The most important American progressive of all time?

[Moloch]

[UdoKier]

1. Pretty tough call between FDR & MLK

But I picked MLK. I wish his Poor People's movement had reached fruition.

[mitchum]

2. Emma Goldman

[Trajan]

3. FDR by a long shot ....

But, I would give VERY honorable mention to Thomas Paine, who stands amongst the titans of enlightened social philosophy ....

FDR implemented what could be called 'progressive' policies, and he implemented many such policies .... by sheer numbers alone : FDR ....

[stpalm]

4. Fightin' Bob!

He was a true progressive... and he was from Wisconsin!

Okay, so he didn't do as much as the rest. But he was a fighter.

[stpalm]

16. LaFollette, that is.

I forgot to add his last name. I can't edit the message anymore.

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. FDR, Martin Luther King and Paul Wellstone. n/t

[solinvictus]

6. Thomas Paine..

Because he intiated the fight against theocracy.

[Crazy Guggenheim]

7. Though I do give it to FDR I think Teddy deserves .........

a mention since he was one of the politicians who started the talk about "public interests". I'm reading the book "Theodore Rex" by Edmund Morris. Good read.

[MissWaverly]

15. let's give Teddy credit

he got rid of child labor and the 80 hour work week

[Art_from_Ark]

25. Actually, child labor persisted into the 1930s

http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/us_history.html

[MissWaverly]

27. Thanks for the heads up

We provided for safeguarding factory employees in the District against accidents, and for the restriction of child labor therein.
This is from Teddy's autobiography, apparently now rereading it, he's talking about D.C., he was the first to start the 8 hour days for federal employees, republicans in those days were the progressives.

[Art_from_Ark]

32. Some Republicans were definitely progressives in those days

and Teddy was their standard bearer. But Teddy rubbed the party powerbrokers the wrong way. You may recall that he was chosen for McKinley's running mate beacuse the party elite thought that would keep him out of sight. After all, how many Vice Presidents up to that time had actually made it to the Presidency on their own? Only Jefferson and Van Buren, I believe, all the others (Tyler, Fillmore, Johnson, Arthur) had become President on the death of their respective predecessors-- and all only served out the predecessor's term before being replaced.

While he was President, Teddy placated the Republican power brokers by sticking to McKinley's imperialistic policies. But on the domestic front, Roosevelt made enemies with the top Republican brass. Roosevelt then made the politically fatal mistake of selecting his successor, William H. Taft, who turned out to be quite an anti-progressive. Roosevelt realized his mistake and tried to wrest the 1912 Republican nomination away from his one-time friend Taft, but the powerbrokers had their puppet, and kept the more popular Roosevelt out of the running. Roosevelt countered by forming the "Bull Moose" Party, and ended up getting more votes than Taft, the only 3rd party Presidential candidate in American history to get more votes than a "major party" candidate. What's more, during the campaign, Roosevelt was shot, but not killed. The party elite wanted to keep him quiet.

[MissWaverly]

34. Thanks

Read what Teddy says about the Presidency:

"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right.

Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

"Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star", 149
May 7, 1918

[Art_from_Ark]

35. Teddy was definitely a Republican I could vote for

He would certainly put most of today's sorry crop of politicians to shame!

[MissWaverly]

36. Read his comment on resources

"Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things sometimes seek to champion them by saying the 'the game belongs to the people.' So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people.

The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations.

The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method."
Teddy Roosevelt/A Book-Lover's Holidays in the Open, 1916

[bobthedrummer]

8. I don't see Robert La Follette listed.

He was an American progressive too.
It's an interesting list though.

[joeybee12]

9. A Roosevelt no one has mentioned--Eleanor--she was the force

behind FDR's progressiveness, and way ahead of her time.

[pstans]

10. What about Theodore Roosevelt?

His policies crossed party lines and he accomplished a great deal for the nation. I have heard people say that he created the modern presidency.

[Tace]

A Vote For Chomsky

: )

On edit: otherwise, I'm going with MLK. Although, I need to read more Thomas Paine. My brother and sister attended Thomas Paine elementary school in Cherry Hill, NJ.

[mikehiggins]

11. Teddy Roosevelt

I mean, come on folks. Out of nowhere this rich guy starts taking on the big business interests, back when business really was what this country was all about.

And he was a Freemason to boot. Gotta like him.

[candy]

12. delete

[DBoon]

13. Eugene Debs

Followed by the Reuther brothers

[Moloch]

19. I had Eugene Debs on the list....

but nobody voted for him, so I replaced him with Theodore Roosevelt. Looks like nobody picked him either.

[Warpy]

14. Mother Jones

Emma Goldman
Sojourner Truth
Mary Woolstoncraft

The rising of women is the rising of the race.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

17. Emma Goldman

Anarchist, Feminist, Free spirit.

[Moloch]

18. Emma Goldman is not eligible for the list...

as she was born in Lithuania.

[Minnesota_Lib]

21. Thomas Paine was born in Thetford, England...

so how come he is eligible?

[Art_from_Ark]

26. He is probably eligible because there was no USA when he was born

and everyone born (and living) in the 13 colonies were considered to be British subjects, just like people born in England.

[Swamp Rat]

20. We the People.

Each and every one of us.

[sweetheart]

22. Stephen Jobs

Without him and his democratizing influence in the world of
computing, we would not be having this chat. IBM would still
hold all the cards in a monopolistic fist, and the computer
revolution would not have come.

[Nicole]

23. FDR

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

24. What, no Jesus?

:evilgrin:

[adwon]

28. Rayburn or LBJ

Those two did more to enact the celebrated legislation of the 20th century than anyone else. Well, as far as strictly political figures go.

Edit: or Wagner from New York, who was the prime mover behind the right to organize and collective bargaining being codified.

[bvar22]

29. Had to vote for FDR, though...

Teddy won a close 2nd with me.

Environmentalist

Trust Buster

We NEED Teddy today more than FDR.

[porphyrian]

30. Other: You

Every one of you. Because if you don't make a stand against this regression, then none of the others fucking matter.

[Solly Mack]

33. This gets my vote!

[barb162]

31. Jane Addams, Upton Sinclair and

some of the abolitionist writers prior to the Civil War