"Glenn Beck was on Greta Van Susteren's show last night, plumping his new book, Common Sense -- which, like most right-wing titles, is actually a piece of Newspeak that represents roughly the opposite of what it appears to mean -- and repeating his charge that "the progressive movement is the "disease" that is killing this country". You see, he's been reading Jonah Goldberg, so he's reached this conclusion (with some help from libertarians). And there's no doubt that the basic argument is right: Beginning in the early 1900s, the progressive movement definitely shifted the direction of this nation and shaped it largely into what we see today. Glenn Beck thinks that's a bad thing. I don't. Now, I know that Beck reels in money by the barrelful these days. But he hails from a working-class family and often touts his working-class roots. So I'd like him to meet some Americans before the progressive movement came along: These are child laborers from the early part of the last century. They were common fixtures on the American landscape. Possibly some of Beck's ancestors were among them. (Here's a gallery of pictures of them.)" - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet

"Indeed, when right-wingers like Beck and Goldberg attack "evil progressivism," it sounds a lot like they want us to return to the bad old days under McKinley, when American workers were indentured servants to the wealthy. Of course, maybe now that they're both wealthy men, there's a simple explanation for that." - Steven Perez

Isn't anyone with a full time job, and a mortgage, living paycheck to paycheck pretty much an indentured servant to the bank and their Employer? - Jeff P. Henderson

Jeff: I'll let Mr. Neiwert answer that: "One of those dysfunctional periods came at about the turn of the last century, when McKinley was president, corrupt robber barons ran Congress, and the latter-day version of "strict constructionists" ruled the courts. "Laissez faire" capitalism ruled, and America was functionally an oligarchy. Squeezed out were the working people: the average workweek was 80 hours, there were no weekends, no vacation, only a few holidays, and the barest minimum of pay. Benefits and health care were unheard of. Child labor was the rule. " - Steven Perez

So, to answer your question: Yep. Except it was way worse back then. - Steven Perez

Agree. - Jeff P. Henderson