Fighting Bob II??

There are certain figures I learned about in high school from US History who I thought were really badass and who continue to stand out in my mind. One of these is Robert M. "Fighting Bob" La Follette. La Follette was governor of Wisconsin and served in the senate for 20 years, from 1905-1925. He ran for president in 1912 and 1924, winning 17% of the vote in 1924 as leader of his own Progressive party. This makes him the third most successful third party candidiate since the Civil War, behind only TR and Perot.

La Follette was definitely a little bit crazy, and the reception he recieved in 1912 was kind of like that being received by Kucinich and Gravel nowadays. But he said exactly what he thought and didn't take shit from anyone. His primary concerns were preserving civil liberties, stemming the tide of American imperialism, lessening the influence of big business on politics, limiting presidential powers in terms of declaring war, and protecting workers' rights. The magazine he founded, The Progressive, is still going strong. He was a leading campaigner for women's suffrage, child labor laws, social security, protection of freedom of speech, and the strengthening of unions.

Here are a couple of choice Fighting Bob quotes:

"In times of peace, the war party insists on making preparation for war. As soon as prepared for, it insists on making war."

"The underlying reason indeed why both parties have failed to take the people's side in the present crisis is that neither party can openly attack the real evils which are undermining representative government without convicting themselves of treachery to the voters during their recent tenure in office."

"Every nation has its war party. It is not the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely. It is commercial, imperialistic, ruthless. It tolerates no opposition. It is just as arrogant, just as despotic, in London, or in Washington, as in Berlin. The American Jingo is twin to the German Junker…. If there is no sufficient reason for war, the war party will make war on one pretext, then invent another."

"The purpose of this ridiculous campaign is to throw the country into a state of sheer terror, to change public opinion, to stifle criticism, and suppress discussion. People are being unlawfully arrested, thrown into jail, held incommunicado for days, only to be eventually discharged without ever having been taken into court, because they have committed no crime. But more than this, if every preparation for war can be made the excuse for destroying free speech and a free press and the right of the people to assemble together for peaceful discussion, then we may well despair of ever again finding ourselves for a long period in a state of peace. The destruction of rights now occurring will be pointed to then as precedents for a still further invasion of the rights of the citizen."

How fucking appropriate to today are these words? It's amazing. Do any of the present candidates remind me of Fighting Bob? We need a Fighting Bob II! I think John Edwards may be the closest, with this current revival of his angry populist trial lawyer persona, which I think is the Real Edwards, or maybe I just hope so...all I know is that anger is appropriate right now.