Miles Mogulescu: Progressive Activism Helps Prevent Wall Street Banks From Receiving a "Get Out of Jail Free" Card: "Neither the New Deal nor the Great Society would have been enacted without BOTH powerful mass protest movements and politicians who were capable of being moved by those movements.
For example, soon after FDR was elected, his Secretary of Labor Francis Perkins (the most progressive member, and only woman, in FDR's cabinet) went to FDR and asked him to do more to protect the interests of America's workers. FDR's response was "Go out and make me". Among other things, Perkins organized a conference of labor leaders in the Secretary's suite, which developed a 10-point program to present to FDR, including abolition of child labor, higher wages for all workers, government recognition of the right to organize unions, and social security.
Much of this program was eventually enacted as part of the New Deal. But it wouldn't have happened without million of workers organizing, unionizing and demonstrating.
Likewise, while LBJ is credited with passing Medicare and the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, it wouldn't have happened without millions of Americans sitting in marching, registering voters, committing civil disobedience, and even dying."
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