The Upswing: How America Came Together a Century Ago and How We Can Do It Again

by Robert D. Putnam

Of course, any slate of reforms consequential enough to create a contemporary upswing in America would require a significant change of course that may seem radical to some—just as it did a century ago. As we pointed out in Chapter 3, the issues that rose to the national agenda during the Progressive Era bear a striking resemblance to those being debated today: universal health insurance; safety nets for the elderly, the jobless, and the disabled; progressive income and estate taxation; environmental regulation; labor reform; curtailing the overreach of big business monopolies; gender equality; and campaign finance reform. Progressives were pragmatic but nonetheless uncompromising in pursuit of programs and policies that deeply and fundamentally reshaped America and set the stage for the upswing.