[jeffkrol]

FOXNews.com - The Progressive magazine celebrates 100 years - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

The magazine has long been home to influential leftists, from early writers such as Jane Addams to modern contributors Howard Zinn and Barbara Ehrenreich. Eduardo Galeano, the author whose work was recommended by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to President Barack Obama this month, is a contributing writer.
The magazine enjoyed a resurgence during the presidency of George W. Bush; subscriptions increased nearly 30 percent to 55,000 last year. The magazine railed against what it saw as abuses by Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney: the war in Iraq, warrantless wiretapping of citizens, torture of terrorism suspects and more.....
He said he was struck by progress on issues championed by the magazine like ending child labor, enacting the minimum wage and giving women the right to vote. But he was troubled by the failure to pass universal health care _ Addams wrote about that one in 1909 _ and to ban the death penalty and prevent unnecessary wars.

His all-time favorite piece was a 1962 letter from the writer James Baldwin to his nephew, decrying racism in America. ("You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were black and for no other reason.")

A noted 1912 essay came from poet Carl Sandburg after his wife gave birth to a baby girl. Rejecting suggestions that he must be disappointed to have a girl, Sandburg predicted his daughter would live to see women vote and serve in the U.S. Congress.

"We turned every page of The Progressive, looking for gems to drop out and a lot of them did," said Rothschild, who has been editor since 1994.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., called the magazine "a powerful force for progressive change." He said his crusade to end gubernatorial appointments for open Senate seats, for instance, tracks the magazine's push for the direct election of senators.
La Follette founded "La Follette's Weekly," publishing his own speeches and writings by others. After he died in 1925 his family continued publishing the magazine. They renamed it "The Progressive" in 1929 under a joint operating agreement with the Capital Times newspaper and its prominent editor, William T. Evjue.
The La Follettes retook control in 1940, angry over Evjue editorials supporting U.S. military intervention to stop Adolf Hitler. Rothschild said he squirmed when he recently read the ensuing pacifist coverage of World War II, including the headline "No War with Japan" the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
"Their position didn't look too good, especially when all the brutality of the Nazis came to light," he said.

Of course nobody's perfect.......... at least in progressive land.

AND a bit on history repeating itself........

The following legislative session, Assemblyman Michael Bennett of Dodgeville introduced such a bill and Hoard's program was put into effect. The bill required stricter enforcement of attendance in both public and private schools, and specified that children could only go to parochial schools located in their public school district. It also required that all schools, public and private, conduct classes in English.

German Americans denounced the Bennett Law as an assault on their culture by Yankees who sought to force their own values on everyone else. On the opposing side, some people viewed the law as a complete victory over foreign degradation of American culture. In the middle, a range of more moderate voices argued for the inevitability of assimilation, contending that learning English would not destroy German culture. Opposition to the Bennett Law was loud, persistent, and widespread, however, and after only a single term the Republicans and Governor Hoard were voted out of office in 1890. Though the Bennett Law was repealed the following legislative session, the controversy prompted many German schools to begin implementing English instruction alongside German.

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-031/?action=more_essay
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-036/

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Last edited by jeffkrol; 12-19-2010 at 09:16 AM.