{"id":25615,"date":"2013-02-04T14:17:57","date_gmt":"2013-02-04T13:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/view\/2013\/02\/04-0"},"modified":"2013-02-04T14:17:57","modified_gmt":"2013-02-04T13:17:57","slug":"an-anniversary-of-americas-first-progressive-revolution-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/an-anniversary-of-americas-first-progressive-revolution-2\/","title":{"rendered":"An Anniversary of America\u2019s First Progressive Revolution"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Exactly a century ago, on February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, authorizing a federal income tax. Congress turned it into a graduated tax, based on \u201ccapacity to pay.\u201d\"\"<\/p>\n

It was among the signal victories of the progressive movement \u2013 the first constitutional amendment in 40 years (the first 10 had been included in the Bill of Rights, the 11th and 12th in 1789 and 1804, and three others in consequence of the Civil War), reflecting a great political transformation in America.<\/p>\n

The 1880s and 1890s had been the Gilded Age, the time of robber barons, when a small number controlled almost all the nation\u2019s wealth as well as our democracy, when poverty had risen to record levels, and when it looked as though the country was destined to become a moneyed aristocracy.<\/p>\n

But almost without warning, progressives reversed the tide. Teddy Roosevelt became president in 1901, pledging to break up the giant trusts and end the reign of the \u201cmalefactors of great wealth.\u201d Laws were enacted protecting the public from impure foods and drugs, and from corrupt legislators.<\/p>\n

By 1909 Democrats and progressive Republicans had swept many state elections, subsequently establishing the 40-hour work week and other reforms that would later be the foundation stones for the New Deal. Woodrow Wilson won the 1912 presidential election.<\/p>\n

A progressive backlash against concentrated wealth and power occurred a century ago in America. In the 1880s and 1890s such a movement seemed improbable if not impossible. Only idealists and dreamers thought the nation had the political will to reform itself, let alone enact a constitutional amendment of such importance \u2013 analogous, today, to an amendment reversing \u201cCitizens United v. FEC\u201d and limiting the flow of big money into politics.<\/p>\n

But it did happen. And it will happen again.<\/p>\n

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License<\/p>\n

\n
\"Robert<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>Robert Reich<\/a>, one of the nation\u2019s leading experts on work and the economy, is Chancellor\u2019s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Time Magazine has named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including his latest best-seller, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America\u2019s Future;\u00a0<\/a>The Work of Nations<\/a>; Locked in the Cabinet<\/a>; Supercapitalism<\/a>; and his newest, Beyond Outrage<\/a>. His syndicated columns, television appearances, and public radio commentaries reach millions of people each week. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and Chairman of the citizen\u2019s group Common Cause. His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n

Exactly a century ago, on February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, authorizing a federal income tax. Congress turned it into a graduated tax, based on “capacity to pay.”\"\"<\/p>\n

It was among the signal victories of the progressive movement — the first constitutional amendment in 40 years (the first 10 had been included in the Bill of Rights, the 11th and 12th in 1789 and 1804, and three others in consequence of the Civil War), reflecting a great political transformation in America.<\/p>\n

The 1880s and 1890s had been the Gilded Age, the time of robber barons, when a small number controlled almost all the nation’s wealth as well as our democracy, when poverty had risen to record levels, and when it looked as though the country was destined to become a moneyed aristocracy.<\/p>\n

But almost without warning, progressives reversed the tide. Teddy Roosevelt became president in 1901, pledging to break up the giant trusts and end the reign of the “malefactors of great wealth.” Laws were enacted protecting the public from impure foods and drugs, and from corrupt legislators.<\/p>\n

By 1909 Democrats and progressive Republicans had swept many state elections, subsequently establishing the 40-hour work week and other reforms that would later be the foundation stones for the New Deal. Woodrow Wilson won the 1912 presidential election.<\/p>\n

A progressive backlash against concentrated wealth and power occurred a century ago in America. In the 1880s and 1890s such a movement seemed improbable if not impossible. Only idealists and dreamers thought the nation had the political will to reform itself, let alone enact a constitutional amendment of such importance — analogous, today, to an amendment reversing “Citizens United v. FEC” and limiting the flow of big money into politics.<\/p>\n

But it did happen. And it will happen again.<\/p>\n

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License<\/p>\n

\n
\"Robert<\/a><\/div>\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>Robert Reich<\/a>, one of the nation’s leading experts on work and the economy, is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Time Magazine has named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including his latest best-seller, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future; <\/a>The Work of Nations<\/a>; Locked in the Cabinet<\/a>; Supercapitalism<\/a>; and his newest, Beyond Outrage<\/a>. His syndicated columns, television appearances, and public radio commentaries reach millions of people each week. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and Chairman of the citizen’s group Common Cause. His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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