Human Interest Story

I wonder if we are seeing the Populist movement of a century ago repeating (or echoing) itself?

I found an interesting perspective on the era by looking at it from a political reform lens.

The Populists were farmers � especially those concentrated in the South and the Great Plains States (Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, etc.) � who were angry and bewildered over the decline of agriculture and the simultaneous rise of industrialization and cities. The farmers felt that they were the true backbone of America, but that their country and government were being taken away from them. They focused on certain enemies in particular, especially the banks, farm machinery manufacturers, and, the most hated enemy of all, the railroads. Many farmers believed that these organizations were engaged in a conspiracy to squeeze every possible penny from them. And at the same time that the farmers were paying more and more to borrow money, to buy equipment, and to ship their crops, the prices they received for those crops were falling dramatically.

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Like the Populists, the Progressives were concerned about Trusts and corruption in government, but the two movements were made up of very different people. While the Populists were rural, the Progressives were predominantly urban. The Populists were farmers, the Progressives were part of a growing middle class of white-collar workers and professionals. The Populists were the more radical of the two movements. They rejected urban-industrial development; in their eyes, ideally everyone would be a farmer. The Progressives accepted industrialization and the growth of cities, but they believed that the government needed to do more to oversee and control these changes. So, like the Populists, the Progressives tended to oppose laissez-faire and support a more active government. As far as the make-up of that government was concerned, the Populists believed in government from below, with ordinary people like themselves running the government. The Progressives, on the other hand, believed in control from above, with trained professional experts studying problems and finding solutions. While in a sense the Populists were out to destroy corporations and fundamentally change the system, the Progressives called for more moderate change, for the government to regulate the economy in the public interest.

The Progressive Era produced four constitutional amendments, known as the Progressive Amendments:

16th Amendment (ratified 1913): Gave Congress the authority to tax income

17th Amendment (1913): Provided for Direct Election of U.S. Senators

18th Amendment (1919): The Prohibition Amendment

19th Amendment (1920): Gave Women the Right to Vote

https://www.westga.edu/~hgoodson/Politics%20and%20Reform.htm

Look at those four amendments and consider the vast change to the country as a result.