progressivism, individualism, and the public ... - Telmarc Group

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The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL trumping "property rights". There does seem to be the conflict, perhaps of the time, that humans have property and that in many ways it was property via Locke that defines the individual as compared to a vassal of the King. TR and the Progressives seem to be driven by the Trusts and their "property" and the general hatred for these same Trusts. Milkis discusses the conflicts of TR and the Constitution 96 . I would have liked to see this better presented, it is discussed but it is in itself a key element of importance who relation to the present is key. This returns again on p 91 where Milkis states: "In the end, TR and his political allies proposed to emancipate public opinion from the restraining influence of the Declaration (of Independence) and the Constitution..." TR was clearly a man who had his own ideas and the facts and history of the country be damned. The Wilson plan of the New Freedoms was in contradistinction to TR. Milkis compares and contrasts them but in many ways they had much in common. Monopolies seem to dominate the discussion 97 . TR was advocating for the referendum, recall and the like, pushing the power down to the people, and even to the extent of having recall of the President 98 . In contrast Wilson was defending natural rights but stopped way short of recalls as TR had done. 99 The growth of the larger electorate, the conflict between large industries and labor, the expansion of the middle class, and even the conflicts on racial issues. TR had become an idealists with a platform designed to attract the largest group of common voters. He had developed his own ideas as how the country should be run and his New Nationalism was in a sense a new Constitution, drafted by a single man who then set out to sell it. Wilson was driven by the intent to concentrate mow power in both the executive as well as in Washington. 4.4.2 The New Nationalism Roosevelt gave a speech during 1910, two years prior to the 1912 Presidential campaign, in Kansas, entitled The New Nationalism. It laid forth in some significant detail his views as a progressive. He states what the New Nationalism is in that speech: The New Nationalism puts the national need before sectional or personal advantage. It is impatient of the utter confusion that results from local legislatures attempting to treat national issues as local issues. It is still more impatient of the impotence which springs from over division of governmental powers, the impotence which makes it possible for 96 Milkis, Roosevelt, p 44. 97 Milkis, Roosevelt, p 202. 98 Milkis, Roosevelt, p 219. 99 Milkis, Roosevelt, p 226. Page 84
The Telmarc Group PROGRESSIVISM, INDIVIDUALISM, AND THE PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL local selfishness or for legal cunning, hired by wealthy special interests, to bring national activities to a deadlock. This New Nationalism regards the executive power as the steward of the public welfare. It demands of the judiciary that it shall be interested primarily in human welfare rather than in property, just as it demands that the representative body shall represent all the people rather than any one class or section of the people. It recognizes that the United States is now one country, united and not a collection of sectional entities. It furthermore places "power" in the hands of the "executive". It demands justice deal with people and not things. It demands that the legislature be of the people, representing them, and not special interests. It puts the nation before the individual. In many ways it was the statement defining the Progressive movement. It placed many stakes in the ground as regards to the strength of the Federal Government and especially that of the President. It attempts to show that the individualism that the country was founded upon and built upon was now thrown on the ash heap of history and that the new nationalism made all subservient to the needs and goals of the nation. To those listening to the speech, their ears may not yet have been attuned to this nuance. TR had gotten his, and frankly he could care less by anyone else. As Milkis states 100 : "Roosevelt, Croly 101 claimed, "was the first political leader of the American people to identify the national principle with the ideal of reform." TR hoped that his progressive vision of industrial democracy would bury the issue of race, that it would reunify the nation in a war against privilege." Croly had written a book, The Promise of American Life, in which he states 102 : "The triumph of Jefferson and the defeat of Hamilton enabled the natural individualism of the American people free play. The democratic political system was considered tantamount in practice to a species of vigorous, licensed, and purified selfishness. The responsibilities of the government were negative; those of the individual were positive. And it is no wonder that in the course of time his positive responsibilities began to look 100 Milkis, Roosevelt, p. 40. 101 Herbert Croly was the founder of The New Republic ("TNR") and a major Progressive thinker and writer. Croly and TNR nourished many of the Progressives in their day and it has continued to be a bastion of neo-progressive thought. 102 Croly, H., The Promise of American Life, MacMillan (New York) 1911. pp 48-49. See http://books.google.com/books?id=3BASAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=croly+promise+of+american+life&ei =qj7cSdS0BJ2UMbmsxOYO#v=onepage&q&f=false for the Google book. It should be noted that the dedication in this book if to the Croly family from the Holmes family on Christmas 1912. Holmes of course being the famous Oliver Wendell Holmes. Page 85
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