MAY GOD BLESS THE SKEPTICS: Eugenicists also believed that science is real. Yep. They were just wrong. And full of the certainty that springs from self-regard. “It is a grave error to refer to eugenics, as many do, as a “pseudoscience.” Eugenics was hard science run amok, untempered by skepticism and profoundly intolerant of dissenting viewpoints. . . . It is equally erroneous to assume that eugenicists were ideological troglodytes—Ku Klux Klansmen in tuxedos,so to speak. Support for eugenics spanned the ideological spectrum, but the movement was at its heart a progressive endeavor. They were profoundly optimistic that eugenics could produce a stronger, happier, healthier human species—with the caveat that some unfortunates would be swept aside in the process.”

Progressivism is always about sweeping aside the “unfortunates” who stand in the way of the planners’ grand dreams. Which grand dreams always turn out to be disastrous, and not just for the “unfortunates.” Or rather, everyone is unfortunate when progressives are in charge.