The Progressive vs. Modern Era

The first factor to be discussed is the economic factors comparing the Progressive Era and the Present Day.  During Teddy Roosevelt’s Presidency, Big Business was a major issue that he wanted to tackle.  He felt that it was his(the President) job to intervene in the economy.  He wanted to standardize big business by getting rid of the bad trusts and helping out good trusts.  He initiated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which made it so the government could limit cartels and monopolies.  In 1903, Roosevelt signed into legislation the Elkins Act, which prohibited railroad companies from giving rebates to customers.  He also signed into law the Mann-Elkins Act of 1903, which increased the strength of the Interstate Commerce Commission(ICC), and the Hepburn Act, which established governments first domestic economics regulator authority.  When Wilson became President, he established the Clayton Antitrust Act, which strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act and protected unions from prosecutions as trusts. Today, the Federal Government has many more laws in place to regulate big business.  Several Include Advertising, Employment and Labor, Finance, Privacy, and Environmental regulations.  In advertising, you need to comply with truth-in-advertising, product labeling, online advertising, specific products, and telemarketing laws.  For employment & labor, there are things to abide by for employee benefits, unions, wages and hours, and hiring and terminating employees.  Businesses have to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other environmental agencies to regulate the impact of your business on the environment.  Finance laws help ensure fair competition and to protect the financial interests of companies and individual investors.  There are also laws for online business, privacy, and for patents etc.  All these laws are set in place to regulate big business and insure that Monopolies don’t get too out of hand. 
   

The second factor to be discussed is the Political factors comparing the Progressive Era and the Present Day.   In the Progressive Era, there was the issue of whether or not women should have the right to vote.  Throughout the 1900s, and even in the late 1800s, people were debating this issue.  But not until the 1900s did women actually try to get laws to change.  They picketed, posted signs, gave speeches, and encouraged their other women to join them in the protest against womens suffrage.  Not until 1920 did women gain the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment.  Before 1912, citizens did not have a strong voice in elections on the national level.  In the former system members of the Senate were elected by state legislators. This was a big pain for the government because there was always some form of extortion, including bribery. Also, the electoral process had become more and more controlled by political machines and bosses.  The seventeenth amendment was created to allow the direct election of senators and a secret ballot for citizens.  This helped them voice their opinions more strongly.  In the Present Day, more and more women are finding their way to the election polls.  All citizens, including women, now have a stronger voice in all elections.  There are many more regulations that the elected have to abide by.  Some things politicians cannot do now are obtaining political action in exchange for gifts and contributions, soft money contributions are prohibited under the McCain-Feingold legislation, and regulating campaign spending in general to name a few.  These regulations and many others contribute to how politics works in the present day.