Why progressives need a big idea

One of the staple progressive mantras is that income inequality is soaring, with the minority at the top vacuuming up most of the national income.

But the picture is much more complex, and more positive, than that. Between and , the biggest gains in real after-tax income were actually at the bottom of the ladder:. Without this government action, inequality almost certainly would have risen quite sharply in the bottom 90 percent. Having said this, there was a clear a rise in overall inequality in the s, and there has been a pulling-away of the very richest in the top 5 percent or even 1 percent of the distribution in more recent years see graph below.

There may be reasons to worry about the income growth at the very top, particularly in relation to political power. It may be that the redistributive capacity of the government is reaching its political or fiscal limits.

And there is good reason to worry about the growth of wealth, as opposed to income, inequality. But in terms of income, the real story of the last few decades is that rising market inequality has by and large not translated into final inequality, largely because of government action. The state of the middle class is also a point of distress for many progressives, and there are causes for concern.

But the panicked tone of some political rhetoric is misplaced. Certainly the golden years of income growth enjoyed after World War II are behind us. But it is simply false to imagine that the American middle class is sinking.

People at the top of the income distribution have done much better than most. Beginning in , the federal government first made loans, then grants, to states to pay for direct relief and work relief.

After that, special federal emergency relief such as the Civilian Conservation Corps and other public-works programs were started. In , President Franklin D. This program was expanded several times over the years. One unique trend in the history of welfare in the United States were maternalist reforms. Beginning in the Progressive Era, experiments in public policy took the form of laws providing for state assistance for mothers with young children who did not have the financial support of a male member of the household.

These laws provided financial reimbursements and set limits on the maximum working hours for women. These reforms arose from the belief that government has an obligation and interest in protecting and improving the living standards of women and children.

To improve the conditions of women and children, these policies attempted to reconcile the conflicting roles placed on women during this time period. It was the first national government office in the world that focused solely on the well-being of children and their mothers.

The legislation creating the agency was signed into law on April 9, Taft appointed Julia Lathrop as the first head of the bureau. Lathrop, a noted maternalist reformer, was the first woman ever to head a government agency in the United States. In , Lathrop stepped down as director, and the noted child-labor reformer Grace Abbott was appointed to succeed her. The Sherwood Act of May 11, , was the first important U.

It awarded pensions to all veterans. Veterans of the Mexican-American War and Union veterans of the Civil War could receive pensions automatically at age 62, regardless of disability.

Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. The Progressive Era: — Search for:. The Progressive Era. The Progressive Era The Progressive Era was a period of social activism and political reform in the United States that flourished from the s to the s. Many Progressives sought to rid the government of corruption, and muckraking became a particular type of journalism that exposed waste, corruption, and scandal on a national level.

Two of the most important outcomes of the Progressive Era were the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Amendments, the first of which outlawed the manufacturing, sale, or transport of alcohol, and the second of which enfranchised women with the right to vote.

Theodore Roosevelt is often cited as the first Progressive president, known for his trust -busting activities. Progressives did little for civil rights or the plight of African Americans in the aftermath of Reconstruction, as the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of many racist southern laws.

Key Terms muckraker : A reform-oriented investigative journalist during the Progressive Era. Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens.

It arose in response to industrialism and dominated American politics for the first two decades of the twentieth century. Eighteenth Amendment : This constitutional amendment established prohibition of alcohol in Nineteenth Amendment : This constitutional amendment, ratified in , granted women the right to vote and forbade any suffrage restrictions based on gender. The Varieties of Progressivism Progressive-Era reformers sought to use the federal government to make sweeping changes in politics, education, economics, and society.

Learning Objectives Describe the theory behind Progressivism. Key Takeaways Key Points Progressivism arose as a response to the vast changes brought about by modernization. Progressives believed that the Constitution was a set of loose guidelines and that the scope of the federal government should extend into society to protect it from things such as trusts.

Education was democratized during this era: Progressive educators, such as John Dewey, wanted every child to have an education and sought to create effective standardized tests to measure how children were learning.

Progressives agreed that regulating business was important, but they disagreed about whether that would be best served by breaking up monopolies or by allowing them to exist with increased regulation. Key Terms progressivism : A philosophy that asserts that advancements in science, technology, economic development, and social organization are vital to improve the human condition. The Progressives believed in the Hamiltonian concept of positive government, of a national government directing the destinies of the nation at home and abroad.

They had little but contempt for the strict construction of the Constitution by conservative judges, who would restrict the power of the national government to act against social evils and to extend the blessings of democracy to less favored lands. The real enemy was particularism, state rights, limited government.

Learning Objectives Explain the concept of the Social Gospel. Social justice issues were especially important to Social Gospel reformers. Social Gospel workers were post-millennialist, believing that Christ would return to Earth after humankind had worked through its sins.

Key Terms Social Gospel : A Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early twentieth century United States and Canada that applied Christian ethics to social problems.

Key Takeaways Key Points The s and early s witnessed a profound social and political reaction to the Gilded Age, the period between the early s and late s that was characterized by excesses and corruption.

Muckrakers were journalists who exposed social ills and corporate and political corruption. Journalists, such as Jacob Riis and Ida B. Wells, were among the first to bring attention to poor living conditions in cities, the plight of immigrants, and racial injustice. Ida B. Early Efforts in Urban Reform Early efforts in urban reform were driven by poor conditions exposed by tragedies such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

The book "The Jungle" caused Roosevelt to push congress to pass many new reforms like the Meat Inspection Act , the Pure Food Act, Drug Act and they also created new department of commission ICC and also the labor with a bureau of corporations that could investigate corporations.

Roosevelt made the U. S the police of the Americas and made sure that no foreign countries would try to over rule or enforce any rules on any country of the Americas.

Roosevelt also built the Panama Canal which made trade much easier to other countries and help the time travel. These are some of the things made during the Progressive Era. The Progressive Era changed the U. S in many ways that are still in use to this day. The American society and welfare of people are better because of the change many people did like the Black Freedom which were affected by Booker T Washington and W. Progressives still have to convince members of their own party that their solutions are workable.

The same stimulus package that offers direct payments to Americans supplies half a trillion dollars to corporations, with some strings attached. Environmental protections that some Democrats wanted in the bill were left out of the final package. But the longer the virus ravages American communities, and the longer stores and businesses stay closed, the more likely people are to appreciate progressive policies, the leaders I spoke with said.

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