The Glenn Beck Program - June 25, 2023


Ep 1 | Control Freaks: The 'Scientific' Roots of Progressive Tyranny | History Pilot


Episode Stats


Length

58 minutes

Words per minute

130.33809

Word count

7,677

Sentence count

487

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

14

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, a group of men rose to power in the United States through a cult-like devotion to the science. They became so powerful, in fact, that they became responsible for some of the most important decisions America has ever made.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 This podcast is going to try to give you honest history, the good, the bad, the ugly, without
00:00:10.080 an agenda, just the truth of how we got here.
00:00:14.800 How did this happen?
00:00:17.320 American pilgrims came over not just because they wanted to worship God the way they saw
00:00:23.220 God.
00:00:24.720 They were also escaping a tyrant.
00:00:27.280 A tyrant that was an expert appointed by God.
00:00:34.200 That's why William Tinsdale was burned at the stake.
00:00:37.920 He just felt that you shouldn't have to go to a priest that worked for the king to read
00:00:44.860 the Bible or actually stand there while someone told you what it said.
00:00:51.480 Tinsdale believed you had the right to read it yourself and to discover it yourself.
00:00:57.280 And apply it yourself without the priesthood, the expert, the guy that could read Latin.
00:01:04.520 How many times lately have you heard, well, do you have a doctorate in that?
00:01:11.500 Oh, are you an expert?
00:01:13.680 Oh, you must be a scientist.
00:01:16.840 No, I'm not any of those things.
00:01:19.600 I am somebody who's a reasonable thinking American.
00:01:23.440 I have a right to question, and I also have a responsibility to be involved in all of the
00:01:31.240 decisions that now seem to be being made for me.
00:01:36.420 So how did we get here?
00:01:38.680 How many times in the past few years have you heard some version of this?
00:01:45.320 Health experts say your time might be running out.
00:01:48.440 Experts say it's happening.
00:01:49.860 Well, experts.
00:01:50.660 Health experts say.
00:01:51.740 Some experts.
00:01:52.620 Experts follow the science.
00:01:54.300 Follow the science.
00:01:55.480 Be driven by science.
00:01:57.060 Listen to the scientists.
00:01:58.680 But if we now have access to so many experts and so much science, why is it that everything
00:02:07.720 seems to be breaking down and basic common sense is gone?
00:02:13.040 Answer?
00:02:15.160 Expertise killed it.
00:02:16.800 Every day now, decisions are being made by a class of experts that have a direct bearing
00:02:23.100 on your life and the future of not only your nation, but the world, and no one is asking
00:02:29.380 you about any of it.
00:02:31.720 As the world learned in 2020, expertise untethered from humanity and combined with a cult-like devotion
00:02:39.680 to the science, end quote, can have disastrous, far-reaching consequences.
00:02:46.800 But again, how did we get to this point?
00:02:49.560 That's the journey I want to take you on this season.
00:02:52.600 How the experts rose to such power.
00:02:56.020 How they wielded that power.
00:02:58.400 And how America is now struggling with the fallout.
00:03:10.660 Our story begins with Louise Marie Taylor.
00:03:13.760 She had traveled all over Europe numerous times, but she had never seen a lavish spectacle quite
00:03:20.140 like the one that greeted her in Rome in 1927.
00:03:24.800 Lou, as her family called her, was in Rome for the Third International Management Congress.
00:03:31.200 The pageantry and the crowds surrounding the conference demonstrated the power of her late 0.77
00:03:36.820 husband's legacy, Frederick W. Taylor.
00:03:39.780 He'd been dead now for 12 years, but he was a legend in the field known then as scientific
00:03:47.420 management, a field that he basically invented in more ways than one.
00:03:55.740 Frederick Taylor's most famous book called The Principles of Scientific Management was first
00:04:01.160 translated into Italian in 1915, the year Taylor died.
00:04:06.240 Just 11 years later, Italian bureaucrats were so taken with Taylor's principles that they
00:04:13.000 created a government agency to promote scientific management.
00:04:18.020 At the closing ceremony of the conference, banners, flags, soldiers all provided a regal atmosphere
00:04:24.280 in the Italian Senate chamber.
00:04:27.460 Lou was moved when a photo of Frederick, her husband, was projected on a big screen.
00:04:31.840 Then the leader of the conference rose to speak and gave a full-throated endorsement of scientific
00:04:39.280 management, and the crowd roared with approval.
00:04:43.520 After the closing ceremony, Lou received a special invitation from the revered conference
00:04:49.140 leader to his private office.
00:04:51.200 He was eager to present Lou with a photo of himself in exchange for a photo of her husband,
00:04:57.300 Frederick Taylor, whom he said was a great man and had revolutionized management.
00:05:04.660 Lou thanked the man, who happened to be a little bit more than just the Italian leader
00:05:09.640 of the management conference.
00:05:12.200 In fact, he was the new leader of everything in Italy.
00:05:17.640 He was Benito Mussolini.
00:05:20.680 When you learned about the progressive era in history class, it probably went something
00:05:45.860 like this.
00:05:47.340 The progressives are big-hearted heroes who cared for the common man.
00:05:51.600 They used government to fight for the poor, for children, for women, and immigrants, battling 0.99
00:05:56.480 all the terrible things that they had suffered at the hands of evil industrial capitalists.
00:06:02.720 Right?
00:06:03.660 This reform obsession that came to be known as progressivism was not an overnight sensation.
00:06:10.340 It was a slow burn, roughly the 1890s to the end of World War I in 1918, and some of the
00:06:18.220 reforms that progressives brought about were good things, like basic safety and sanitary
00:06:23.160 standards for America's food and drugs.
00:06:26.220 No one's going around today saying, gee, I wish we still had kindergartners working on
00:06:31.160 the factory floor.
00:06:32.120 But overall, America's history textbooks don't tell you the whole story about progressivism
00:06:40.060 or, frankly, anything.
00:06:42.260 They fail to mention how a cult of expertise developed among progressives and how these experts
00:06:49.440 took a sledgehammer to our constitutional system of government.
00:06:53.940 And we're still feeling the effects today.
00:06:56.680 In 1856, Frederick Winslow Taylor was born into a wealthy family in Philadelphia.
00:07:05.060 When he was 12, he spent three years touring around Europe with his family at a time when
00:07:10.320 no one outside of the wealthiest Americans did such a thing.
00:07:15.020 When he was 16, Taylor attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, an elite boarding school
00:07:21.040 for America's wealthy young men.
00:07:22.700 Two years later, he passed the Harvard Entrance Exam with honors, then horrified his parents
00:07:29.340 by deciding not to attend Harvard.
00:07:32.640 He hung out at his parents' Philadelphia mansion for several months until his father finally
00:07:37.960 helped Taylor get an apprenticeship at a machine shop called the Enterprise Hydraulic Works.
00:07:45.340 There, Taylor learned to cuss like a commoner and work with his hands.
00:07:50.000 He had a genuine knack for engineering and design.
00:07:53.380 In fact, he eventually owned several patents, including tennis racket and golf club designs.
00:08:00.860 Taylor would always use his apprenticeship as a badge of honor.
00:08:04.440 Having rubbed shoulders with the common folk gave him some sort of street cred.
00:08:09.820 But Taylor was always an elite.
00:08:12.680 He never shed that part of himself.
00:08:14.720 And the major difference between he and the regular men that he apprenticed under was that
00:08:20.000 ultimately, he didn't need the job.
00:08:22.880 He had a safety net.
00:08:24.940 After his apprenticeship, he pleased his parents by completing an engineering degree from Stevens
00:08:30.600 Institute of Technology in New Jersey.
00:08:33.500 He then got a job at Millvale Steel Company in Philadelphia.
00:08:36.940 And it was there that he discovered the knack that would make him famous.
00:08:42.200 The knack for telling people how to do their jobs better.
00:08:47.320 At Midville, Taylor observed inefficiencies through the company, including what he believed
00:08:53.220 to be employees working slowly on purpose.
00:08:57.360 Taylor soon fell in love with the stopwatch and then began doing time studies each step of
00:09:03.120 the manufacturing process.
00:09:04.540 He then corrected the workers, dictating the best technique that they should follow in
00:09:09.760 performing their job.
00:09:11.620 Oh, he must have been mighty popular.
00:09:15.140 Detailed performance standards were put in place for all of the areas of the operation.
00:09:20.440 He moved equipment around and meticulously streamlined everything.
00:09:25.100 Through these efficiency audits, he was able to enhance a company's productivity and cut
00:09:29.780 costs.
00:09:30.380 He essentially invented management consulting.
00:09:34.540 Here's how historian Jill Lepore described what Taylor did.
00:09:39.320 Quote,
00:09:39.760 He'd get himself hired by some business, spend a while watching people work, stopwatch and
00:09:44.880 slide rule in hand, write a report telling them how to do their work faster, and then submit
00:09:50.260 an astronomical bill for his services.
00:09:53.080 End quote.
00:09:54.100 He called it science.
00:09:56.260 And since no one had really done it before, no one really argued with him about how scientific
00:10:02.480 it actually was.
00:10:04.400 His favorite example, which he talked about in his book and countless lectures, was his
00:10:10.140 1899 pig iron study at Bethlehem Steel Company in Pennsylvania.
00:10:15.820 Pig iron was part of the steelmaking process in which iron ore was smelted and then poured into
00:10:21.880 molds.
00:10:22.880 When the iron cooled, you can have individual planks of iron that were later used as raw material
00:10:28.660 for producing steel.
00:10:31.040 Taylor loved to tell the story about how his efficiency science got a man named Henry Knoll,
00:10:36.660 who he referred to as Schmidt in his book, to work harder than everyone else when it came
00:10:42.940 to the job of moving pig iron.
00:10:45.460 The legend, as Taylor always told it, was that he got Henry Knoll to prove that a man could
00:10:51.100 move 47 and a half tons of pig iron per day instead of 12 and a half tons.
00:10:57.840 How did Taylor's science come up with 47 and a half tons as the standard?
00:11:03.080 Well, he picked 10 men.
00:11:04.940 He challenged them to load 16 and a half tons as fast as they could.
00:11:09.240 They did it in 14 minutes.
00:11:12.480 So, at that rate, over a 10-hour day, that equaled about 71 tons per man.
00:11:19.100 But then he knocked that number down to 47 and a half tons based on his guesstimate of
00:11:25.120 what he called the law of heavy laboring.
00:11:28.480 But only Henry Knoll was ever able to get close to 47 and a half tons per day.
00:11:34.700 And he certainly didn't reach the number every day.
00:11:39.640 Was that really science?
00:11:42.220 Well, apparently it was, if you just kept saying science over and over.
00:11:46.820 And if you saved your client some money in the process.
00:11:51.360 You can really see Taylor's elitism shining through as he discusses the pig iron job in
00:11:57.140 his book.
00:11:57.620 This work is so crude and elementary in its nature that the writer firmly believes that
00:12:06.040 it would be possible to train an intelligent gorilla so as to become a more efficient pig
00:12:12.040 iron handler than any man can be.
00:12:15.060 Yet it will be shown that the science of handling pig iron is so great and amounts to so much
00:12:21.360 that it is impossible for the man who is best suited to this type of work to understand
00:12:27.040 the principles of this science or even to work in accordance with these principles without
00:12:32.260 the aid of a man better educated than he is.
00:12:36.180 Unfortunately, he goes on.
00:12:38.720 Quote,
00:12:39.060 Now, one of the very first requirements for a man who is fit to handle pig iron as a regular
00:12:44.980 occupation is that he shall be so stupid and so phlegmatic that he more nearly resembles 0.81
00:12:51.840 in his mental makeup the ox than any other type.
00:12:56.140 He is so stupid that the word percentage has no meaning to him and he must consequently be
00:13:02.980 trained by a man more intelligent than himself into the habit of working in accordance with him.
00:13:09.060 Here is the progressive hero narrative of experts in action.
00:13:19.920 Poor Schmidt had no chance on his own.
00:13:23.420 But with rules and prodding by expert overseers, he can rise above his station.
00:13:30.860 Taylor's audiences ate up the Schmidt story.
00:13:34.080 Never mind the fact that Taylor described the workers he was supposedly helping
00:13:38.440 as stupid gorillas and oxen. 0.94
00:13:42.140 He was merely doing science.
00:13:45.580 As America would find out, elitism usually goes hand in hand with progressivism.
00:13:52.380 Frederick Taylor considered himself a progressive.
00:13:56.140 But he wasn't much of a political activist during most of his career.
00:14:00.200 Politics and state power were not his passions.
00:14:02.940 Yet, he had basically stumbled onto the holy grail that would make him a hero and a saint
00:14:09.720 to American progressive elite.
00:14:11.960 He synthesized the spirit of the progressive era he lived in.
00:14:16.780 He codified what progressive leaders were instinctively building, but just hadn't branded it yet.
00:14:23.080 It was the idea that we should put experts in charge of all aspects of life.
00:14:29.140 And life would improve for everyone.
00:14:32.400 Taylor said, quote,
00:14:33.840 In our scheme, we do not ask the initiative of our men.
00:14:38.040 We do not want any initiative.
00:14:40.360 All we want of them is to obey the orders we give them, do what we say, and do it quick.
00:14:47.060 Perhaps nothing made Taylor more progressive than the fact he was so in love with his own ideas.
00:14:54.520 In his book, he said scientific management should be applied across all of society.
00:15:00.320 Quote,
00:15:00.640 This would become music to progressive ears.
00:15:25.340 Taylor's concept of scientific management gave PowerMad progressives the perfect label and tool they needed.
00:15:34.260 If you could transform a complex business through careful study and planning and dictated change,
00:15:41.040 imagine what could be done by using those same techniques on government and society.
00:15:47.560 Now, progressivism had a unifying rallying cry.
00:15:52.760 Taylor was the Moses for them.
00:15:55.340 Coming down from the mountain with a new set of commandments and giving them even more justification to take charge.
00:16:03.300 Because now, science was on their side.
00:16:07.500 And you can't argue with science.
00:16:10.260 Progressive leaders took Taylor's concept and married it with political power.
00:16:15.280 But it would take another progressive titan,
00:16:18.600 someone that the left still worships today,
00:16:21.180 to take Taylor's ideas about the importance of experts and make them go viral.
00:16:27.060 A century ago, as we're now learning,
00:16:32.740 we witnessed the dawn of the expert class in this country.
00:16:36.780 The consolidation of power into a few hands was something the founders tried to avoid.
00:16:42.900 But we had progressivism.
00:16:45.200 Woodrow Wilson, he brought it all crashing back into our lives.
00:16:48.720 And in one of the most blatant efforts of all time,
00:16:51.900 trying to stamp out individualism and freedom.
00:16:55.180 We're doing it again.
00:16:56.340 And that means the freedom to have the opportunity to take your destiny in your own hands.
00:17:03.060 It's something that I believe in.
00:17:04.580 And if you're listening to this podcast, I believe you are too.
00:17:06.660 And it's something that Jace Medical believes in as well.
00:17:10.680 They're a proud partner in bringing this together.
00:17:13.380 And I'm happy to have them on board.
00:17:15.080 They understand the way you and I do,
00:17:17.540 that you need to be able to make decisions for yourself and your family.
00:17:20.860 You need to be as self-reliant as possible.
00:17:24.560 And they're providing some of the most vital, life-saving medications.
00:17:28.320 Medications that the experts wouldn't want you to be in charge with.
00:17:32.240 Medicines because of the experts in charge
00:17:34.860 might not be easy to get in the coming months and years.
00:17:38.300 And they'll make sure you're prepared for anything
00:17:40.600 with a year's worth of whatever medicine you have to take every day.
00:17:44.660 I encourage you to check out jacemedical.com
00:17:47.460 and prepare yourself and your family.
00:17:50.400 I'm no expert, but I use Jace Medical.
00:17:56.040 Louis Brandeis.
00:17:57.500 He was one of those guys you didn't want to get into a debate with.
00:18:01.220 You know, kind of like Elon Musk.
00:18:03.200 You're certain to lose.
00:18:05.940 The son of a secular Jewish immigrant from Prague,
00:18:09.360 Brandeis was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and mostly grew up there.
00:18:13.720 He was incredibly smart and ambitious,
00:18:16.560 graduating from Harvard Law School when he was 20 years old,
00:18:19.800 with the highest grades in the school's history at the time.
00:18:23.540 In 1879, Brandeis started a law firm in Boston with a friend from Harvard.
00:18:29.820 And soon their practice was so profitable
00:18:32.720 that Brandeis started taking on select cases for free,
00:18:36.820 cases that furthered his progressive ideals.
00:18:40.420 For Brandeis, that included advancing the idea of rule by experts.
00:18:45.660 This speaks volumes about Brandeis' philosophy.
00:18:50.880 Among his papers,
00:18:52.060 a note was once found that he had written himself which said,
00:18:55.360 quote,
00:18:56.120 Advice client on what he should have,
00:18:59.160 not what he wants.
00:19:01.080 That could practically be the progressive motto.
00:19:04.120 In our history textbooks,
00:19:08.660 a 1908 Supreme Court case,
00:19:10.820 Mueller v. Oregon,
00:19:12.460 is often cited as an example of superhero progressivism at work.
00:19:17.320 Before this case,
00:19:18.400 the Supreme Court had considered it
00:19:20.280 a right of employers and employees
00:19:23.200 to establish a work contract without interference from the state.
00:19:28.420 Brandeis would change that.
00:19:30.120 This case demonstrated Brandeis' passion for rule by experts.
00:19:35.780 He defended the state of Oregon in front of the Supreme Court,
00:19:39.020 packing his brief with over 100 pages of research
00:19:42.800 and supposed science,
00:19:45.140 backing up his theory that women working long hours was, 0.98
00:19:49.400 quote,
00:19:49.960 dangerous to the public health,
00:19:52.300 safety,
00:19:53.300 morals,
00:19:54.200 and welfare.
00:19:55.720 This progressive argued that the state was correct
00:19:59.700 to restrict work hours for women,
00:20:02.220 rather than allowing employers and employees
00:20:04.700 to set up their own work arrangement.
00:20:08.760 Brandeis won the case,
00:20:11.020 as he usually did,
00:20:12.420 and he's been hailed as a hero ever since
00:20:15.080 for his Brandeis briefs.
00:20:17.820 Judicial historian Stephen Powers wrote,
00:20:20.800 quote,
00:20:20.980 the so-called Brandeis brief
00:20:23.020 became a model for progressive litigation.
00:20:25.680 He says the hallmark of this approach is,
00:20:29.340 quote,
00:20:30.120 its disregard for common law jurisprudence
00:20:33.560 in favor of
00:20:34.920 faith
00:20:35.820 in a jurisprudence
00:20:37.480 that takes into account
00:20:38.840 social and historical realities.
00:20:42.640 Because of cases like
00:20:43.920 Mueller v. Oregon,
00:20:45.280 Brandeis gained a saintly reputation
00:20:47.480 on the left as
00:20:48.780 the people's lawyer.
00:20:50.080 In 1910,
00:20:51.600 he got another big opportunity
00:20:53.120 to stand up for
00:20:54.360 the people,
00:20:55.960 this time in a hearing
00:20:57.160 before the Interstate Commerce Commission.
00:21:00.200 The ICC
00:21:01.180 was an early product
00:21:03.040 of progressivism.
00:21:04.260 It was established in 1887
00:21:06.380 to regulate
00:21:07.480 the railroad industry.
00:21:09.860 It was the first
00:21:10.520 regulatory authority commission
00:21:12.120 in U.S. history.
00:21:14.360 Brandeis was brought in
00:21:15.780 by the Trade Association
00:21:17.060 of the Atlantic Seaboard
00:21:18.280 to make an argument
00:21:19.380 for why railroad companies
00:21:21.220 should not be approved
00:21:22.820 to increase their rates.
00:21:25.000 He dug in,
00:21:25.920 preparing one of his famous
00:21:27.140 Brandeis briefs,
00:21:29.020 and that
00:21:29.840 is when he stumbled
00:21:30.940 onto the glories
00:21:32.480 of Frederick Taylor's
00:21:34.140 scientific management.
00:21:38.360 Brandeis traveled to Philadelphia
00:21:39.940 and met with Taylor
00:21:40.900 in person
00:21:41.560 to glean everything he could
00:21:43.160 about the amazing new science.
00:21:45.480 He also met with
00:21:46.460 Taylor's associates
00:21:47.680 In true progressive
00:21:49.180 expert style,
00:21:50.880 Taylor was extremely
00:21:52.320 protective of his
00:21:53.460 scientific management concepts.
00:21:56.020 Only he could certify
00:21:57.620 official scientific
00:21:58.860 management experts.
00:22:00.520 According to him,
00:22:01.840 there were only five
00:22:03.120 other authorized experts
00:22:04.500 in the world,
00:22:05.520 and they all happened
00:22:06.440 to work for him.
00:22:08.440 After learning everything
00:22:09.540 he could about Taylor's
00:22:10.640 scientific management,
00:22:12.080 Brandeis was enthralled,
00:22:13.600 writing, quote,
00:22:14.440 Of all the social
00:22:15.900 and economic movements
00:22:17.520 with which I have
00:22:18.420 been connected,
00:22:19.860 none seemed to me
00:22:21.180 to be more equal
00:22:22.500 in its importance
00:22:23.760 and hopefulness.
00:22:26.860 Brandeis felt he held
00:22:28.480 the key to a glorious
00:22:30.000 progressive future,
00:22:31.640 and that key
00:22:32.540 was experts in charge.
00:22:35.960 Just like Taylor
00:22:37.160 hovering over his
00:22:38.120 stopwatch and charts
00:22:39.340 to reconfigure
00:22:40.260 every department
00:22:41.160 of a steel company,
00:22:42.900 Brandeis could see
00:22:43.980 experts reconfiguring
00:22:45.560 every aspect
00:22:46.740 of America's
00:22:47.680 messy society.
00:22:49.780 Brandeis said,
00:22:50.720 quote,
00:22:51.360 Efficiency is the hope
00:22:53.500 of democracy.
00:22:56.500 In October 1910,
00:22:58.740 before heading to D.C.
00:22:59.940 for the Interstate
00:23:00.720 Commerce Commission
00:23:01.600 hearing,
00:23:02.540 Brandeis held a meeting
00:23:03.820 in New York City
00:23:04.880 with some of Taylor's
00:23:06.080 associates.
00:23:07.360 Among the attendees
00:23:08.240 were Frank and Lillian
00:23:09.900 Gilbreth,
00:23:11.140 who later would become
00:23:12.500 famous in the book
00:23:13.520 Cheaper by the Dozen,
00:23:15.200 which was written
00:23:15.900 by two of their children.
00:23:17.940 Yes, they really did
00:23:18.980 have 12 kids,
00:23:20.160 and if you read the book
00:23:21.600 or seen the 1950s movie,
00:23:24.020 you recall that it's
00:23:25.180 about these eccentric
00:23:26.580 parents who try to run
00:23:27.960 their chaotic household
00:23:29.340 with strict efficiency rules.
00:23:32.120 The Gilbreths were all 1.00
00:23:33.720 about studying human motion
00:23:35.540 to eliminate inefficiencies
00:23:37.960 in everything
00:23:38.960 from factory work
00:23:40.240 to household tasks.
00:23:42.540 At that meeting,
00:23:43.700 Brandeis had everyone
00:23:45.360 help him settle in
00:23:46.560 on an official title
00:23:47.660 for this efficiency
00:23:48.740 management by expert system.
00:23:51.320 They decided to call it
00:23:52.640 scientific management.
00:23:55.380 Taylor, who was not
00:23:56.360 at the meeting,
00:23:57.200 had used the term before,
00:23:58.700 so he was sure
00:23:59.540 to approve their choice.
00:24:01.000 And of course,
00:24:01.640 using the word scientific
00:24:03.040 was the key ingredient.
00:24:05.540 At the ICC hearing,
00:24:08.320 Brandeis built his case
00:24:09.800 trying to demonstrate
00:24:11.240 how evil capitalist railroads
00:24:13.460 had no clue
00:24:14.560 as to how they arrived
00:24:16.140 at their crazy high rates
00:24:17.840 and therefore were not justified
00:24:19.540 in raising them even more.
00:24:21.940 He built up to his
00:24:23.220 you-can't-handle-the-truth moment
00:24:25.960 when he questioned the VP
00:24:27.880 of a New York railroad company
00:24:29.780 named Charles Daly.
00:24:31.880 Daly admitted setting their prices
00:24:33.960 was based on judgment.
00:24:36.300 So Brandeis asked him
00:24:37.580 for details
00:24:38.280 on exactly how
00:24:39.780 he made that judgment.
00:24:41.000 The basis of my judgment
00:24:43.080 is exactly the same
00:24:44.640 as the basis of a man
00:24:46.220 who knows how to play
00:24:47.380 a good game of golf.
00:24:49.760 It comes from practice,
00:24:51.480 contact,
00:24:52.380 and experience
00:24:53.220 with the particular subject
00:24:54.780 at issue.
00:24:55.660 Then Brandeis said,
00:24:57.140 I want to know,
00:24:58.780 Mr. Daly,
00:24:59.860 just as clearly
00:25:00.900 as you can state it,
00:25:02.560 whether you can give
00:25:03.840 a single reason
00:25:05.000 based on anything more
00:25:07.020 than your arbitrary judgment
00:25:08.800 as you have expressed it.
00:25:11.040 None whatever,
00:25:12.640 replied Daly.
00:25:13.980 None whatever.
00:25:15.880 None whatever.
00:25:19.200 Frank Gilbreth,
00:25:21.240 the cheaper-by-the-dozen dad,
00:25:23.820 was a star witness
00:25:24.900 for Brandeis.
00:25:27.240 Gilbreth put on a show
00:25:28.460 mesmerizing the commissioners
00:25:30.360 when he used a stack
00:25:31.420 of law books
00:25:32.200 to demonstrate
00:25:32.960 the bricklaying
00:25:34.280 efficiency techniques
00:25:35.660 he had developed
00:25:36.880 using the new
00:25:38.020 science of motion study.
00:25:40.580 When Gilbreth
00:25:41.680 was done with his show,
00:25:43.140 one of the commissioners said,
00:25:44.480 this has become
00:25:45.680 a sort of substitute
00:25:46.980 religion with you.
00:25:48.780 Yes, sir,
00:25:50.160 responded Gilbreth
00:25:51.240 with enthusiasm.
00:25:52.320 The commissioner
00:25:54.240 had no idea
00:25:55.040 how prescient he was
00:25:56.220 comparing this
00:25:57.220 to a religion.
00:25:59.920 The other thing
00:26:00.960 that made Brandeis
00:26:01.880 an activist lawyer
00:26:03.080 who was way ahead
00:26:04.940 of his time
00:26:05.620 was his genius
00:26:07.120 at controlling narrative.
00:26:09.660 At one point
00:26:10.460 in the hearings,
00:26:11.160 he made a startling claim
00:26:12.620 that scientific management
00:26:13.920 would save the railroads
00:26:15.220 one million dollars a day.
00:26:17.920 He knew that figure
00:26:18.880 would turn heads.
00:26:20.180 The next morning,
00:26:20.860 the New York Times headline read,
00:26:22.900 Rhodes could save
00:26:23.840 one million dollars a day,
00:26:25.560 Brandeis says,
00:26:26.860 scientific management
00:26:28.460 would do it.
00:26:29.760 Calls rate increases
00:26:31.220 unnecessary.
00:26:34.660 Well, similar headlines
00:26:36.100 like that
00:26:36.680 ran all across the nation,
00:26:38.240 and it was a brilliant
00:26:39.440 PR coup.
00:26:40.920 Brandeis had no real way
00:26:42.340 to back up
00:26:43.140 the million dollars a day claim,
00:26:45.020 but it didn't matter.
00:26:46.540 Reporters had never heard
00:26:47.860 of scientific management
00:26:49.280 before,
00:26:49.800 and they were mesmerized.
00:26:50.900 That dollar figure
00:26:52.340 struck in the public's mind.
00:26:54.200 Brandeis won,
00:26:55.340 as usual.
00:26:57.140 The railroads
00:26:57.720 were denied
00:26:58.240 their rate hike.
00:26:59.500 It was like
00:26:59.940 taking candy
00:27:01.200 from a baby.
00:27:02.500 All you had to do
00:27:03.480 was invoke
00:27:04.180 scientific management.
00:27:07.540 But Brandeis
00:27:08.500 wasn't just
00:27:09.280 some clever
00:27:10.000 con man.
00:27:11.440 He actually believed
00:27:13.040 what he was preaching,
00:27:14.040 and
00:27:15.140 he was just
00:27:17.500 getting started.
00:27:20.480 Frederick Taylor.
00:27:21.920 He became
00:27:22.720 an overnight star.
00:27:24.260 His scientific management
00:27:25.820 spread like wildfire.
00:27:28.880 Brandeis hooked him up
00:27:29.880 with a glowing profile
00:27:31.640 in the American magazine,
00:27:33.920 written by
00:27:34.520 uber-progressive journalist
00:27:36.320 Ray Stannard Baker.
00:27:38.940 The same issue
00:27:40.180 also serialized
00:27:41.460 Taylor's book,
00:27:42.280 The Principles of Scientific Management,
00:27:44.780 which came out
00:27:45.560 just in time
00:27:46.620 to ride the public wave.
00:27:48.960 The magazine issue
00:27:50.040 was titled
00:27:50.660 The Gospel of Efficiency,
00:27:53.660 A New Science
00:27:54.840 of Business Management.
00:27:57.440 In his profile of Taylor,
00:27:59.820 Baker wrote,
00:28:00.700 quote,
00:28:01.160 From the very first,
00:28:03.180 young Taylor
00:28:03.920 with his early home environment
00:28:05.700 in a reform atmosphere
00:28:07.180 and his natural
00:28:08.340 democratic instincts
00:28:09.620 was impressed
00:28:10.680 with the deplorable conditions
00:28:12.220 of industry
00:28:12.980 and the heartlessness
00:28:14.720 which characterized
00:28:16.000 nearly all
00:28:16.940 industrial operations.
00:28:19.180 It was as natural
00:28:20.500 as sunlight
00:28:21.240 for him to inquire,
00:28:23.100 how can I change
00:28:24.680 these things?
00:28:26.500 Mr. Taylor
00:28:27.360 is a man
00:28:28.180 of wide cultivation,
00:28:29.900 of varied interest,
00:28:31.300 and of personal charm.
00:28:33.200 He has a lively
00:28:34.340 and progressive mind,
00:28:36.040 seizing eagerly
00:28:36.940 upon the problems
00:28:37.960 of the day.
00:28:38.620 As would be the case
00:28:41.000 with many leading progressives,
00:28:42.760 they often revealed
00:28:43.880 their true colors.
00:28:45.720 Maybe Baker missed
00:28:47.180 the part
00:28:47.780 in Taylor's book
00:28:49.040 when he described
00:28:50.240 the common laborer
00:28:51.620 as, quote,
00:28:52.840 Too stupid properly
00:28:54.440 to train himself.
00:28:56.520 But that kind of rhetoric
00:28:57.840 didn't matter
00:28:58.860 because with the progressive cause,
00:29:01.460 the ends
00:29:02.160 justifies the means.
00:29:03.900 One biographer
00:29:06.180 stated that Taylor's
00:29:07.160 Principles of Scientific
00:29:08.460 Management book
00:29:09.440 was, quote,
00:29:11.400 Above all,
00:29:12.460 a reformed tract,
00:29:14.100 a progressive manifesto.
00:29:16.660 Regardless of whether
00:29:17.840 Taylor actually
00:29:18.700 considered it that,
00:29:20.160 many progressive
00:29:20.900 activists did.
00:29:23.400 Louis Brandeis
00:29:24.360 raved that,
00:29:25.620 quote,
00:29:25.860 The coming
00:29:27.180 science of management
00:29:29.160 in this century
00:29:30.580 marks an advance
00:29:32.420 comparable
00:29:33.240 only to that
00:29:34.480 made by the coming
00:29:35.580 of the machine
00:29:36.420 in the last.
00:29:39.400 Nothing captured
00:29:40.640 progressivism
00:29:41.480 quite like
00:29:42.220 scientific management.
00:29:44.320 Here was a bulletproof
00:29:45.800 form of improved control.
00:29:48.500 You couldn't argue
00:29:49.520 that it wasn't better
00:29:50.580 for you
00:29:51.080 because it was
00:29:51.980 based on science.
00:29:53.820 More than a century
00:29:54.960 later,
00:29:55.440 progressives are still
00:29:56.940 using this
00:29:57.840 science argument.
00:30:00.720 And that's why
00:30:01.720 in my first
00:30:02.360 inaugural address,
00:30:03.460 I vowed to return
00:30:04.420 science to its
00:30:05.660 rightful place.
00:30:06.580 Follow the scientists
00:30:07.680 and the science.
00:30:09.140 We have seen a pattern
00:30:10.100 with this administration,
00:30:11.160 which is they don't
00:30:11.760 believe in science.
00:30:12.580 Science is settled.
00:30:14.040 Science, science,
00:30:15.120 science, and science.
00:30:16.440 On almost every subject
00:30:17.840 that you can name,
00:30:19.340 science is the answer.
00:30:20.940 The science determines
00:30:22.280 what is the correct
00:30:24.580 answer to a particular
00:30:26.120 question.
00:30:27.860 Armed with this magic
00:30:29.420 new rhetorical device,
00:30:31.540 it was time for
00:30:32.320 progressive operatives
00:30:33.460 to do what Taylor's book
00:30:35.360 dictated.
00:30:36.860 Apply scientific management
00:30:38.620 to basically everything,
00:30:41.080 but especially
00:30:42.660 government.
00:30:43.460 A little over a year
00:30:47.500 after Taylor's book
00:30:48.520 came out,
00:30:49.460 Louis Brandeis
00:30:50.380 met his ideological
00:30:51.720 twin,
00:30:53.160 Woodrow Wilson.
00:30:54.960 They met just after
00:30:56.180 the Democratic Party
00:30:57.240 nominated Wilson
00:30:58.400 for president.
00:30:59.720 Wilson,
00:31:00.140 the former president
00:31:00.900 of Princeton
00:31:01.640 and governor of New Jersey
00:31:03.220 at the time
00:31:03.820 of his nomination,
00:31:05.240 was instantly
00:31:06.540 captivated
00:31:07.660 by Brandeis'
00:31:08.860 intellect.
00:31:09.520 Wilson biographer
00:31:11.300 A. Scott Berg
00:31:12.820 wrote that
00:31:13.920 Brandeis,
00:31:14.800 quote,
00:31:15.600 as much as anyone
00:31:16.740 would shape the future
00:31:18.260 of Woodrow Wilson's
00:31:19.440 campaign and career.
00:31:21.880 Brandeis and Wilson,
00:31:23.840 a perfect match.
00:31:25.560 Two self-styled experts,
00:31:28.220 a Harvard man
00:31:29.080 and a Princeton man,
00:31:31.100 like-minded
00:31:32.020 about the problem
00:31:32.900 facing America.
00:31:34.500 They both thought
00:31:35.320 America had outgrown
00:31:37.280 the Constitution.
00:31:39.200 An editorial
00:31:39.820 in the New Republic
00:31:40.760 magazine perfectly
00:31:42.000 captured this
00:31:42.900 progressive mindset,
00:31:44.440 quote,
00:31:45.580 the business of politics
00:31:47.140 had become too complex
00:31:48.580 to be left
00:31:49.400 to the pretentious
00:31:50.660 misunderstandings
00:31:52.080 of the benevolent
00:31:53.240 amateur.
00:31:55.320 Ray Stannard Baker,
00:31:56.920 the guy Brandeis
00:31:57.880 got to write
00:31:58.520 that glowing feature
00:31:59.880 about Frederick Taylor,
00:32:02.020 called for a,
00:32:03.000 quote,
00:32:03.460 new aristocracy
00:32:04.960 which must appear
00:32:06.440 in America
00:32:07.120 if our inefficient
00:32:08.660 and halting
00:32:09.560 political democracy
00:32:10.800 is ever to develop
00:32:12.100 into a true democracy,
00:32:14.060 that higher and finer
00:32:15.480 sort of aristocracy
00:32:16.880 based upon
00:32:17.900 a scientific
00:32:18.680 and artistic outlook
00:32:20.280 and inspired
00:32:21.600 by an intense
00:32:22.720 enthusiasm
00:32:23.420 for human progress.
00:32:27.300 Brandeis and Wilson
00:32:28.580 believed the situation
00:32:30.000 required experts
00:32:31.780 to fix it.
00:32:32.500 They nominated
00:32:33.760 themselves to do it.
00:32:35.840 Wilson was the first 0.98
00:32:36.820 president to have
00:32:37.780 a PhD
00:32:38.720 and progressives
00:32:40.200 were beside
00:32:41.040 themselves about it.
00:32:42.840 The left's charge
00:32:43.820 against every
00:32:44.860 non-progressive
00:32:45.940 president
00:32:46.340 since Wilson
00:32:47.340 has been
00:32:48.620 that they're just
00:32:49.740 dumb.
00:32:51.220 When Wilson
00:32:52.040 was president
00:32:52.920 of Princeton,
00:32:54.200 he gave a speech
00:32:55.140 titled
00:32:55.580 Our Elastic
00:32:57.080 Constitution.
00:32:58.760 That really should
00:32:59.760 have been a warning
00:33:00.420 sign to America,
00:33:01.920 but progressives
00:33:03.180 saw it as a virtue.
00:33:05.420 Wilson and Brandeis
00:33:06.360 helped institutionalize
00:33:08.000 this notion
00:33:08.660 of a living
00:33:09.800 constitution.
00:33:11.700 Wilson was the 0.90
00:33:12.380 very first president
00:33:13.480 to ever
00:33:14.040 disparage
00:33:14.920 the constitution
00:33:15.760 and the separation
00:33:17.260 of powers,
00:33:18.100 which he considered
00:33:18.940 an outdated
00:33:19.780 barrier to his agenda.
00:33:21.940 He thought it was
00:33:22.880 time for America
00:33:23.980 to evolve
00:33:24.960 beyond the constitution.
00:33:27.300 He was a fanboy
00:33:28.220 of the British
00:33:28.840 parliamentary system
00:33:30.020 and desired to see
00:33:31.200 the U.S. convert
00:33:32.360 to a British-style
00:33:33.760 setup.
00:33:34.880 Wilson said,
00:33:35.560 quote,
00:33:35.860 Each generation 0.51
00:33:36.860 must form
00:33:37.940 its own conception
00:33:39.100 of what liberty is.
00:33:41.180 We are not bound
00:33:42.360 to adhere
00:33:43.280 to the doctrines
00:33:44.200 held by the signers
00:33:45.360 of the Declaration
00:33:46.080 of Independence.
00:33:47.440 We are as free
00:33:48.540 as they were
00:33:49.280 to make and unmake
00:33:50.320 governments.
00:33:51.540 Every Fourth of July
00:33:52.780 should be a time
00:33:53.700 for examining
00:33:54.640 what forms of power
00:33:56.540 we think most likely
00:33:57.780 to affect
00:33:58.400 our safety
00:33:59.400 and happiness.
00:34:01.620 Brandeis and Wilson
00:34:02.440 had big plans
00:34:04.160 for America,
00:34:05.280 which they dubbed
00:34:06.580 the New Freedom
00:34:07.760 during the 1912
00:34:09.160 presidential campaign.
00:34:10.780 But when Wilson
00:34:11.740 won the election,
00:34:13.380 the reality was
00:34:14.420 that he still had
00:34:15.340 to work within
00:34:16.300 the constitutional system
00:34:17.780 for the time being.
00:34:19.460 So they needed
00:34:20.260 willing allies
00:34:21.260 in Congress
00:34:22.000 to carry out
00:34:23.420 their progressive bidding.
00:34:26.540 You know,
00:34:28.300 the field of medicine
00:34:29.020 didn't used to draw
00:34:30.200 a distinction
00:34:30.800 between itself
00:34:31.980 and what we would
00:34:32.780 now call
00:34:33.340 holistic remedies.
00:34:35.420 It was just
00:34:36.680 the field of medicine.
00:34:38.180 Some things worked
00:34:38.860 better than others
00:34:39.600 and that's it.
00:34:40.960 But then,
00:34:41.500 of course,
00:34:41.960 came the experts.
00:34:44.060 They insisted
00:34:44.860 on things being done
00:34:46.080 in a certain way,
00:34:47.560 which meant
00:34:48.240 that a lot of good
00:34:49.280 treatments for things
00:34:50.460 that we all
00:34:51.960 had taken
00:34:52.740 or our grandparents
00:34:54.100 had done
00:34:54.620 that really did work,
00:34:56.040 went by the wayside.
00:34:57.820 Relief Factor
00:34:58.400 is one of our
00:34:59.240 sponsors and partners
00:35:00.480 on this program.
00:35:01.960 Relief Factor
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00:35:03.660 because the people
00:35:04.500 who make it
00:35:05.340 realize something
00:35:06.780 the experts
00:35:07.520 really don't.
00:35:09.240 Fighting pain
00:35:10.080 is almost always
00:35:11.400 about helping
00:35:12.100 your body
00:35:12.620 heal itself
00:35:13.740 with natural
00:35:15.440 healing supplements
00:35:16.760 that are actually
00:35:17.620 effective.
00:35:18.720 I know because
00:35:19.560 I take Relief Factor
00:35:20.540 every single day.
00:35:21.600 if you're suffering
00:35:22.820 from pain,
00:35:24.380 may I recommend
00:35:25.280 that you try
00:35:26.300 Relief Factor?
00:35:27.340 Just try their
00:35:27.980 three-week trial pack.
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00:35:30.640 I'm no expert on this,
00:35:32.440 but this has worked
00:35:33.760 for me.
00:35:34.720 Give it a try.
00:35:35.580 ReliefFactor.com
00:35:36.740 Have you ever heard
00:35:42.900 of Robert LaFollette?
00:35:44.720 If you live in Wisconsin,
00:35:46.560 you probably have.
00:35:48.280 When you see a photo
00:35:49.500 of Senator Robert LaFollette,
00:35:52.180 one aspect
00:35:52.800 makes him stand out
00:35:54.220 from almost every other
00:35:55.240 politician of his era.
00:35:56.680 His full-on,
00:35:58.280 gravity-defying,
00:35:59.940 righteous mane of hair,
00:36:01.820 which totally fit
00:36:03.520 the man
00:36:04.020 who became known
00:36:05.180 as Fighting Bob.
00:36:07.560 Theodore Roosevelt,
00:36:08.760 progressive himself,
00:36:09.860 called LaFollette
00:36:10.740 an extremist
00:36:12.260 with a touch
00:36:13.240 of fanaticism.
00:36:15.140 And that's coming
00:36:16.200 from the guy
00:36:16.760 who started
00:36:17.420 the progressive party.
00:36:19.640 The way Robert LaFollette
00:36:21.360 told it,
00:36:22.380 his own party
00:36:23.080 turned him
00:36:23.640 into a rebel fighter.
00:36:25.320 He was a Republican
00:36:26.080 from Wisconsin
00:36:26.980 with a law practice
00:36:28.300 in Madison.
00:36:29.660 In 1890,
00:36:30.580 he claimed that
00:36:31.300 Wisconsin U.S. Senator
00:36:32.800 Philetus Sawyer,
00:36:34.500 a fellow Republican,
00:36:35.980 offered to bribe him
00:36:37.260 if he would influence
00:36:38.420 a court case
00:36:39.320 involving Sawyer.
00:36:41.200 The judge in the case
00:36:42.260 happened to be
00:36:43.300 LaFollette's
00:36:44.180 brother-in-law.
00:36:45.740 LaFollette said
00:36:46.420 he refused the bribe
00:36:47.760 and his outrage
00:36:49.080 set him on a war path
00:36:50.840 against corruption
00:36:51.760 in his own party.
00:36:53.720 It also put him
00:36:54.480 on the outs
00:36:55.060 with Wisconsin Republicans.
00:36:57.240 He stuck with his party
00:36:58.500 but became the leader
00:36:59.880 of the progressive wing
00:37:01.360 and rallied a coalition
00:37:02.900 that got him elected
00:37:04.320 governor in Wisconsin
00:37:05.400 in 1900.
00:37:08.900 As Governor,
00:37:09.900 LaFollette
00:37:10.460 was an early pioneer
00:37:12.140 of the progressive
00:37:13.080 obsession
00:37:13.920 with experts.
00:37:15.740 One of his co-pioneers
00:37:17.000 of this strategy
00:37:17.720 was Richard T. Eli,
00:37:20.180 a University of Wisconsin
00:37:21.360 professor
00:37:21.860 who had major influence
00:37:23.840 on a young Woodrow Wilson
00:37:25.260 years earlier
00:37:26.440 when Wilson
00:37:27.560 was his student
00:37:28.520 at John Hopkins University.
00:37:31.300 LaFollette,
00:37:32.060 in partnership
00:37:32.780 with the University
00:37:33.980 of Wisconsin,
00:37:35.200 established the
00:37:36.040 Legislative Reference Bureau
00:37:37.860 in which professors
00:37:39.180 and other experts
00:37:40.520 provided guidance
00:37:41.860 to lawmakers
00:37:42.620 and actually drafted
00:37:44.200 legislation for them.
00:37:46.420 In 1905,
00:37:47.580 Wisconsin's legislature
00:37:49.000 elected LaFollette
00:37:50.440 to the U.S. Senate.
00:37:51.740 Within a few years,
00:37:53.180 he established himself
00:37:54.520 as the leader
00:37:55.660 of the progressive
00:37:56.540 Republicans in the Senate
00:37:58.120 who were often called
00:37:59.580 insurgents.
00:38:01.440 The American magazine
00:38:02.480 published a glowing
00:38:03.680 10-part series
00:38:04.780 on LaFollette
00:38:05.600 titled
00:38:06.020 An Autobiography
00:38:07.600 of an Insurgent.
00:38:09.860 His co-writer
00:38:10.540 was Ray Stannard Baker.
00:38:13.360 You remember him?
00:38:14.600 The guy who would go on
00:38:15.740 to write that puff piece
00:38:17.000 on Frederick Taylor
00:38:18.220 and scientific management.
00:38:21.840 In 1909,
00:38:23.180 LaFollette called
00:38:24.340 the insurgents together
00:38:25.400 to divvy up the work
00:38:26.800 of pushing progressive reforms
00:38:28.480 through the Senate,
00:38:29.600 their biggest reform
00:38:30.840 was the 17th Amendment
00:38:32.380 and it allowed
00:38:33.200 for the direct election
00:38:34.680 of U.S. Senators.
00:38:36.680 The insurgents
00:38:37.720 thought they were
00:38:38.360 improving democracy
00:38:39.740 by empowering voters.
00:38:41.980 But clearly,
00:38:43.000 it was a massive tilting
00:38:44.600 of the playing field
00:38:45.740 away from the states
00:38:47.360 and toward bigger,
00:38:49.780 more destructive
00:38:50.900 federal power.
00:38:52.320 In 2010,
00:38:54.720 the late Supreme Court
00:38:55.760 Justice Antonin Scalia
00:38:57.240 said that through
00:38:59.080 the 17th Amendment,
00:39:00.440 quote,
00:39:01.220 you can trace
00:39:02.080 the decline
00:39:02.880 of so-called
00:39:03.940 state rights
00:39:05.040 throughout the rest
00:39:06.560 of the 20th century,
00:39:08.200 end quote.
00:39:09.380 The 17th Amendment 0.66
00:39:10.720 was a seismic win
00:39:12.480 for progressivism.
00:39:14.140 The fighting Bob,
00:39:15.400 he was fast becoming
00:39:16.800 a progressive icon.
00:39:18.660 He started a magazine
00:39:19.780 to promote progressive ideas
00:39:21.600 called La Follette's
00:39:23.060 weekly.
00:39:24.320 It's now called
00:39:25.320 The Progressive
00:39:26.380 and it's still running today.
00:39:29.080 Shortly after
00:39:29.940 Louis Brandeis'
00:39:31.400 scientific management show
00:39:33.500 at the ICC hearings,
00:39:35.180 La Follette brought
00:39:36.960 his fellow insurgents
00:39:38.180 together for a meeting
00:39:39.580 where they formed
00:39:40.480 the National Progressive
00:39:42.240 Republican League.
00:39:44.360 Historian William Murphy
00:39:46.120 described the league
00:39:47.080 as, quote,
00:39:48.160 a bold effort
00:39:49.220 by a group
00:39:50.040 of Republican reformers
00:39:51.440 to seize control
00:39:52.640 of their party
00:39:53.580 and transform it
00:39:55.380 into a party
00:39:56.220 of progressivism,
00:39:57.960 end quote.
00:39:59.760 Ultimately,
00:40:00.460 Woodrow Wilson
00:40:01.000 solved the Republican Party's
00:40:02.600 progressive insurgency problem
00:40:04.260 by making progressivism
00:40:05.820 dominant in the Democratic Party.
00:40:08.700 And when Wilson took office,
00:40:10.480 he and Brandeis
00:40:11.360 had no bigger champion
00:40:12.900 for their new freedom agenda
00:40:14.600 than Robert La Follette.
00:40:17.080 One historian stated,
00:40:26.320 quote,
00:40:26.640 Woodrow Wilson
00:40:27.420 was the first president
00:40:28.600 to develop systematically
00:40:30.660 the legislative powers
00:40:32.540 of his office.
00:40:34.320 The Constitution
00:40:34.900 does not give the president
00:40:36.400 any legislative powers,
00:40:38.800 but surely the founders
00:40:40.320 meant to make an exception
00:40:41.660 for the president, right?
00:40:43.100 I mean,
00:40:43.480 if he has a PhD.
00:40:45.440 Louie Brandeis
00:40:46.820 became Wilson's
00:40:47.840 chief economic advisor.
00:40:50.240 Wilson wanted to give Brandeis
00:40:51.860 a cabinet position,
00:40:53.260 but there was strong
00:40:54.480 public pushback
00:40:55.780 because of Brandeis' radicalism,
00:40:58.000 so he remained
00:40:59.000 just an advisor.
00:41:00.800 In that role,
00:41:01.840 Brandeis was one
00:41:02.980 of the chief architects
00:41:04.260 of both
00:41:05.200 the Federal Reserve Act
00:41:06.720 and the new
00:41:08.220 Federal Trade Commission.
00:41:10.360 The Federal Reserve
00:41:11.240 was absolutely transformational.
00:41:14.520 It created
00:41:15.060 12 regional reserve banks
00:41:17.360 controlled by
00:41:18.240 the Federal Reserve Board.
00:41:20.320 Naturally,
00:41:21.000 board members
00:41:21.600 were appointed
00:41:22.580 by the president.
00:41:24.000 But this government monolith
00:41:26.020 would have power
00:41:27.280 to adjust the interest rate,
00:41:29.580 regulate banks,
00:41:30.520 and control
00:41:31.560 the nation's
00:41:32.360 money supply.
00:41:34.380 Just weeks before
00:41:35.740 Wilson took office,
00:41:37.000 the 16th Amendment
00:41:38.020 was ratified,
00:41:39.300 allowing federal
00:41:40.380 income tax.
00:41:41.920 Wilson then
00:41:42.700 signed in
00:41:43.320 the first peacetime
00:41:44.740 federal income tax law
00:41:46.760 in U.S. history.
00:41:48.500 And the only
00:41:49.300 Republican senator
00:41:50.440 to vote for it
00:41:51.940 was Robert La Follette.
00:41:55.480 Wilson considered it
00:41:56.920 his duty
00:41:57.720 and right
00:41:58.500 to lead Congress
00:41:59.580 by the nose
00:42:00.720 to accomplish
00:42:01.400 his agenda.
00:42:02.840 He forced himself
00:42:03.780 on Congress
00:42:04.660 more than
00:42:05.500 any other
00:42:06.340 previous president.
00:42:08.040 He was the first 0.93
00:42:08.680 since John Adams
00:42:09.740 to give a
00:42:10.420 State of the Union
00:42:11.300 speech in person
00:42:12.700 before Congress.
00:42:14.560 Most previous presidents
00:42:15.820 rarely visited
00:42:16.820 the Capitol building.
00:42:18.540 But Wilson
00:42:19.120 used an office
00:42:20.380 in the Capitol
00:42:21.320 as often as
00:42:22.320 three times a week
00:42:23.380 to strong-arm
00:42:24.720 the legislative process.
00:42:26.240 Wilson had barely
00:42:28.000 been in office
00:42:28.740 for a year
00:42:29.400 when one journalist
00:42:30.380 remarked,
00:42:31.060 quote,
00:42:31.820 the vital fact
00:42:32.900 in any present
00:42:34.080 American politics
00:42:35.320 is the enormous
00:42:36.800 control,
00:42:38.340 if not ascendancy,
00:42:40.100 which President
00:42:40.720 Wilson is exerting
00:42:41.880 over Congress.
00:42:43.880 Republican Senator
00:42:45.240 Albert Cummins
00:42:46.420 of Iowa
00:42:47.160 told his Senate
00:42:48.440 colleagues,
00:42:49.200 quote,
00:42:49.980 the influence
00:42:51.020 which has been
00:42:51.660 exerted by the
00:42:52.540 president upon
00:42:53.420 members of Congress,
00:42:54.740 an influence
00:42:56.120 so persistent
00:42:57.180 and determined
00:42:58.340 that it became
00:42:59.460 coercive,
00:43:00.600 is known to
00:43:01.400 every intelligent
00:43:02.460 citizen of the
00:43:03.420 United States.
00:43:05.000 It ought to
00:43:05.680 humiliate us all 0.51
00:43:06.980 somewhat
00:43:07.540 when we'd look
00:43:08.680 around and find
00:43:09.820 that the people
00:43:10.640 generally not only
00:43:12.040 understand the
00:43:13.040 surrender of our
00:43:13.880 rights and privileges,
00:43:15.280 but observe it
00:43:16.280 with a certain
00:43:16.960 degree of satisfaction.
00:43:19.900 Besides dominating
00:43:21.220 Congress,
00:43:22.020 Wilson also signed
00:43:23.340 over 1,800
00:43:25.040 executive orders.
00:43:27.420 That's the second
00:43:28.260 most of any
00:43:29.220 president of all
00:43:30.300 time,
00:43:31.180 behind FDR.
00:43:33.200 Remember,
00:43:34.500 Wilson had two
00:43:35.340 terms,
00:43:36.280 FDR had four.
00:43:38.720 This was the
00:43:40.200 expert at work.
00:43:42.100 This was scientific
00:43:43.200 management at work.
00:43:45.060 After all,
00:43:45.860 he was a doctor,
00:43:47.360 and doctors
00:43:48.220 know best.
00:43:49.020 Here's how
00:43:56.840 Princeton historian
00:43:57.860 Thomas Leonard
00:43:58.740 summed up
00:43:59.420 Wilson's radical
00:44:00.460 first term in
00:44:01.360 office.
00:44:01.940 Quote,
00:44:02.180 By March
00:44:03.440 1917,
00:44:05.180 the fourth branch
00:44:06.140 of government
00:44:06.700 was established.
00:44:07.940 Fourth branch
00:44:08.820 describes the
00:44:09.860 independent government
00:44:10.880 agencies,
00:44:12.300 staffed and
00:44:13.000 advised by experts,
00:44:15.240 which,
00:44:15.700 though nominally
00:44:16.500 inside the
00:44:17.460 executive branch,
00:44:18.420 were chartered
00:44:19.760 specifically to be
00:44:21.380 free of political
00:44:22.660 influence,
00:44:23.660 employing a
00:44:24.580 permanent civil
00:44:25.740 service rather
00:44:27.140 than political
00:44:28.160 appointees.
00:44:29.620 These experts
00:44:30.820 represented
00:44:31.820 themselves as
00:44:33.020 objective scientists
00:44:34.780 above the
00:44:35.840 political fray,
00:44:37.360 administering
00:44:38.160 progress for the
00:44:39.380 good of all.
00:44:40.660 How's that
00:44:41.280 working out for us?
00:44:42.120 This was the
00:44:43.820 birth of what
00:44:44.580 many conservatives
00:44:45.400 mean when they
00:44:46.200 refer to the
00:44:47.160 deep state,
00:44:48.560 a vast bureaucracy
00:44:49.600 of unelected
00:44:50.860 experts creating
00:44:51.840 policies that
00:44:53.220 have the force
00:44:54.040 of law because
00:44:55.000 they're under
00:44:55.460 the executive
00:44:56.180 branch.
00:44:57.320 To Wilson and
00:44:58.160 Brandeis,
00:44:58.900 consolidating power
00:45:00.000 under the
00:45:00.680 executive was the
00:45:02.160 natural evolution
00:45:03.160 required for
00:45:04.440 efficiency.
00:45:05.580 To them,
00:45:06.460 the Constitution's
00:45:07.460 separation of powers
00:45:08.660 was for a bygone
00:45:10.500 era.
00:45:11.540 True progress
00:45:12.420 required more
00:45:13.460 concentrated power.
00:45:16.020 Near the end of
00:45:16.740 Wilson's first term,
00:45:17.820 he rewarded
00:45:18.580 Brandeis for all of
00:45:19.780 his transformative
00:45:20.580 work with the
00:45:21.480 Supreme Court
00:45:22.100 nomination.
00:45:23.540 The only senator
00:45:24.620 consulted before
00:45:25.840 Wilson announced
00:45:26.900 his nominee
00:45:27.580 was who else?
00:45:29.300 Robert LaFollette.
00:45:31.560 Wilson needed to
00:45:32.340 know he could
00:45:33.040 count on progressive
00:45:34.080 Republican votes
00:45:35.000 to confirm
00:45:35.760 Brandeis.
00:45:37.300 Fighting Bob
00:45:38.260 assured him,
00:45:39.400 oh yes,
00:45:40.260 you'll have the
00:45:40.820 votes.
00:45:42.200 Not everyone was
00:45:43.360 so enthusiastic
00:45:44.300 about Brandeis'
00:45:45.480 nomination.
00:45:46.800 However,
00:45:47.380 former President
00:45:48.100 Taft pulled
00:45:49.160 zero punches,
00:45:50.820 saying that
00:45:51.280 Brandeis was,
00:45:52.320 quote,
00:45:53.720 a muckraker,
00:45:55.380 an emotionalist
00:45:56.420 for his own
00:45:57.160 purposes,
00:45:58.180 a socialist
00:45:58.860 prompted by
00:45:59.880 jealousy,
00:46:00.840 a hypocrite, 0.76
00:46:02.080 a man of
00:46:02.820 infinite cunning,
00:46:03.760 of great tenacity
00:46:05.300 of purpose,
00:46:06.380 and in my
00:46:07.320 judgment,
00:46:08.120 of much power
00:46:09.080 for evil.
00:46:10.760 This nomination
00:46:11.780 is one of the
00:46:12.880 deepest wounds
00:46:13.560 that I have ever
00:46:14.300 had as an
00:46:14.960 American and a
00:46:16.060 lover of the
00:46:16.660 Constitution.
00:46:20.460 In the end,
00:46:21.820 LaFollette voted
00:46:23.140 yes,
00:46:24.360 even though he
00:46:25.260 only got two
00:46:26.200 other progressive
00:46:26.920 Republicans to
00:46:27.940 join him.
00:46:29.400 Louis Brandeis
00:46:30.380 was on the
00:46:31.280 highest court
00:46:31.960 in the land.
00:46:32.720 now he could
00:46:34.680 really give
00:46:35.440 the living
00:46:36.180 Constitution,
00:46:37.980 a run
00:46:38.540 that would
00:46:39.360 long outlast
00:46:40.540 him.
00:46:41.740 Now,
00:46:42.320 progressives had
00:46:43.100 hardcore disciples
00:46:44.440 of the gospel
00:46:45.720 of expertise
00:46:46.980 in key leadership
00:46:48.600 roles in all
00:46:50.180 three branches
00:46:50.920 of government.
00:46:52.700 Progressive dreams
00:46:53.760 were coming true,
00:46:55.420 and yet,
00:46:56.200 there was still
00:46:57.220 so much
00:46:58.280 to be done.
00:46:58.900 The experts
00:47:03.820 in our society
00:47:04.640 helped bring
00:47:05.380 about some
00:47:06.000 of the modern
00:47:06.880 miracles we've
00:47:07.940 experienced in
00:47:08.840 technology,
00:47:09.640 no doubt.
00:47:10.500 But they've also
00:47:11.340 helped usher in
00:47:12.500 modern horrors.
00:47:14.420 At the dawn of
00:47:15.040 the 20th century,
00:47:15.900 as mankind was
00:47:16.760 raising its
00:47:17.460 hackles and
00:47:18.140 nations were
00:47:18.900 slowly preparing
00:47:19.960 to go to war
00:47:20.640 with each other
00:47:21.300 in what would
00:47:22.040 be the bloodiest
00:47:23.000 war in history,
00:47:24.360 until its sequel,
00:47:26.280 while all of that
00:47:27.120 was going on,
00:47:28.000 the experts
00:47:28.940 in the medical
00:47:29.920 field,
00:47:31.060 they were
00:47:31.920 raising their
00:47:33.140 ugly heads
00:47:33.960 as well.
00:47:35.120 They were the
00:47:35.840 experts,
00:47:36.720 the doctors
00:47:37.400 that you could
00:47:38.000 trust,
00:47:39.040 and they were
00:47:39.820 promoting
00:47:40.360 eugenics,
00:47:42.080 the systematic
00:47:42.880 weeding out
00:47:43.700 of undesirable
00:47:45.060 human beings,
00:47:46.360 because their
00:47:47.100 lives and their
00:47:47.760 rights weren't
00:47:48.340 that important,
00:47:49.260 because they
00:47:49.840 stood in the
00:47:50.420 way of progress.
00:47:52.220 They didn't
00:47:52.600 have a life
00:47:53.320 that's worth
00:47:54.180 living.
00:47:55.300 Our experts
00:47:56.280 today,
00:47:57.400 Yuval Harari
00:47:58.200 is one of
00:47:58.680 them,
00:47:58.880 says by 2030
00:48:00.000 there will
00:48:00.400 be millions
00:48:01.060 of useless
00:48:02.100 people.
00:48:03.880 Maybe we
00:48:04.520 should learn
00:48:04.980 from the
00:48:05.500 past.
00:48:06.440 This podcast
00:48:07.420 today is
00:48:08.280 a pilot,
00:48:10.000 and we're
00:48:10.300 watching the
00:48:11.040 metrics to
00:48:11.660 see if you
00:48:12.420 connect with
00:48:12.960 it.
00:48:13.480 If you want
00:48:13.900 more,
00:48:14.500 let us know.
00:48:15.600 But in one
00:48:16.500 of our
00:48:16.760 upcoming episodes,
00:48:17.880 if it indeed
00:48:18.780 goes well,
00:48:20.040 and you like
00:48:20.720 this podcast,
00:48:21.780 we'll be about
00:48:22.740 eugenics and
00:48:24.300 the experts
00:48:25.140 in medicine.
00:48:27.060 Tragically,
00:48:27.700 the brainchild
00:48:28.260 of that
00:48:28.620 historic evil
00:48:29.560 is embedded
00:48:30.180 in our
00:48:30.620 society to
00:48:31.360 this day.
00:48:31.800 It's practiced 0.99
00:48:32.260 every time
00:48:33.140 an expecting
00:48:33.760 mother walks
00:48:34.560 into a clinic
00:48:35.200 and allows
00:48:35.720 a doctor,
00:48:36.460 an expert,
00:48:37.020 to destroy
00:48:38.220 her unborn
00:48:39.040 child.
00:48:40.480 Progress is
00:48:41.920 progress,
00:48:42.760 don't you
00:48:43.220 know?
00:48:44.440 I want to
00:48:45.360 thank one
00:48:45.900 of our
00:48:46.300 partners
00:48:47.040 founding this
00:48:48.260 particular
00:48:48.960 podcast.
00:48:49.840 It's
00:48:49.980 Preborn.
00:48:50.920 They combat
00:48:51.940 this evil
00:48:52.640 every day.
00:48:53.220 Please go
00:48:53.940 to
00:48:54.120 preborn.com
00:48:55.600 and join
00:48:56.540 the battle
00:48:57.080 to fight
00:48:57.820 against
00:48:58.200 these
00:48:58.520 sadistic
00:48:59.340 experts.
00:49:01.160 Save a
00:49:01.700 mother and
00:49:02.160 their child.
00:49:03.140 Do it
00:49:03.300 today,
00:49:03.720 preborn.com.
00:49:10.060 Written on
00:49:10.940 Frederick Taylor's
00:49:11.780 tombstone in
00:49:12.860 Philadelphia are
00:49:13.620 the words,
00:49:14.460 father of
00:49:15.200 scientific
00:49:15.960 management.
00:49:17.300 So much
00:49:18.100 for Taylor's
00:49:18.720 science,
00:49:19.960 because it
00:49:20.400 really wasn't
00:49:21.180 science at
00:49:21.960 all.
00:49:23.320 Taylor's
00:49:23.760 biographer,
00:49:24.740 Robert
00:49:25.060 Canigal,
00:49:26.020 put it like
00:49:26.460 this,
00:49:26.940 quote,
00:49:27.660 his scientific
00:49:28.600 time studies
00:49:29.520 weren't very
00:49:30.320 scientific.
00:49:31.520 He had left
00:49:32.000 a legacy
00:49:32.500 not of
00:49:33.060 harmony,
00:49:34.240 but of
00:49:34.580 turmoil.
00:49:35.920 Yet these
00:49:36.480 elements of
00:49:37.240 the story
00:49:38.220 would,
00:49:38.920 in his
00:49:39.240 telling and
00:49:39.780 retelling,
00:49:40.460 recede into
00:49:41.220 the dark
00:49:41.640 corner of
00:49:42.260 the stage.
00:49:43.540 Meanwhile,
00:49:44.280 bathed in
00:49:44.880 the flood
00:49:45.400 light would
00:49:46.400 be another
00:49:46.780 version,
00:49:47.600 close enough
00:49:48.660 to the events
00:49:49.300 to be true,
00:49:50.260 yet sufficiently
00:49:51.580 rearranged and
00:49:52.680 reconstituted to
00:49:53.800 be seen with
00:49:54.480 equal justice
00:49:55.900 as the product
00:49:57.040 of Taylor's
00:49:57.740 art.
00:49:59.960 All of this
00:50:01.080 would become
00:50:01.620 the stuff of
00:50:02.600 story,
00:50:03.460 myth,
00:50:04.180 and drama.
00:50:05.720 According to
00:50:06.660 historian Jill
00:50:07.460 Lepore,
00:50:08.280 quote,
00:50:09.320 Taylor fudged
00:50:10.120 his data,
00:50:11.060 lied to his
00:50:11.700 clients,
00:50:12.420 and inflated
00:50:13.060 his record
00:50:13.720 of success.
00:50:15.360 An analysis
00:50:16.140 of Taylor's
00:50:16.740 work by two
00:50:17.340 historians in
00:50:18.080 the 1970s
00:50:19.100 concluded,
00:50:20.460 a careful
00:50:20.900 study of
00:50:21.460 Taylor's
00:50:21.820 published
00:50:22.160 accounts of
00:50:22.800 the story
00:50:23.260 about his
00:50:23.740 1899
00:50:24.620 pig iron
00:50:25.360 study,
00:50:26.160 his biography,
00:50:27.460 his papers,
00:50:28.340 all revealed
00:50:29.320 Taylor's story
00:50:30.220 to be more
00:50:31.040 fiction than
00:50:32.020 fact.
00:50:33.800 Yet,
00:50:34.660 none of that
00:50:35.380 mattered to
00:50:36.020 progressive leaders
00:50:36.860 because Taylor's
00:50:38.380 art helped
00:50:39.500 legitimize their
00:50:40.660 cult of
00:50:41.280 expertise.
00:50:42.880 Harvard was
00:50:43.560 finally convinced
00:50:44.840 to open its
00:50:45.820 business school
00:50:46.560 by a man
00:50:47.300 who wanted
00:50:48.040 to model
00:50:48.640 it on
00:50:49.200 Taylor's
00:50:49.700 scientific
00:50:50.200 management.
00:50:51.860 Taylor delivered
00:50:52.480 a lecture
00:50:53.020 series there
00:50:53.900 every year
00:50:54.540 until his
00:50:55.100 death.
00:50:56.280 Many other
00:50:56.720 universities
00:50:57.280 soon followed
00:50:58.040 suit.
00:50:59.120 Elite
00:50:59.400 universities
00:51:00.000 would become
00:51:00.640 America's
00:51:01.360 factories that
00:51:02.760 churned out
00:51:03.540 experts to
00:51:04.680 run everything.
00:51:07.120 Oh,
00:51:07.300 and do you
00:51:07.660 remember Frank
00:51:08.280 Gilbreth,
00:51:09.300 the cheaper
00:51:10.160 by the dozen
00:51:10.780 dad?
00:51:11.120 he helped
00:51:12.580 start the
00:51:13.060 Society for
00:51:13.820 the Promotion
00:51:14.540 of the
00:51:15.520 Science of
00:51:16.260 Management,
00:51:17.280 which was
00:51:18.120 later renamed
00:51:19.120 the Taylor
00:51:20.280 Society.
00:51:21.620 During the
00:51:22.380 1920s,
00:51:23.280 the Taylor
00:51:23.780 Society was 0.91
00:51:24.960 an incubator
00:51:25.880 for future
00:51:26.760 new dealers
00:51:27.660 and members
00:51:28.440 of FDR's
00:51:29.380 so-called
00:51:29.960 brain trust.
00:51:34.420 In the
00:51:35.380 introduction to
00:51:36.280 The Principles
00:51:37.300 of Scientific
00:51:38.080 Management,
00:51:39.060 Taylor said,
00:51:39.960 quote,
00:51:40.240 But what
00:51:48.160 happens when
00:51:48.980 you carry that
00:51:49.660 system too
00:51:50.600 far?
00:51:52.100 Mussolini was
00:51:52.860 a devoted man
00:51:53.760 of scientific
00:51:54.600 management,
00:51:55.600 but so was
00:51:56.360 Lenin, who
00:51:56.940 read Taylor's
00:51:57.860 books,
00:51:58.660 created a
00:51:59.340 Soviet Council
00:52:00.240 for Scientific
00:52:01.200 Management,
00:52:02.080 and insisted
00:52:02.800 that the
00:52:03.320 Taylor system
00:52:04.040 be taught
00:52:04.720 and incorporated
00:52:05.520 across Russian
00:52:07.020 territory.
00:52:08.740 And what
00:52:09.600 happens when
00:52:10.200 the scientific
00:52:10.780 management system
00:52:11.780 is supreme and
00:52:13.300 it merges with
00:52:14.100 technology and
00:52:15.140 artificial intelligence.
00:52:17.540 All you would
00:52:18.400 have to do is
00:52:19.340 watch what's
00:52:20.160 unfolding in
00:52:21.340 real time in
00:52:22.660 China.
00:52:23.560 And a happy,
00:52:25.000 smiley, in this
00:52:26.180 swell version,
00:52:27.500 is right around
00:52:28.300 the corner for
00:52:29.160 Western progressive
00:52:30.040 societies.
00:52:30.860 At the World Economic
00:52:33.960 Forum conference in
00:52:35.240 Davos in 2023,
00:52:37.440 Duke University
00:52:38.200 professor Nita
00:52:39.560 Farhani presented
00:52:41.080 a disturbing
00:52:41.900 seminar on the
00:52:43.180 latest in
00:52:43.800 brainwave technology.
00:52:45.280 After all,
00:52:46.140 what you think,
00:52:47.000 what you feel,
00:52:48.440 it's all just
00:52:49.280 data.
00:52:50.360 Data that in
00:52:51.720 large patterns
00:52:52.900 can be decoded
00:52:54.180 using artificial
00:52:55.440 intelligence.
00:52:55.960 smartphones.
00:52:56.960 We're not
00:52:57.160 talking about
00:52:58.100 implanted devices
00:52:59.320 of the future.
00:53:00.480 I'm talking about
00:53:01.240 wearable devices
00:53:02.320 that are like
00:53:03.320 Fitbits for your
00:53:04.040 brain.
00:53:04.780 Using consumer
00:53:05.800 wearable devices,
00:53:07.540 these are
00:53:08.100 headbands,
00:53:09.540 hats that have
00:53:10.800 sensors that can
00:53:12.040 pick up your
00:53:12.560 brainwave activity,
00:53:13.800 earbuds,
00:53:14.860 headphones,
00:53:15.820 tiny tattoos that
00:53:16.780 you can wear
00:53:17.100 behind your ear.
00:53:18.440 We can pick up
00:53:19.460 emotional states
00:53:20.460 like are you happy
00:53:21.240 or sad or angry.
00:53:22.800 We can pick up
00:53:23.980 and decode faces
00:53:25.660 that you're seeing
00:53:27.140 in your mind.
00:53:28.260 Simple shapes,
00:53:29.520 numbers,
00:53:30.460 your PIN number
00:53:31.360 to your bank
00:53:32.500 account.
00:53:34.940 We're moving
00:53:36.000 beyond scientific
00:53:36.920 management at this
00:53:37.920 point.
00:53:38.880 It's scientific
00:53:39.800 micromanagement.
00:53:42.120 In 1948,
00:53:43.960 C.S. Lewis
00:53:44.820 wrote,
00:53:45.820 Of all tyrannies,
00:53:47.380 a tyranny
00:53:47.960 sincerely exercised
00:53:49.600 for the good
00:53:50.340 of its victims
00:53:51.040 may be the most
00:53:52.360 oppressive.
00:53:53.460 It would be better
00:53:54.480 to live under
00:53:55.460 robber barons
00:53:56.280 than under
00:53:56.900 omnipotent moral
00:53:57.920 busybodies.
00:53:59.560 The robber barons'
00:54:00.680 cruelty may
00:54:01.500 sometimes sleep,
00:54:03.140 but those who
00:54:04.000 torment us for
00:54:04.900 our own good
00:54:05.820 will torment us
00:54:07.320 without end,
00:54:08.360 for they do so
00:54:09.320 with the approval
00:54:10.140 of their own
00:54:10.980 conscience.
00:54:12.880 This kind of
00:54:14.080 expert control
00:54:15.080 continues to be
00:54:16.540 the dividing
00:54:17.240 force of
00:54:18.100 progressives.
00:54:19.280 We see things
00:54:20.340 like the Biden
00:54:20.900 administration
00:54:21.460 telling us what
00:54:22.640 light bulbs were
00:54:23.660 allowed to buy,
00:54:25.120 banning the sale
00:54:26.280 of incandescent
00:54:27.360 bulbs in 2023,
00:54:29.160 and doing it
00:54:30.120 through the
00:54:30.560 Department of
00:54:31.200 Energy,
00:54:32.060 which is under
00:54:32.760 the executive
00:54:33.640 branch.
00:54:34.720 So you have
00:54:35.360 no say in the
00:54:36.240 matter.
00:54:37.060 It's the old
00:54:37.880 progressive
00:54:38.300 obsession with
00:54:39.760 efficiency,
00:54:41.280 only now with
00:54:42.820 the added
00:54:43.280 urgency of
00:54:44.620 climate change.
00:54:45.400 the progressives
00:54:48.220 suffered a
00:54:48.720 backlash after
00:54:49.500 World War I
00:54:50.300 and Woodrow
00:54:50.880 Wilson's second
00:54:51.640 term for
00:54:52.360 reasons we'll
00:54:53.520 explore in
00:54:54.340 another episode
00:54:55.200 later this
00:54:56.080 season.
00:54:57.000 But there's
00:54:57.420 little doubt
00:54:57.960 that Wilson
00:54:58.540 would have kept
00:54:59.240 running for
00:54:59.760 president if his
00:55:00.880 health hadn't
00:55:01.760 failed him.
00:55:02.860 He never fully
00:55:03.680 recovered from the
00:55:04.620 stroke that had 0.79
00:55:05.440 incapacitated him
00:55:06.740 for the last
00:55:07.860 year and a half
00:55:09.040 of his presidency.
00:55:10.000 That didn't
00:55:11.360 stop him from
00:55:12.160 collaborating with
00:55:13.160 Louis Brandeis in
00:55:14.840 1921 on a new
00:55:16.960 progressive manifesto
00:55:18.740 just as he was
00:55:20.360 starting to plot
00:55:21.220 another presidential
00:55:22.820 run.
00:55:24.560 Wilson died later
00:55:25.760 that year and
00:55:27.140 instead, Robert
00:55:28.600 La Follette kept
00:55:30.320 the progressive
00:55:30.960 flame burning,
00:55:33.100 running for
00:55:33.800 president 1924
00:55:35.280 with a coalition
00:55:36.240 of labor unions
00:55:37.420 and socialist
00:55:38.600 groups backing
00:55:39.520 them.
00:55:40.000 Who did he
00:55:41.460 choose as his
00:55:42.640 full-time running
00:55:43.240 mate?
00:55:44.640 Louis Brandeis.
00:55:46.220 But Brandeis
00:55:47.180 declined.
00:55:48.520 He couldn't give
00:55:49.280 up his influential
00:55:50.380 lifetime post on
00:55:52.040 the Supreme Court.
00:55:53.740 In 1922, Supreme
00:55:55.640 Court heard a case
00:55:56.520 involving a female
00:55:57.640 student who was
00:55:59.100 barred from attending
00:56:00.360 public school in
00:56:01.620 San Antonio because
00:56:03.040 her parents refused
00:56:03.940 to get her vaccinated
00:56:04.880 for smallpox as
00:56:06.540 required by her
00:56:08.260 school district.
00:56:08.920 Their lawyers
00:56:10.580 argued that the
00:56:12.060 vaccine requirement
00:56:13.420 denied her equal 0.55
00:56:15.020 protection of the
00:56:15.980 laws under the
00:56:17.320 14th Amendment.
00:56:18.100 But the Supreme
00:56:19.440 Court unanimously
00:56:20.660 ruled against her.
00:56:22.840 And here's what
00:56:23.560 Louis Brandeis wrote
00:56:24.940 in the decision.
00:56:26.940 Quote,
00:56:27.200 Long before this
00:56:29.060 suit was instituted,
00:56:31.300 Jacobson v.
00:56:32.280 Massachusetts had
00:56:33.940 settled that it
00:56:35.440 is within the
00:56:36.680 police power of a
00:56:38.000 state to provide
00:56:39.340 for compulsory
00:56:40.480 vaccination.
00:56:42.220 These ordinances
00:56:43.260 confer not arbitrary
00:56:44.840 power, but only
00:56:46.660 that broad discretion
00:56:48.080 is required for the
00:56:49.380 protection of the
00:56:50.380 public health.
00:56:51.120 In 2020, America
00:56:56.220 met a certain
00:56:56.900 doctor who was a
00:56:58.540 little bit of
00:56:59.420 Frederick Taylor,
00:57:01.140 Louis Brandeis,
00:57:02.680 Woodrow Wilson,
00:57:03.800 and Robert La
00:57:05.400 Follette all rolled
00:57:06.940 into one.
00:57:08.840 As if he had been
00:57:09.900 created in a
00:57:11.120 progressive lab,
00:57:12.220 few people embodied
00:57:13.860 the sheer elitist
00:57:15.380 progressive conviction
00:57:16.940 of their own genius
00:57:18.360 expertise more than
00:57:22.360 Anthony Fauci.
00:57:24.620 How many times was
00:57:26.180 America told what an
00:57:27.680 expert Dr. Fauci
00:57:29.240 really was?
00:57:30.780 He was a doctor who
00:57:31.960 had been in this
00:57:32.660 position for nearly
00:57:33.620 40 years.
00:57:35.320 That kind of
00:57:35.900 expertise could not
00:57:37.540 possibly go wrong.
00:57:39.980 Even when the
00:57:40.920 contradictions piled up,
00:57:42.640 to question the
00:57:43.720 experts, to question
00:57:45.820 the science during a
00:57:47.440 national health
00:57:48.200 crisis, was
00:57:49.400 considered dangerous.
00:57:51.180 It's very dangerous,
00:57:52.660 Chuck, because a lot
00:57:53.560 of what you're seeing
00:57:54.640 as attacks on me,
00:57:56.400 quite frankly, are
00:57:57.340 attacks on science.
00:57:59.440 Because all of the
00:58:00.500 things that I have
00:58:01.160 spoken about consistently
00:58:03.080 from the very
00:58:03.900 beginning have been
00:58:05.300 fundamentally based on
00:58:06.720 science.
00:58:07.880 Sometimes those things
00:58:09.160 were inconvenient
00:58:10.160 truths for people,
00:58:12.220 and there was
00:58:12.720 pushback against me.
00:58:14.500 So if you are
00:58:15.220 trying to, you know,
00:58:16.600 get at me as a
00:58:18.920 public health
00:58:19.460 official and a
00:58:20.220 scientist, you're
00:58:21.440 really attacking not
00:58:22.500 only Dr. Anthony
00:58:23.500 Fauci, you're
00:58:24.320 attacking science.
00:58:27.680 The expert was no
00:58:29.440 longer just using
00:58:30.820 science as a tool.
00:58:33.200 The expert had
00:58:34.720 become the science.
00:58:37.340 We constantly rely on
00:58:39.200 experts to make
00:58:40.140 decisions for us.
00:58:41.020 Because even
00:58:41.920 eyewitnesses and
00:58:43.100 experts can get it
00:58:44.200 wrong.
00:58:44.720 But experts do get
00:58:45.820 things wrong.
00:58:46.640 You have to seek out
00:58:47.580 sources from other
00:58:48.900 points of view, and
00:58:50.440 then critically examine
00:58:51.600 their motivations and
00:58:52.980 credibility as well.