The old adage seems apt: the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And, as it turns out, utopian ones at that.
The emergence of Progressivism began in earnest around the turn of the 20th century. It was, in general, a secular version of an earlier Protestant movement known as the Social Gospel.
The Social Gospel sought to Christianize society’s institutions based on the fanciful notion that Christ’s Second Coming would not happen until we humans first eliminated all of society’s ills (postmillennialism).
These ills included economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, crime, racial tensions, slums, unclean environment, child labor, lack of unionization, poor schools, and the dangers of war – of which there was no small shortage.