Woodrow Wilson’s Vision of ‘Progress’ Was at Odds With Human Nature
2nd September 2026
Today’s federal government employs over 2 million people. It is composed of over 400 agencies that often combine legislative, executive, and judicial powers. These agencies regulate nearly all areas of life from cradle to grave. We may take this arrangement for granted, but it is far from what the Founders envisioned. For them, the federal government was meant to have a limited range of power. And these powers were to be assiduously separated, checked, and balanced by the constitutional system they crafted.
How did we go so far astray? The progressive era marks a key turning point. Woodrow Wilson, foremost among progressives, offered a candid vision of a new form of government in his 1912 presidential campaign speech.
Actually, the rot started with Theodore Roosevelt, who (be it remembered) also claimed to be a ‘progressive’. If I could strangle at birth only one American historical figure, I’d do TR before I’d do WW.