Powerline Series: The Road to Soft Despotism

Last month I wrote that I believed the path we are now on, call it Modern Liberalism, Progressivism, or Socialism can only lead to a form of despotism. This month Professor Paul Rahe, author of the book Soft Despotism, Democracy's Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect has an ongoing series at Powerline that should be a must read for anyone interested in Obama's political philosophy, where it came from, and why it matters.
Rahe writes in the first installment:

To grasp what is at stake, one must step back and consider what sort of thinking underpins the drive for what is called "health care reform." There was a time in the United States when we lived under a regime of individual rights, and as individuals we assumed responsibility for our own welfare. We worked; we saved; and we took pride in looking after ourselves. Many of us still think in this fashion, but this is not the manner in which our masters now think. We may be the heirs of the men who adopted the Declaration of Independence; those who rule us are the offspring of the Progressives, and men of this temper have dominated our political life for almost a century now.

1. Obama's Tyrannical Ambition

2. The Servile Temptation Part I

3. The Servile Temptation Part II

4. The Road to Soft Despotism Part I

5. The Road to Soft Despotism Part II