Latest / Saberian History Lectures / Teddy Roosevelt the Progressive

Transcript

Teddy Roosevelt the Progressive · Saberian History Lectures

0:00
Okay, so a couple of things happen in this progressive
0:06
period of 1880 to 1920. First of all, you have
0:10
a change in how Americans elect, retain... and
0:16
dismiss their leadership. Now, these are actually
0:18
also concepts that you will take with you into
0:21
your government class, whether that's AP or regular.
0:25
You do need to understand these concepts, and
0:27
so I'm going to talk about them, albeit briefly,
0:29
and then we're going to keep going. So, direct
0:31
primaries. So, remember, prior to the progressive
0:39
era, how would parties choose a candidate? Starts
0:47
with a C. Caucus. A caucus is where your party
0:56
leadership assemble, where party leaders come
0:59
together and the leadership chooses who's going
1:03
to be the nominee or the candidate for their
1:07
party. A direct... primary is that the people
1:16
in that party choose the candidate. So, for example,
1:21
we watched in 2016 as the different competitors
1:28
from different parties competed in different
1:32
states. If you really think about it, Donald
1:36
Trump and Hillary Clinton ran for the presidency
1:38
100 times. What do I mean by that? Because they
1:46
ran through 50 primaries and they ran through
1:48
a general election in 50 states. You get the
1:51
idea. So really, we don't elect our presidents
1:54
once. You get the idea? And so, prior to these
2:01
direct primaries, you really only had to impress
2:03
the party bosses to get where you needed to be.
2:06
Also, parties tended to be more regional rather
2:09
than national. You get the idea? So, whereas
2:13
direct primaries, people choose. So, even today,
2:16
if you vote in the primary, you go up to the
2:21
election official and you say, hi, I'd like to
2:24
vote in the Republican or Democratic primary,
2:26
and they shunt you to one way if you're voting
2:29
in the Democrat primary, they shunt you another
2:31
way if you're voting in the Republican primary.
2:33
And in Texas, those primary votes are typically
2:36
March. With the general election being in November.
2:40
And so one of the things that's kind of interesting
2:42
is the ballots for, not just because of primaries,
2:47
but also because of things that the parties are
2:50
interested, are actually different from the Republican
2:53
to the Democratic primaries. And then the general
2:56
election, everybody has the same form. So, if
2:58
you vote in the Republican primary, are you obligated
3:01
to vote for the Republican candidate in the general
3:03
election? No. Now, One thing that some states
3:08
are really bad about making sure is if you voted
3:10
in the Republican primary, can you vote if there's
3:15
a runoff? In other words, no candidate got a
3:19
clear majority, so they take the top two and
3:21
have them duke it out. So, like, for example,
3:23
in 2012, maybe it was 2010, I think it was 2012,
3:37
Ted Cruz and David Dewhurst were running for
3:40
the Senate seat vacated when Kay Bailey Hutchison
3:43
retired. They're both Republicans. It was actually
3:46
like a six -person race going into the primary,
3:49
and then they were the top two finishers. And
3:52
so typically in Texas, those runoff elections
3:54
are about in June. And again... to secure the
3:59
nomination and then to run against whoever the
4:01
Democratic opponent was, but it was more contested.
4:04
Because Texas, pretty much for some offices,
4:07
if you win the Republican primary, you win the
4:09
state. Because this state has several million
4:12
more registered Republicans than Democrats. New
4:15
York has three million more Democrats than Republicans.
4:18
I mean, there are one -party states in this world.
4:21
Anyway, so this process of direct primaries,
4:24
it makes the candidates have to campaign with
4:27
the people. You get the idea. Whereas before,
4:29
you only had to impress the party bosses. Now,
4:32
the initiative. This is kind of interesting.
4:36
An initiative is a legislative idea that is coming
4:45
from the people, whereas previously a legislative
4:47
idea would have to come from where? Congress
4:52
or the state legislature. Okay. So here is a
4:57
legislation where you gather enough signatures,
5:00
and this is very similar to a petition, but this
5:03
actually carries legislative force that at a
5:05
certain vote threshold, it is put on the ballot
5:08
as a referendum. I'm going to get to referendum
5:10
in a bit. Legislation from the people. Whereas
5:17
a petition is not necessarily legislation. Petition
5:20
literally means seeking. And it's a seeking by
5:24
the people. So when you go off to college, and
5:27
sometimes even if you become a homeowner, people
5:30
are going to knock on your door asking you to
5:31
sign a petition. You look at it. You choose not
5:34
to or whether to do it. Very often, a well -run
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petition will actually ask for your name. Your
5:41
signature, your printed name, and your driver's
5:43
license number. Why would they want your driver's
5:45
license number? To prove that you're a citizen
5:47
and to prove that you actually exist. And so
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one of the things I found kind of funny is when
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you have people doing petitions among high school
5:55
students is they typically only ask for the name.
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They should also be asking for the student ID
5:59
number to confirm that it's not like fraud. And
6:04
then you have the referendum and the recall.
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I'm going to get to referendum and then I'm going
6:08
to get to recall. So referendum. What do you
6:12
see in the word referendum? Refer. Quite literally
6:15
a thing that is referred to the people. So, for
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example, constitutional amendments in the Texan
6:25
state. They are voted upon by the state legislature,
6:30
and then they are sent to the people in a referendum.
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So last election cycle, there was an amendment
6:38
to the Texan Constitution to increase what is
6:41
called the exemption value of your property tax.
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So basically, if you own a home, you have to
6:51
pay taxes. on a certain percentage of what the
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home is worth after the exemption. And the exemption
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at the time, I think, was $15 ,000. Which, if
7:00
you have a $300 ,000 home, is not much. But if
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you have a $150 ,000 home, $15 ,000 is quite
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a bit of money, yes? They increased it from $15
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,000 to $25 ,000. So it passed the legislature
7:12
at such a threshold that they put it on the ballot
7:16
to be voted upon by the people. So in the U .S.
7:20
Constitution, you need a two -thirds majority
7:22
in the House and in the Senate and three -quarters
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of the states. But in the Texan Constitution,
7:27
you need a certain vote threshold in the Texan
7:30
House, the Texan Senate, and then it goes to
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the people as a referendum to be voted upon.
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Does that make sense? There are other things
7:38
that are referendum. In other words, there are
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certain pieces of legislation that rather than
7:42
being made at the state house, they're proposed
7:45
at the state house but then confirmed by the
7:47
people. And that process is called referendum.
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Now, recall is basically if the people are dissatisfied
7:56
with the performance of a politician in the midst
8:00
of their term, they can vote to have that person
8:03
taken out of office. So, for example, now, this
8:07
is, again, many of these are only featured at
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the state level. So, when Arnold Schwarzenegger
8:15
became governor of the Californian state, there
8:18
was a recall election prior to that to remove
8:22
whoever was his predecessor for, and I forget
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if it was for criminal activity or incompetence,
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but anyway, it is that the people vote to remove
8:31
a person from office. So the people vote to remove
8:41
an office holder from office. And different states
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have different thresholds. Some it only needs
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a simple majority. Some it needs like a super
8:51
majority. And that varies from state to state.
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All of these processes come to the fore in the
8:58
progressive era. Why? You want to empower the
9:08
people. That's part of it. The other thing is,
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all of these require a certain level of bureaucracy
9:14
in order to work. Think about it. How do you
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make ballots? You have to print them, don't you?
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Okay. We already talked about what piece of technology
9:29
already exists that makes duplication a lot faster.
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Mimeograph. So now all of a sudden your print
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costs go down. You also have the typewriter,
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which increases your speed. You also have an
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increase in bureaucracy. If you think about it,
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part of the reason prior to these modern pieces
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of technology that you relied on party leaders
9:48
rather than direct primaries is you simply did
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not have the time, money, or resources to actually
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have these elections in place. And so you have
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an increase in... The people's control of the
10:02
government made possible by innovations in technology.
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Does that make sense? Okay. So, a couple other
10:09
amendments come up. Also, I wanted to tell you
10:11
something. If you have your books, there's a
10:15
typo. In the book? They got something really
10:18
substantially wrong. Hopefully, they'll fix it
10:20
in the second edition. So, if you don't have
10:24
your books, write this down. Page 720. Nope,
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not 722. Hang on, hang on. Page 720. It was,
10:39
they actually, the book says that the prohibition
10:45
was made possible by the 19th Amendment. It is
10:48
the 18th Amendment. So, the paragraph before
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it says labor legislation, it has 19th instead
10:55
of 18th. By the way, what's the 19th? Women voting.
11:01
So, yes, it's not that Americans were inebriated
11:04
when they gave women the right to vote. They
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had already passed prohibition. No? Too soon
11:09
for that joke? No? Alright. Alright, so, yes,
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men were perfectly stone cold sober when they
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gave women the right to vote. Okay. All right,
11:19
ladies, you all have the better frontal cortex
11:21
until 25. All right, moving on. Wait, until 25?
11:26
That's when the male frontal cortex is fully
11:28
developed. That's when the capacity for predictive
11:32
reasoning is comparable. Until then, you all
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have a part of the brain that has to do with
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predictive reasoning. Foresight. Judgment. Right.
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Alright. 16th Amendment allows for a progressive
11:53
income tax. Now, this is something worth pointing
11:59
out. Prior to the 16th Amendment, how did the
12:04
government of the United States collect taxes?
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That's states. States did property. The federal
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government derived most of its revenue from tariffs
12:22
and excise taxes. From tariffs and excise taxes.
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Why? Think about this for a moment. To tax income,
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what do you have to know? You have to know their
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income. Now, I say this right now. that were
12:41
in February, your parents, if they haven't done
12:45
so already, have been collecting tax documents
12:47
in preparation for filing their income taxes
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prior to April. It is a noxious and annoying
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thing. But in order for that to exist, there
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is a government apparatus that knows how much
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you are getting paid. And how much I'm getting
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paid. Okay? That requires... bureaucracy that
13:08
previously was unavailable. So why did they collect
13:12
income from imported goods? Because the ship
13:16
has to pull into the port, doesn't it? You see
13:19
the ship. It's all there. Yes? Now, So what you
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do if you're a ship, you pull into the port,
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you walk into the customs house with your ledger,
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they look over and they apply the taxes depending
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on what was on the ship's manifest. So if I think
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about it, I'm getting a lot of taxes from goods
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at a single moment in time, when the captain
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shows up with the ledger, right? Now, in the
13:47
end, who winds up paying the taxes? the consumer
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in the form of higher prices. But in terms of
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the government and the point of collection, the
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number of collection points is just at the U
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.S. Customs House. You get the idea? Whereas
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now, you have the government of the United States
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that has to have an entire federal agency, the
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Internal Revenue Service, to monitor what people
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are making and to ensure compliance. Does that
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make sense? Okay. 17th Amendment was the direct
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election of senators. So, Nowadays, in the United
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States, when you become old enough, you get to
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vote for who's going to be your senator. How
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were senators chosen prior to that? The state
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legislators chose that. And so, what's kind of
14:36
interesting is, yes, it gave the people a direct
14:40
voice to the Senate, but if you look at how Hamilton
14:43
and Madison wrote the Constitution, were they
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supposed to have a direct voice to the Senate?
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No. In fact, the senators were more like ambassadors
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from the sovereign states to the federal government.
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But again, after the Civil War, do we have this
15:00
idea of the states as being sovereign? No. And
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so, that one's next. And then the 18th Amendment,
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of course, is prohibition. I'm going to get to
15:11
these guys in a moment. Actually, no, I'm not.
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The book does a good job on that. I want to get
15:16
into the efficiency movement. Okay. Um... 18th
15:20
Amendment, of course, is prohibition. 19th is
15:23
women's right to vote. Okay, so, Taylorism. Taylorism
15:29
is a social... Taylor is a social scientist.
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His whole big thing is about improving efficiency.
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This kind of gets us to the beginning of what
15:38
we would call mass production. The idea is to
15:40
cut costs to increase productivity. Now, one
15:42
of the things that you do if you are a Taylorite
15:45
is you try and... Okay, so think about this for
15:48
a moment. And my fashion design people, I'm going
15:55
to use you as an example. Now, you can make a
16:00
whole dress, yes? And it's many, many steps,
16:04
yes? And so you are being trained as an artisan,
16:09
yes? Could one just as easily, if I wanted to
16:14
make comparable goods, reduce that to... a number
16:17
of steps that could be done by a less trained
16:19
person. Okay, so think about this for a moment.
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How many of you are actually currently working
16:24
a fast food job? It is assembly line, isn't it?
16:28
You have one person and their only job is to
16:31
put the buns in the toaster, especially at peak
16:34
hours, right? Then you got one person whose only
16:36
job is to actually grill the meat correctly.
16:39
Then you have one person whose only job is to
16:42
put the condiments on it. And then you have one
16:45
person whose only job is to ferret the fries
16:47
from the fryer later to the counter. And then,
16:51
especially when you've got peak rush, you've
16:53
got the one guy whose only job is to key the
16:56
orders into the machine so you know what needs
16:58
to go down, right? Right. Now, when production
17:02
becomes slack because, again, food production
17:04
is not consistent throughout the day, then you
17:07
might have to do multiple jobs like you're doing
17:09
the cashier, the drinks, and the fries. But at
17:11
peak times, you have one person doing all the
17:15
drinks, right? Because they only have to do one
17:17
thing. And if I only have to do one thing, do
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I have to be very widely trained? No. Unless
17:23
you're really not smart and you don't do anything.
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That... That is true. But the other thing I was
17:29
going to say is by reduction of the skill needed
17:33
to do the one task, do I need to pay a person
17:38
as much if I only have to train them to do one
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thing? No. And so that cuts costs. Yes. Yes.
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Okay. Now, you also have the government of the
17:49
United States beginning to regulate business.
17:53
So you have in 1890 the passage of the Sherman
17:56
Antitrust Act. It prohibited the creation of
17:58
secret trusts and the amassment of power there.
18:02
You also have the creation of the Interstate
18:04
Commerce Commission. And what was the first major
18:07
interstate commercial industry? Railroads. The
18:13
ICC was first charged with regulating railroads.
18:18
Now, here's the thing. One of the key things
18:22
is the government of the United States can regulate
18:24
commerce between states. What's the difference
18:31
between between and within? Right. It has to
18:38
cross state lines. And it's kind of interesting.
18:43
So, for example, a lot of things, if nothing
18:46
crosses state lines, you do not have to involve
18:48
the federales. At least that's the idea going
18:52
into the late 19th and early 20th century. Nowadays,
18:57
so think about this for a moment. Those of you
19:01
working wage jobs, you're not working a job where
19:03
you have to cross state lines, and yet you pay
19:06
federal income taxes. Why? They have... redefine
19:15
just what exactly interstate commerce is. So,
19:17
Linnea, I'm going to put you on blast. Where
19:20
do you work? Whataburger. Whataburger. Does Whataburger
19:24
conduct... Is Whataburger only in Texas? No.
19:28
No, it is mostly in Texas. Those of y 'all who
19:33
say anything about In -N -Out, I'm just like,
19:34
no, come on, we got Whataburger. What is this?
19:38
Sorry. A little bit of... Hamburger snobbery
19:43
right there. Now, does Whataburger engage in
19:50
interstate commerce? Well, are all of the produce
19:53
grown in Texas? Probably not. And that's what
19:58
makes it interstate. because the ingredients
20:01
are coming in. Now, also, probably for all you
20:04
know, the people running their payroll system
20:08
might be in New York, for all you know. Like
20:11
the system that actually keeps up with payroll.
20:14
The thing that you're clocking into. Okay, all
20:18
right, good to know. So it might be still interstate.
20:20
All right. Okay, moving on. So, you've got these
20:23
ICC regulating commerce between states. At this
20:27
point, it's very limited. It's confined to the
20:29
railroads because in order for the government
20:32
to get involved, the commerce has to obviously
20:34
leave the state. You get the idea? Alright. So,
20:39
moving on. Campaign against drinking. Alright.
20:45
So, here's where... You've got things going on
20:50
with the social justice movement. Okay, so a
20:54
couple of things you have to keep in mind. The
20:57
issue of immigrants. You have two sides of the
21:04
same coin. You have the settlement homes as instruments
21:10
of aid and acculturation for the immigrant. In
21:19
other words, getting these people used to existing
21:22
in the American cities. You also have the legislation
21:27
aspect. Again, when I was talking about the saloons
21:32
in the previous chapter, what were the saloons
21:35
if you think about it? It was the center of people's
21:39
lives outside of the job, right? Now, if you're
21:43
looking at immigrants coming from Eastern Europe,
21:48
Do those people drink? Oh, yes. I do not want
21:53
to be racially stereotypical, but let's see.
21:56
I mean, you go east of Germany and all of a sudden
21:58
the proof content in the beverage du jour increases
22:01
quite highly, yes? Okay, so you have, and again,
22:07
this is part of that social gospel. You have
22:09
people who are trying to make America a better
22:11
place. They're trying to bring the kingdom of
22:13
God here on earth. And so what's standing in
22:16
the way? All those sinful people doing all those
22:20
sinful things. Now think about this for a moment.
22:23
If I look at a saloon, yes, it's a place where
22:27
people drink. Yes, it's a place where people
22:30
eat. Yes, it's where people talk politics. Yes,
22:33
it's also where people do what? Say it again?
22:40
Prostitution! So if I... So, if I think about
22:45
this, and I'm looking at this, rather than blaming
22:48
people's individual moral characters, I'm going
22:50
to think that, okay, in the saloon we got drinking,
22:53
we got prostitution, and again, this is, you
22:58
know, people, deeply religious people have a
23:01
problem with prostitution, then as now. I mean,
23:03
this isn't like, you know, the free dealing in
23:05
Nevada. I'm not trying to be crass here. And
23:10
so, think about this for a moment. Also, There
23:16
were people. If you want to get the immigrants
23:18
to vote for you, pay them in beer. Free beer
23:24
if you vote for this candidate. And so you have
23:29
the upper middle class is offended by the sensibilities
23:37
of the working class immigrants in the city.
23:41
And so what do they blame for it? They blame
23:44
the booze! Setting aside for the fact that lust
23:48
is a perfectly good driver of a lot of human
23:50
activity. Let's set that aside for a moment.
23:53
Again, these are people coming out of the Victorian
23:55
era. They blame the booze rather than their own
23:57
eroticism, but that's beside the point. So, you
24:02
have the Women's Christian Temperance Union trying
24:06
to sell the world. on temperance. And temperance
24:10
sounds really nice. Temperance sounds like, oh,
24:13
you just need to cut back. Control always begins
24:19
with the first step. The chain is always forged
24:23
one link at a time. Okay. Now, think about this
24:29
for a moment. So, they're writing in the papers
24:32
and they're looking at this that they're like,
24:34
you know, if we just outlawed drinking, it would
24:36
take care of... The crime, the domestic violence,
24:42
and going back to people buying elections with
24:47
beer. Now, do drunk people beat the snot out
24:52
of their spouses? Yes. Is it the beer's fault?
24:59
Maybe, maybe not. But they have to give it the
25:04
old college try, don't they? Okay. Okay. So,
25:07
Women's Christian Temperance Union, I forgot
25:12
the date on that. 1893, they branch out and they
25:15
actually form the Anti -Saloon League. So first
25:17
it's like, okay, if we could just get people
25:19
to cut back, everything would be the kingdom
25:21
of God here on earth. Okay, 1893, the Anti -Saloon
25:25
League. We don't want you to stop drinking, we
25:29
just want to keep those people from drinking
25:31
and whoring around in the brothels turned saloons.
25:39
And they push. And they push. And it's actually
25:46
kind of interesting. I want you to think about
25:48
this. I think this is probably one of the first
25:53
examples where what I call rhetorical bullying
25:57
wins in almost a primitive form of political
26:01
correctness culture. Here's what I mean. How
26:08
is it that in the land of the free, in the home
26:11
of the brave, that the state can say to such
26:13
a man, you, oh man, you cannot drink this thing
26:16
for the greater good? Think about that for a
26:23
moment. That's basically what prohibition is.
26:25
It's the state saying to a person what they can
26:27
and cannot eat or drink. And how are they able
26:31
to pass the legislation? Well, let's say you're
26:34
against prohibition. What does it sound like
26:36
to you? Are you saying you're pro -booze? You
26:41
want people to be drinking and whoring around
26:43
in the public street? I mean, there's no way
26:45
to win that argument. Is there? Turning your
26:55
enemy's argument into an ad hominem attack. Sound
26:58
familiar? Anyway, something to think about. Alright,
27:04
moving on. So, the main... drivers were, again,
27:09
to reduce crime, corruption, and domestic violence.
27:11
The main instruments of temperance was meeting
27:16
and congregating through the Protestant churches
27:18
because were the Catholic churches about ready
27:19
to bust out with the prohibition? No. In fact,
27:23
when they do actually legislate prohibition,
27:25
they have to make special exemption for Catholicism
27:28
because, yes, legitimate wine is used in Holy
27:31
Communion in the Catholic Church. For labor legislation,
27:35
a couple of things that they're getting into
27:36
is, one, they want to improve the labor conditions.
27:38
A couple of things you need to think about is
27:41
that in the era of electric lights, and this
27:48
is kind of interesting because we just talked
27:49
about melatonin in psychology. In the era of
27:52
electric lights, how late can you go? How long
27:56
can you work a person? All day, all night. Now,
28:01
typically, You know, some places you're talking
28:05
working 12 hours a day, six days a week. Okay.
28:11
Y 'all live in a time of an eight -hour workday
28:14
with minimum wage. Okay. That if you work more
28:18
than 40 hours a week, your boss has to pay you
28:19
overtime. In this case, you've got people working
28:24
long hours in badly ventilated, dangerous factories.
28:28
Now, we'll get to, and when does your working
28:32
age begin? 10 to 12. Now, one of the things that
28:39
they're trying to do is reduce the number of
28:42
child laborers. First of all, why would you reduce
28:43
the number of child laborers? I've often said
28:50
the mandatory school and... Child labor laws
28:56
occur at the same time. I submit to you that
28:59
the more educated thing was sort of a chicken
29:01
and egg thing, that it's sort of the we couldn't
29:03
work them so we had to put them in school rather
29:06
than let's put them in school so we don't work
29:07
them. There were about 1 .75 million kids between
29:10
the ages of 10 to 15 working. So the first big
29:14
push was for the 10 -hour workday. And originally
29:17
it was... First, they tried to increase the age
29:21
required in order to work, and then you also
29:24
have, they're trying to decrease the amount of
29:27
hours that women worked first. Why? Either to
29:32
stay at home with the kids, also, and I say this
29:34
to a group full of people that none of you have
29:36
been pregnant here, as I know. How many of you
29:40
have been recalling your chronologic memory a
29:44
parent being pregnant? Like, you have younger
29:48
siblings and you remember when your mom was pregnant.
29:51
It's exhausting! I mean, here you are, you're
29:56
running around with what's about the size of
29:58
the bowling ball with you, and, you know, it
30:00
weighs you down, your feet swell up. I mean,
30:02
you cannot work at 10 hours. You know, they're
30:04
trying to reduce women's working hours, especially
30:06
if they're going to bear children. So, kind of
30:11
interesting. You have that, and then... One of
30:16
the things that comes up is the Triangle Shirtwaist
30:21
Fire. Here's what basically happened. So Triangle
30:23
Shirtwaist Fire, they had locked the employees
30:25
in in the place caught on fire. Mostly teen immigrant
30:31
girls. That got turned into crispy critters.
30:37
Well, because they didn't want them leaving the
30:39
factory or they didn't want criminals coming
30:41
in and messing with their production. Anyway,
30:43
now you know why you never lock the fire doors.
30:48
I say that on a day we just had a fire drill.
30:52
And I'm not trying to be facetious. This fire,
30:56
first of all, made gruesome headlines, and the
30:58
headlines were really quite vivid. So you're
31:01
not just talking about people getting emolliated.
31:03
Also, if you're in an upper floor and you're
31:05
confronted with fire, what might you do? Jump.
31:08
And when you're dealing with a high story drop,
31:10
do you necessarily have a good landing? No. And
31:13
so it offends a number of people's sensibilities.
31:16
First of all, it offends people's sensibility.
31:18
Okay, we don't like dead teenage girls. I mean,
31:20
human beings, we just don't like that. I mean,
31:23
no matter how many Friday the 13th movies you
31:25
watch, it still gets you, right? Y 'all never
31:28
saw Friday the 13th? Now, before I... I want
31:34
to get to these court cases real quick. Okay,
31:36
so, Lagner versus New York. New York tried to
31:39
pass a 10 -hour workday. And in 1905, the court
31:44
thought it was unconstitutional. Now, here's
31:47
why. Okay, at some level, There is this idea
31:54
of a voluntary relationship between the employer
32:00
and the employee. So the court found that the
32:03
state of New York, by imposing these laws, interfered
32:07
with that relationship. In other words, if you
32:08
didn't want to work more than 10 hours, what
32:10
could you do? You could leave, right? In Mueller
32:19
v. Oregon, 1908, they found that the 10 -hour
32:23
workday for women was constitutional. Well, this
32:31
is separate from kids. Not men. Now, why does
32:37
that make sense? One, state interest in women
32:43
maintaining the state through procreation, but
32:46
also, are women completely legal entities in
32:50
1908? No. And so, again, under law, if you're
32:56
a woman, you are under the authority of your
32:59
father until you're under the authority of your
33:02
husband. Really, until about 1920. Make sense?
33:08
Okay. So, finally, in the case of Bunting v.
33:12
Oregon, the 10 -day workday is found to be constitutional
33:14
for both sexes. Always fun. Okay. So, as I said
33:18
before, prior to the income tax, the government
33:20
would collect on capitation, excises, and imports.
33:23
Capitation is actually head dues. In which case,
33:29
actually, the government of the United States,
33:30
in the original Constitution, would collect taxes
33:33
based on the census. Who would collect the taxes
33:37
based on the census? The state. In other words,
33:42
the state, you send your delegates, you send
33:45
your senators, you send your reps, and you send
33:47
the money. Now, it's in the Constitution as capitation,
33:51
but capitation was rarely collected because it's
33:53
a lot easier and more expedient to collect money
33:55
by way of excises and tariffs. You get the idea?
34:00
Okay, so here's a progressive income tax. 2 %
34:03
on all income, more than $4 ,000. That was back
34:06
when $4 ,000 was a lot of money. What happened
34:10
was, what do you threaten to do is, what can
34:13
rich people do to avoid paying taxes? Liquidate
34:18
their assets and leave. Mark Zuckerberg is no
34:24
longer a citizen of the United States. He is
34:28
a citizen of Singapore. So his personal earnings
34:31
from Facebook, he does not pay federal income
34:34
taxes on. Yep. Rich people, if they got the means,
34:45
they'll leave. 1907. Teddy Roosevelt announced
34:49
his support for the tax. And it passed. Now here's
34:53
the thing. $4 ,000 back in those days. First
34:56
of all, it was only 2%. $4 ,000 was a lot more
34:59
then than it is now. Wage workers. Y 'all have
35:06
to do income tax withholdings? Yep. Uncle Sam
35:09
takes about one -fourth of your money away. I
35:11
did them already. Yeah, now you file your income
35:13
tax return, you probably should get it back because
35:16
none of y 'all are working full -time. But the
35:20
idea originally that the income tax would ever
35:22
be applied to menial wage workers was unfathomable
35:25
at this point in American history. You got the
35:29
idea? Alright. Not only that, it was more the
35:37
idea of the income tax was a way to pay for advancements
35:46
in the state and the idea of, okay, you've done
35:48
well in the state, you should give back. It was,
35:50
again, going with this idea of state -mandated
35:52
charity. You got the idea? Now it's, do we use
35:56
the IRS as an instrument of social control? Yes.
35:59
Oh, absolutely. Oh, you put solar panels on your
36:02
roof. Here, have a subsidy. Oh, you're mortgaging
36:07
a house. Here, deduct your mortgage interest.
36:09
Oh, you're having a child. They only give you
36:10
a $1 ,000 tax credit, which does not cover nearly
36:12
enough. Oh, they have written an overly complicated
36:17
tax code that has more nooks and crannies and
36:21
loopholes than you can shake a stick at all in
36:23
an attempt to influence human behavior in the
36:26
world of life, liberty, and property. Alright.
36:35
So, I kind of want to go into Roosevelt and Taft.
36:40
Okay. Roosevelt... in many ways, is one of our
36:44
major progressive presidents. Remember, Teddy
36:46
Roosevelt becomes president after the assassination
36:49
of William McKinley in what would have been McKinley's
36:52
second term. So Roosevelt's square deal had to
36:56
deal with what had three basic tenets, regulation
36:59
of corporations, protection of consumers, and
37:02
conservation of green spaces. So one of the things
37:07
that I'm going to get into... Yes, I've got time,
37:10
but not much. Also, Roosevelt is the first president
37:16
to wield, and I've talked about this before,
37:18
what's called the bully pulpit, to use the moral
37:20
authority of the presidency to affect impacts
37:24
on society. He's got mass media by way of the
37:27
press, and he is not afraid to use it. So the
37:30
first place he uses it is in the 1902 coal strike.
37:34
Miners in West Virginia and Pennsylvania demanded
37:37
a 20 % increase in their wages and a reduction
37:41
in their hours. Now if you think about it, coal
37:43
is to the early 20th century what oil is to the
37:47
late 20th century. It is the fuel that drives
37:49
the country. If the coal miners go on strike,
37:51
what happens? The entire interstate commerce
37:55
structure comes to a standstill. And so Roosevelt
38:00
personally intervenes and negotiates the strike.
38:04
Now, where in the Constitution does it say that
38:08
the President of the United States should adjudicate
38:10
strikes? Nowhere. He takes the power onto himself.
38:16
And actually, one of his advisors cautioned him.
38:20
He said, but Mr. President, the Constitution.
38:22
He says, the Constitution be damned. The people
38:26
want coal. The chief executive who took an oath
38:32
to support and defend the Constitution said the
38:35
Constitution be damned. Your bully pulpit in
38:42
many ways, while people champion this as a president
38:45
using moral authority, I think it is when man
38:48
takes that step into tyranny. What difference
38:52
of it is it if we ascribe to our presidents moral
38:55
authority between... A president who says, I
38:59
have a pen and I have a phone and the god kings
39:01
of Pharaoh's Egypt. It's only a matter of degrees
39:07
once you start walking down that path. Okay,
39:11
you've got regulation of the railroad, food and
39:13
drugs. One of the things that comes up. Upton
39:16
Sinclair writes a book called The Jungle. The
39:19
Jungle actually decries all of the rather gruesome
39:22
practices of the meatpacking industry, including
39:24
the occasional rat falling into the mix. Yes,
39:28
let's just hope that 100 % all -beef patty really
39:31
is all -beef. So, 1906, Congress passes the Pure
39:38
Food and Drug Act. It is also under Roosevelt
39:44
that you actually have the rise of a national
39:47
park system. The national park system, here's
39:50
the thing. Roosevelt, as a person, was worried
39:52
that the urbanization of the United States was
39:55
robbing America, for lack of a better word, of
39:57
its manliness. No, think about this for a moment.
40:01
You have to be civilized in the cities, yes?
40:05
Okay, they are a little bit barbaric, but again.
40:07
This is part of camping culture. You get the
40:10
idea. And again, this makes sense for the man
40:12
who had his catharsis out in the West. That he's
40:16
saying the lack of frontier might make America
40:19
less, for lack of a better word, masculine. And
40:24
so he sought to preserve wild spaces. And this
40:27
is why we have a National Park Service. A couple
40:31
of things. Roosevelt kind of left race to the
40:36
states. In a lot of ways, he hosted Booker T.
40:39
Washington at the White House, but he ignored
40:42
the Jim Crow laws of the South. And in some of
40:46
his speeches, he does talk about the inevitability
40:48
of the Anglo -Saxon race to govern the world.
40:51
And again, this is very much in keeping with
40:53
a lot of the Anglo -American thoughts on world
40:58
governance. I mean, you see it in Rudyard Kipling's
41:00
White Man's Burden. You see it in those sorts
41:03
of things. He is very much a creature of his
41:05
time in that regard. So this is Roosevelt and
41:10
Booker T. Washington in a photograph. Nice details
41:14
there. Okay, so we already talked about this.
41:21
1908, Roosevelt decides not to run for a third
41:24
term. So he picks his replacement, Taft. Taft
41:30
was the governor general in the Philippines.
41:32
Taft was also the largest man to ever be in the
41:34
White House. The dude was like 300 pounds. He
41:39
will later be Secretary of War under Roosevelt,
41:42
and then after his presidency, he is appointed
41:44
to the Supreme Court. Kind of funny, there was
41:47
this one communique where when Taft was the Governor
41:52
General of the Philippines, he had to ride in
41:54
on a donkey from, I think it was like Manila,
41:58
to one of the other cities. He sent a diplomatic
42:02
cable saying, you know, I've arrived, I've arrived,
42:05
had to take the donkey in, and the reply back
42:07
was, house the donkey. Anyway, enough about the
42:11
fat jokes for Taft. Alright, now, here's the
42:14
thing, and I'm hoping I've got time for this.
42:17
In the Republican coalition, you had two wings.
42:23
You had the progressive wing, and you had the
42:27
business wing. Did the progressives want to regulate
42:32
business? Yes. Did the businesses want to be
42:37
regulated? No. So here we've got Taft lowers
42:44
tariffs, upsets some of the progressives in Congress.
42:49
He actually appoints a new Secretary of the Interior
42:53
who's trying to put parkland into federal use.
42:57
And so there's a whole feud between Pinchot,
43:01
who was the parks director, and Ballinger, who
43:04
was the newly appointed Secretary of the Interior.
43:06
Pinchot resigns in protest. And so you really
43:09
have an issue between the progressive wing of
43:14
the Republican Party and the business wing. Okay.
43:19
Now that split in the... Republican Party will
43:26
facilitate the three -man race in the 1912 election.
43:31
And so what happens is Roosevelt first goes to
43:36
Africa in 1912, comes back, and really starts
43:40
kind of, for lack of a better word, backseat
43:42
driving the Taft administration. And so in the
43:46
election of 1912, you have Taft, the Republican,
43:49
running against Roosevelt, who has created a
43:52
third party, There should be... There we go.
43:57
Which he calls the Bull Moose Party. And then
44:00
you have Woodrow Wilson, the Democrat. Who wins?
44:14
Wilson. The one person that the other two groups
44:17
did not want gets it. When you divide your coalition,
44:20
you lose. Alright. Wilson is the first Southern
44:26
Democrat to sit in the White House since the
44:28
Civil War. Alright, we will get into Wilson Wednesday,
44:33
although we're actually behind timeline. We should
44:35
have gotten into Wilson today.