An Unsolvable Problem
The Existence of an Unsolvable Problem As a thought, I have been reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s account of Roosevelt and Taft in Bully Pulpit. Although for the most part narrative history, she does make one analytical point – Roosevelt was able to push through progressive reforms – that is to say, trust busting reforms – for a number of reasons, the most salient being his informal partnership with the journalists of McClure’s Magazine. The journalists successfully exposed the abuses of power associated with the concentration of wealth in a few hands, and Roosevelt was able to leverage that exposure to develop popular (almost populist) pressure against the entrenched forces of wealth. As many have noted, we live in a new Gilded Age, with enormous concentrations of wealth in the hands of a few people, though there are some salient differences, one of which is the influence of the press. We have a muck-raking press just as thorough, just as evidence-based ...