A Radical's Platform

There has been much hysteria of late over the recent health care reform bill. Cries of socialism and communism and freedom lost, the end of the Republic etc. This of course is hardly new. It is in fact as old as the Republic. Every major reform has faced virulent and often hysterical opposition.

A case in point...

He was denounced as a socialist and a radical. He was despised as a traitor to his class. In 1912 then former President Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt ran for president against Woodrow Wilson and his own handpicked successor William H. Taft. He lost (badly). What follows are a few highlights from the platform of an arch-radical.

• Presidential candidates of parties to be determined by popular primary election and not back room deals.

• Election of U.S. Senators by popular vote instead of by state legislatures.

• Universal suffrage for women.

• A short ballot limiting the number of offices up for election.

• A stringent corrupt practices act applied to primaries as well as general elections.

• Publication of campaign contributors.

• Availability of public initiatives, referendums and recall.

• Recall of judicial decisions.

• Simplifying the process for amending the Federal Constitution.

• Strengthening the Pure Food Act.

• Establishment of a National Health Department.

• The establishment of a minimum wage.

• The right to organize unions and collective bargaining.

• Establishment of an eight hour work day.

• Strict work place safety laws.

• Prohibition of child labor.

• Outlawing night work for women.

• At least one day of rest per week for all wage earners.

• The protection of home life against the hazards of sickness, irregular employment and old age through the adoption of a system of universal social insurance adapted to American use.

• Prison reform and strict regulation of convict labor.
  

• A non-partisan tariff commission.

• Development and control of the Mississippi River.

• Conservation of forests, water and natural resources.

• Federal regulation of banks, the stock market and financial exchanges.

• Outlawing of insider trading.

• Financial transparency for all publicly traded corporations.

• Nationalization of Alaskan railroads.

• A larger navy

• Fortification of the Panama Canal.