The Progressive Revolution

How the Best in America Came to Be

Michael Lux

• Publisher: Trade Paper Press
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN: 9780470395110
• eBook ISBN: 9781620458983
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political History & Theory
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This is an accessible book that delineates how progressives and the progressive movement have created the American idea and ideals and forged the kind of country in which we want to live. It creates a platform from which to argue how progressives today are fighting to improve America, in contrast to how conservatives have always worked to defend the interests of elites.

Each chapter will tell the reader a story focusing on different subjects, such as efforts to enact civil rights laws, social security, the middle class, how the idea of America changed the world, and why most of us can vote.

Lux points out what he feels the Democrats have done wrong during the last decades and how the lessons of history can point to making positives changes. Lux shows how the progressives have been instrumental in creating big positive change moments, and argues that as a new administration takes office in 2009 the time will be ripe for a new big change moment,. He outlines how he believes progressive policies can be channeled to solves the big problems facing us today.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction: The History of American Progress
• 1 The Big Change Moments
• 2 A Progressive Revolution: How Tom Paine and Thomas Jefferson Literally Invented the Idea of America
• 3 The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Right to Think and Speak Freely
• 4 Civil Rights, States’ Rights, and the Re-Creation of the American Idea
• 5 The Battle over Democracy
• 6 Trickle-Down vs. Bottom-Up
• 7 The Dream and the Backlash
• 8 Hope, Fear, and the Culture of Caution
• 9 The Next Big Change Moment
• Notes
• Index