a Constitution based on our natural rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas traced this philosophy directly to Woodrow Wilson and the early progressives. Progressivism was not native to America. Wilson and his allies openly took it from Otto von Bismarck’s state-centric Germany, which they admired. They strove to undo the Declaration’s commitment to equality and natural rights, both of which they denied were self-evident. To Wilson, inalienable individual rights were “a lot of nonsense.” He redefined liberty as something granted by government rather than a gift from God that precedes government. Thomas noted that since Wilson’s time, progressivism has made many inroads in our system and way of life. It has coexisted uneasily with the principles of the Declaration. Because it is opposed to those principles, it is not possible for the two to coexist. Progressives showed contempt for ordinary Americans, preferring rule by experts over self-government. Thomas pointed out that the European ideas they copied helped produce the worst regimes of the 20th century — Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and Mao — all hostile to natural rights.
This fight runs much deeper than the tax and spending battles I usually cover at TaxPolitix.com. Reagan-era principles delivered real results because they limited government, cut taxes, and trusted free markets and individual liberty. Progressivism delivers the opposite: rule by administrative agencies, endless bureaucracy, and political decisions that favor special interests over equal treatment under the law. I have warned for decades that this government-first philosophy crowds out personal freedom and fiscal responsibility. Thomas is right. It was a terrible mistake to adopt progressivism’s rejection of the Declaration’s vision of universal, inalienable natural rights. As Calvin Coolidge said, if all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. No advance can be made beyond these propositions.
Congressional conservatives and libertarians must stop fighting only the symptoms. They must continuously raise the issue that progressivism and our Constitution don’t mix. It is bad enough when Democrats push these ideas. It is worse when others adopt the same top-down mindset. I have often questioned in these pages whether even President Trump has clear constitutional or statutory authority for sweeping actions like widespread tariffs. When any executive claims it alone knows what is best for the country and sidelines Congress, it echoes the progressive belief in government supremacy. Lawmakers must defend natural rights and founding principles now. Anything less risks permanent damage to limited government and individual liberty for all Americans.