100 Years Ago in the Great State of Wisconsin, a battle was engaged between the forces of Progress and the forces of enslavement. Progress won. The words written and spoken then ring clearly through the intervening century and we need to heed their call to arms.
Honest wealth needs no guarantee of security in this country. Property rightfully acquired does not beget fear — it fosters independence, confidence, courage. Property which is the fruit of plunder feels insecure. It is timid. It is quick to cry for help. It is ever proclaiming the sacredness of vested rights. The thief can have no vested rights in stolen property. I resent the assumption that the great wealth of this country is only safe when the millionaires are on guard. Property rights are not the special charge of owners of great fortunes. The ample power of the constitution is the everlasting bulwark of honest property rights.
Robert Marion “Fighting Bob” La Follette, cited in WISCONSIN: AN EXPERIMENT IN DEMOCRACY (1912) by Frederic C. Howe
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