The so-called “Progressive Era” of the last century — a time of virtually unlimited governmental intervention in the private lives of America’s citizens conducted by legions of do-gooders imbued with only the best of intentions — has never really gone away, sad to say: According to the received account of the Progressive Era, an enlightened government swept in and regulated markets for goods, labor, and capital, thereby protecting the hapless masses from the vicissitudes of unrestrained laissez-faire capitalism. The Progressives had faith that experts would rise above self-interest and implement wise plans to create a great society. The resulting state-level workplace safety regulations, restrictions on child labor, and minimum wages restored dignity and safety to the trod-upon and exploited workers. Despite the widespread acceptance of this narrative, there are many reasons to question whether it accurately portrays the motivations and hopes of some Progressive-Era reformers. — Art Carden and Steven Horwitz Regardless of all the high-flown rhetoric of the time, furthermore, “lurking behind what many people see as humanitarian reforms was something much uglier” — an intentional war on the “undesirable” and the “unfit.” The implications of Darwinian thinking were enthusiastically implemented in eugenics programs, most of them officially sanctioned
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