In the early part of the 20th century, progressives used national identity to push forward their ideas of an all powerful central government, in the 20’s they used Christian socialism to push prohibition, 30’s they used mutual aid societies to push a social safety net...

40’s they used the specter of the Prussian empire to push a Second World War, 50’s they used the nuclear war they started to bloat the military industrial complex, 60’s they used the threat of dominoes to invade Vietnam, 70’s they used energy fluctuations to seize the market...

80’s they used the threat of out of control capitalism to calcify their relationship with Wall Street, 90’s they used their political influence to promote the ideas of global policing, 20’s conservative democracy advocate progs used the horror of terrorism to expand empire,

10’s they used the idea of technocratic control of the economy to psychologically solidify gov as the source of economic wealth, 20’s they turned off the last vestiges of the free market using the specter of the 1918 pandemic they administrated, during their world war.

....but go on, tell me that communism is the biggest threat to freedom. Communism is just another ideology progs take advantage of from time to time to increase the size and scope of the state, just like capitalism when capitalism suits their needs.

Read Woodrow Wilson’s own words about progressivism:

https://ballotpedia.org/%22The_Study_of_Administration%22_by_Woodrow_Wilson_(1887)

https://archive.org/details/ahistoryamerica02conggoog/page/n18/mode/2up