Radical thought has inspired many of the great political and social reform movements in American history, from ending slavery to establishing the minimum wage.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When I went to school, it was radical just to be involved in anything.
Look at liberty's greatest historic advances: ending slavery. Giving women the vote. Outlawing legal segregation. Each and every time, the people at the forefront of advancing those reforms - often putting their lives on the line - called themselves liberals.
The American Revolution and Declaration of Independence, it has often been argued, were fueled by the most radical of all American political ideas.
Some of the greatest social reformers of our time were wealthy.
It's interesting that when economic times were the hardest, that's when many people embraced liberalism.
It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.
I think what happened during the Great Depression was that African Americans understood that Republicans championed citizenship and voting rights but they became impatient for economic emancipation.
For me, the labor movement and public education are linked as the essential building blocks to a strong middle class and a path to the American dream. It's why I went to Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations as an undergrad and then to law school.
Not surprisingly, troubled economic times often beget proselytizers of wacky, extreme ideas.
The rise of capitalist practice and morality brought with it a radical revision of how the commons are treated, and also of how they are conceived.
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