General Discussion

Progress is not always incremental, and that idea can become an excuse for compromise and inaction. The administrations of Lincoln, Johnson and FDR enacted radical political change very quickly. Of course there had been a lot of work to lead to the conditions that allowed them to make those changes. That work was done by people who said "not enough," not by people who said "progress is incremental" and "everything's a compromise."

Actions by the FDR administration in the first 100 days: Civilian Conservation Corps, Emergency Banking Act, Federal Emergency Relief Act, Glass-Steagall Banking Act, National Industrial Recovery Act, Securities Act. Subsequent achievements: Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Social Security.

We may or may not be living in a time when rapid and radical change will happen. We certainly don't want to stand in the way.

The fact that people fell for scams regarding Platner or Fetterman does not invalidate the demand for radical change, especially among young people. Huey Long's shenanigans did not invalidate the New Deal.