Progressive Synthesis Essay

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Progressive reformers “first tried to render government less dependent on virtue among the people by shifting decision-making to professional managers, administrators, and experts” (208). As a result of the voluntarist conception of freedom, the government shall not impose any particular vision of the good life, to be “neutral among ends,” allowing citizens to be freely-choosing individuals. However, Sandel, in “Community, Self-Government, and Progressive Reform,” argues that, “the triumph of the voluntarist conception of freedom has coincided, paradoxically, with a growing sense of disempowerment” (202). Although we are free, we are also tied to certain connections and identities that we have not selected, which cause Americans to feel even more…show more content…
Thus, it posed the question: What type of “political economy of citizenship” best fits America’s goal to form citizens whom are capable of self-government? Sandel first offers an argument by Louis D. Brandeis, a reformer, supported by Woodrow Wilson, who called for a decentralized economy; in doing so, it would allow the economy to be affected by local, democratic influence. Sandel asserts, “He opposed monopolies and trusts, not because their market power led to higher consumer prices but because their political power undermined democratic government” (211). He argues for the restoration of competition for, big businesses are degrading workers to no longer be moral and virtuous citizens. On the other hand, Theodore Roosevelt and Herbert Croly argued that decentralization of the economy is impossible; instead, America should strive to nationalize big business. Sandel asserts, “The power of the national government had to grow to match the scale of corporate power” (217). Both Sandel and Fairfield argue that the ambiance of the city can set the “moral tone”
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