What Can Progressive Christians Learn from the Past Progressive Movements of the 20th Century?
In formulating a Progressive Christian agenda, perhaps we could learn from looking at the achievements and failures of Progressive movements of the past century and share with each other some insights about we think we can learn to help with Progressive movements today. It seems like each generation of Progressives face many of the same issues that we face now: the consolidation of power within a small group of corporate interests that gains an inordinate amount of political influence; a growing gap between rich and poor and the dire circumstance of the working class; issues of racism and a backlash against large immigrant populations; vast social changes due to new technologies.
In the beginning of the 20th Century, various Progressive and Populist groups were fighting to weaken the power of various business trusts and monopolies and to strengthen the power of average citizens. Attempts were made to break the power of backroom politics and corrupt machine politics through the installation of the initiative process in many states. Various Christian groups fought to help poor working class and immigrant neighborhoods, while socialist groups worked to organize workers into unions. Women's suffragist groups were fighting for the right of women to vote, prohibitionists were fighting to make alcohol illegal, and the NAACP was started to fight for African American Rights. Teddy Roosevelt's and Woodrow Wilson's administrations passed through Congress aimed at achieving many of these Progressive goals. What was successful about them? In what ways did they fail? What can we learn from them?
During the 1930s, the New Deal took ideas from past Progressive movements and Socialists like Norman Thomas to help in the fight against the Great Depression. The Social Security Act, the Wagner Labor Relations Act, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and various other New Deal measures directly responded to flaws in the capitalist system that was causing so much misery to millions of Americans.
The Great Society programs of the 1960s aimed at eliminating poverty and correcting racial injustices. TheKathy mentioned in a previous post many of the programs in the Great Society, so to recap, Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Job Corps, Project Head Start, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the Office of Economic Opportunity and many others,
The New Deal and the Great Society were not just one program but many different programs, aimed at solving different social ills in American Society. They had no set plan, but were made in the spirit of experimentation, creating a program and seeing whether it worked to solve the problems. Which New Deal and Great Society programs were most successful? Which programs failed? What can we as Progressive Christians learn from the successes and failures of the New Deal and Great Society in dealing with today's problems?
When Clinton came to office in 1992, we were in $200 billion in debt. Ross Perot's entire campaign seemed to be built on the idea of eliminating the federal deficit. So Clinton came into office with the idea of trying to achieve liberal ends through conservative means, meaning he tried to use free market ideas to help the poor and working class. He worked hard for free trade agreements, enacted welfare reform and workfare programs, and tried to adopt competition ideas to make more cost efficient government programs. How successful were they? Did they help the poor and working class?
It seems that these Progressive and Liberal programs were aimed at two goals: economic empowerment for the poor and working class, and social empowerment for oppressed minorities. Since the 1890s, when the Progressive groups first starting making their mark, we've made significant gains in social empowerment: attitudes towards race and gender equality are a lot more enlightened now then in the 1890s, and we have major gains in the political and job opportunities arena for women and minorities. In the area of economic empowerment, it seems like the past 100 years have been a see-saw between times when the poor making significant gains and times when corporate interests gain the upperhand. I think today's Progressive Christians are building upon the accomplishments of our predecessors. What are things that we can learn from past Progressives to help in our fight today against corporate interests, to protect against the exploitation of immigrants and poor workers, to temper the dark side of globalization, to fight against the discrimination of gays and lesbians, to continue the progress in racial and gender equality?
I was born in 1967, so I didn't live through most of these movements, but my generation benefitted from many of the achievements of the people who fought the Progressive fight of those times. For all of you who lived through the Civil Rights movement, the Great Society, maybe even some old enough to have gone through the Depression and the New Deal, what are some lessons from that time that you could share with Progressives like me who did not live in those times?
- Angelo Lopez's blog
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Comments
RFK Was the Answer
Liberalism thrives on constant improvement. While the both the New Deal and Great Society has (and in many ways, still does) improves the lot of many of us, correction and fresh ideas were overdue by 1968. The more I read of Bobby Kennedy --a man who believed in ordered change, I realize that he was the man for the job.
It's up to all of us to reclaim and put into effect his legacy.
More on RFK
Frank,
Thanks for bringing us to RFK. Every new year's day, I read a little book of RFK's speeches that my mom gave me. Each year, it gives me inspiration and renewal that we still have miles to go before we rest.
I have put some of my favorite RFK quotes in my quote portfolio: http://www.crossleft.org/?q=quotes/14
RFK was a hero of mine as well
I was only one when RFK died, but he is a hero of mine as well. The Sunnyvale Library used to have a book of RFK's speeches called "RFK: Collected Speeches" and I remember reading it and being inspired by it. At some point, the library either discarded the book or it was stolen, and it was a real loss for me. I looked it up on Amazon and found the cheapest copy worth over $100. Those quotes of RFKs in Stephen's quote portfolio are great. I envy all of you who were around to see Kennedy.
Thank you everyone for sharing your insights and experiences in those other progressive times. I learn a lot from the books that I read, but there are lessons that only experience can teach. I came of age during the 1980s, and it was a time when liberals and progressives were defending themselves from the Reagan Revolution. I saw the decline of unions, the fight over the stigma of AIDs, the rise of the Religious Right, the rise of globalization, the specter of Islamic fundamentalism. For all its faults, in my eyes, the Civil Rights movement, the feminist revolution, the Great Society years, seem a time of great achievement. For people of my generation and those younger, we need people who lived during those times to tell their stories so we could learn from you.
RFK
What I liked about RFK was something that he shared with Malcolm X -- the capacity to grow and to change his outlook.
Those were the two assassinations that bothered me the most, more than those of JFK and MLK.
Originally, Bobby wasn't the great liberal. Then I think that his perceptions changed at a very deep level.
I have one favorite RFK story: I was teaching in Jackson MS during that presidential campaign and he came to my college, Millsaps, to give a speech. At one point he asked the assembled students "how many of you are in favor of the war?" Immediately almost every hand shot up. Then he asked "how many of you have draft deferments?" Very hesitantly, all the hands were eventually raised. That was the single neatest making of a point and getting people to confront their own hypocrisy that I've ever witnessed.
RFK Story
Thanks for that RFK story. As a Veteran For Peace with a service connected disability, I sometimes deal with very hawkish people who never served.Your RFK story gave me a good laugh and a good story to tell.
Progressives Preparing for Economic Disaster
Great post, Angelo. I suspect what may be extremely relevant, very quickly, is the work of the two Roosevelts. The idea that letting big business do whatever they want and it will all work out, has been tried before and it doesn't work.This economic philosophy led to the corporate monopolism at the turn of the 20th century that Teddy Roosevelt dealt with and the great depression that Franklin Roosevelt had to contend with.
The "trickle down" effect is nonsense.The idea what is good for the Paris Hiltons and the Donald Trumps of the world is good for everybody is madness. The problem is the coroporate media has convinced so many that their economic interests are the same. The dynamic that we contemporary Progressives will be dealing with that wasn't present at the time the two Roosevelts dealt with their problems, is the brainwashing abilities of corporate media.
America will hopefully soon be reigning in rogue corporatism and we may be dealing with a big economic downturn. What is going on now is huge underemployment and so many people working 60, 70, and even more hours a week.
They don't call George W. Bush the disaster President for nothing, and a huge economic disaster is looming.
Not QUITE older than dirt
But I do remember quite well LBJ's Great Society bundle of programs, the Civil Rights movement and the second wave of feminists. The first wave were the ones who got women the vote, the second wave aimed for greater equality, both economic and societal.
It seems that the most lasting of the Great Society programs were those which aimed at addressing the cause of the ills of the poor and minorities. The most successful were Head Start, Voting Rights Act(s), VISTA, and the varied urban youth economic ones, like Job Corps. (Yes, I'm also known as thekathy. Just kidding Angelo, you got the "the" part spot on!)
So I think we need to think back from the effects of poverty or inequality to the causes, then address the causes when we start proposing solutions. That seems to be the key.