Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0
Hardkill

Isn't an era of historic progressive reforms for the US long overdue?

4 posts in this topic

I've just realized that according to US history, ever since the very beginning of America, there have been eras of fundamental social, political, and economic reforms that have occurred about 10 to 30 years. 

- (1789 - 1820s): George Washington became elected as the country's very first president, approximately 13 years after America officially gained complete independence and sovereignty. Also, a bill of rights was created in 1789 and then permanently ratified for all white citizens in 1791. Additionally, the Jeffersonian democracy movement began in the 1790s. This movement stressed the fundamental importance of American Republicanism for all white American citizens. By 1801, it dominated all of US politics and government until the 1820s.

- (1825 - 1854): Jacksonian Democracy emerged in 1925, which was a nationwide movement that lead to universal white male suffrage over the next few decades.

- (1865 - 1877): Occurred right after the Civil War ended. During this time the Union gradually readmitted all of the Southern states back into the US. Also, the US government enacted the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments in the US Constitution, which respectively abolish slavery, gave black and brown people a significant amount of citizenship rights and equal protection under the law, and gave black and brown people some basic voting rights. Additionally, the Republican Party promoted big government spending for the development of nationwide infrastructure and a national banking system.

- (1890 - 1916): The Progressive era. Massive government reforms were made that addressed nationwide problems caused by widespread industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and political corruption. Teddy Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson were the three progressive presidents of the era.

- (1933 -1938): The New Deal era. FDR's domestic policies resulted in transformative heroic government policies and programs that created much needed public work projects, tremendous amounts of financial reforms, and sweeping amounts of regulations for all of Americans right after the Great Depression.

- (1964 -1969): The Great Society era. LBJ's progressive domestic polices during this period were as immense if not greater than FDR's domestic agenda. One of these policies include the historic 1964 Civil rights and voting rights act of 1965, both of which finally gave blacks throughout the entire country true full US citizenship and near full voting rights. Other Great Society laws that got passed by Congress during this time included Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act, policies that significantly addressed education, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, and more.

There may have been other historic periods in the US history I didn't here that may that may have fundamentally reformed the country as well.

Yet, since 1970, we haven't had another historic era of fundamental social, political, and economic reforms on the level of any of these above mentioned ones for 50+ years.

Furthermore, it used to be the case that Congress and state legislatures enacted a new constitutional amendment at a minimum of every few years to about every 40 years at the most. It's now been 51 years since we had any new constitutional amendments added to the US constitution that would meaningfully improve the lives of all Americans. 

Plus, the kind of social, political, and economic issues that America is going through right now is really resembling that of what happened back during the Gilded Age, which right away led to the Progressive era at the turn of the 20th century.

So, is it possible that a new kind of historic era of progressive government infrastructure reform could be coming sometime in the foreseeable future for America? 

 

Edited by Hardkill

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Kinda seems like you're just cherry picking dates and events. Maybe there's no progressive era, just progressive events that occur at random.

Andrew Jackson, really? The dude that owned slaves and was an ethnic cleanser, signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830?

Gay marriage was made legal in all 50 states in 2015, if that's not a progressive era, what is?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Yarco said:

Kinda seems like you're just cherry picking dates and events. Maybe there's no progressive era, just progressive events that occur at random.

Andrew Jackson, really? The dude that owned slaves and was an ethnic cleanser, signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830?

Gay marriage was made legal in all 50 states in 2015, if that's not a progressive era, what is?

No doubt was Jackson an extremely racist slaveowner. However, his nationwide expansion of democracy to every white man in the country regardless of class, money, background, etc. was such a historic step forward for America that fundamentally changed all of society for the better right after the Jeffersonian era. 

I don't see how I am cherry picking dates and events, when each of those periods I mentioned in my first post all FUNDAMENTALLY REFORMED THE STRUCTURE OF ALL OF THE USA approximately every 10 to 30 years. 

Legalizing gay marriage in every state is definitely some kind of significant progress just like Obamacare and Dodd-Frank were too. However, all of those progressive wins along with every other positive smaller things that happened during the Obama era all together still didn't end up creating nearly as much progress for society as Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal did or as much as Wilson's New Freedom agenda, or as much as the New Deal programs did, or as much as the Great society policies did.

That's one major reason why many people including many liberals, many black and brown people, and many poor people in the US have felt like Obama let them all down. 

By no means were TR (Teddy Roosevelt), Wilson, FDR, and JFK/LBJ perfect, but I don't think that most people have ever really believed or said that any of those guys let them down when it came to domestic affairs. It's only been hard conservatives who have hated everything those presidents did.

I mean our country desperately needs to undergo some kind of progressive historic transformation on the level that each of those legendary presidents were each able to accomplish during their times as president in the 1900s.

I know that this hasn't happened since around 1969 because no liberal president since then has ever had the votes that either TR, Wilson, FDR, or LBJ had with Congress.

But isn't there some way that we can get those massive amount of votes in both chambers of Congress needed for some kind liberal or progressive president who would be able and willing to pass a flood of new laws that would make dramatic structural reforms for America that people like me are talking about?

Edited by Hardkill

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!


Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.


Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0