Progressivism in The United States - Politics

Politics

In the early 20th century, politicians of the Democratic and Republican parties, Bull-Moose Republicans, Lincoln–Roosevelt League Republicans (in California) and the United States Progressive Party began to pursue social, environmental, political, and economic reforms. Chief among these aims was the pursuit of trustbusting (breaking up very large monopolies), support for labor unions, public health programs, decreased corruption in politics, and environmental conservation

The Progressive Movement enlisted support from both major parties (and from minor parties as well). One leader, William Jennings Bryan, had been linked to the Populist movement of the 1890s, while the other major leaders were opposed to Populism. When Roosevelt left the Republican Party in 1912, he took with him many of the intellectual leaders of progressivism, but very few political leaders. The Republican Party then became notably more committed to business-oriented and efficiency oriented progressivism, typified by Taft and Herbert Hoover.

A social attitude underlying some forms of Progressivism has been populism, which can range from the political left to the political right. Populism has often manifested itself as a distrust of concentrations of power in the hands of politicians, corporations, families, and special interest groups, generating calls for purification and the rejection of rule by elites. Since the African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–68) and the Southern strategy of the Republican Party, progressivism has been associated with Democrats. However, some long time Republicans have spoken out for more steeply progressive taxation than their leadership has supported, including Bruce Bartlett, Paul O'Neill, David Stockman, and Sheila Bair. Similarly, Republican Wall Street Journal opinion columnist Peggy Noonan has called for a renewed focus on jobs instead of debt and deficit.