Democracy in Print: The Best of The Progressive Magazine, 1909-2009

391 Pages·2009·3.44 MB·English

by  Matthew Rothschild

Democracy
i n p r i n t

Democracy
i n p r i n t
the best of
The Progressive Magazine, 1909–2009
Edited by
Matthew Rothschild
the university of wisconsin press
The University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe Street, 3rd Floor
Madison, Wisconsin 53711–2059
www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress/
3 Henrietta Street
London wc2e 8lu, England
Copyright © 2009 by The Progressive Magazine
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any format or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a Web site without
written permission of the University of Wisconsin Press, except in the case of brief
quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews.
5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Democracy in print : the best of the Progressive magazine, 1909–2009 / edited by
Matthew Rothschild.
p. cm.
isbn978-0-299-23224-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) — isbn978-0-299-23223-8 (e-book)
1. Progressivism (United States politics) 2. United States—Politics and
government—20th century. 3. United States—Politics and government—2001–
I. Rothschild, Matthew. II. Progressive (Madison, Wis.)
III. La Follette’s weekly magazine. IV. La Follette’s magazine.
jk271.d435 2009
320.51´30973—dc22
2008046312
To the memories of
Robert M. La Follette Sr., Belle Case La Follette,
Robert M. La Follette Jr., Philip La Follette, William T. Evjue,
Morris H. Rubin, Mary Sheridan Rubin,and Erwin Knoll—
all who edited The Progressiveover the past 100 years.
And to progressives everywhere!
The real cure for the ills of democracy is more democracy.
—robert m. la follette
c o n t e n t s
Acknowledgments xxi
Introduction: A History of The ProgressiveMagazine 3
Matthew Rothschild
Part 1 Championing Civil Liberties
Free Speech and the Right of Congress to Declare the Objects of the War 9
Robert M. La Follette, November 1917
Theodore Dreiser Denounces Campaign Against Communists 12
Theodore Dreiser, September 1931
What Are We Afraid Of? 13
Robert M. Hutchins, December 1950
Freedom’s Most E¤ective Weapon 14
Morris Rubin, April 1954
The Manifest Destiny of America 15
Justice William O. Douglas, February 1955
The Last Best Hope 16
Justice Hugo L. Black, August 1961
On Secrecy 17
Daniel Schorr, July 1976
When Nice People Burn Books 18
Nat Hentoff, February 1983
Lesbian Writer Fights Feminist Censors 20
Holly Metz, August 1989
Your Urine, Please 22
Barbara Ehrenreich, March 2000
That Country Wouldn’t Be America 24
Senator Russ Feingold, December 2001
The New McCarthyism 25
Matthew Rothschild, January 2002
Treated Like a Criminal: How the INS Stole Three Days of My Life 27
Behrooz Arshadi, as told to Mark Engler, March 2003
Our Job Is Not to Stand Up and Cheer When the President Breaks the Law 29
Senator Russ Feingold, April 2006
Part 2 Combating Corporate Power
Punish the Real O¤enders 33
Robert M. La Follette, May 27, 1911
Borah Tells How Our Wealth Is Divided 34
Senator William E. Borah, May 2, 1931
The Progressive Platform 34
January 5, 1935
Lawless Big Business Must Be Controlled to Save Democracy 35
Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior, January 8, 1938
The ProWt in Highway Slaughter 37
Ralph Nader, May 1966
Valley of the Shadow of Death 38
Jane Slaughter, March 1985
Tobacco Roads: Delivering Death to the Third World 40
Morton Mintz, May 1991
They Killed My Son 43
Ron Hayes, December 1995
Free Market Fraud 45
John Kenneth Galbraith, January 1999
Wake Me When We’re Equal 47
Molly Ivins, April 2001
Part 3 Renouncing Empire
Why War? 51
Robert M. La Follette, March 18, 1911
The Armed Ship Bill Meant War 53
Robert M. La Follette, March 1917
Defense or Imperialism? 54
Robert M. La Follette, February 1921
Armed Intervention in Nicaragua 54
Robert M. La Follette Jr., January 1927
We Have Got to Lick Churchill Too 56
Milton Mayer, November 23, 1942
Vietnam Whitewash: The Congressional Jury That Convicted Itself 58
Thomas R. Harkin, October 1970
How It All Began 61
David Halberstam, April 1973
Behind the Death Squads 63
Allan Nairn, May 1984
The Secret Behind the Sanctions 65
Thomas J. Nagy, September 2001
The Algebra of InWnite Justice 67
Arundhati Roy, December 2001
Heckled in Rockford 70
Chris Hedges, July 2003
The Scourge of Nationalism 72
Howard Zinn, June 2005
The Curse of Columbus 74
Eduardo Galeano, October 2007
Part 4 Campaigning for Women’s Equality
My Baby Girl 79
Carl Sandburg, February 10, 1912
If Things Were Reversed 80
Jane Addams, as recorded by Belle Case La Follette, April 6, 1912
May the Women of the United States Vote in 1920? 81
Belle Case La Follette, February 1920
Women’s Wages in Government 82
Mary Anderson, Women’s Bureau of the Labor Department, as recorded
by Belle Case La Follette, December 1926
Women and the Law: Unjust Discrimination 84
Susan Brandeis, February 9, 1930