Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1912 — “Idealists.” [ARTICLE]

“Idealists.”

The Democracy of the present hour is being reproached by the “practical” stand-pat Republicans as being “a crowd of idealists." The word “idealist" isn’t new. It has had a familiar place in the arsenal of political word-warfare for more than a century. It was thrown at Washington, at Jefferson, at Lincoln. And in each of these cases it meant the same thing. The man who, in a time when many things are visibly out of joint, decides that justice and honesty in public life are worth all they cost, is an “Idealist.” That is Woodrow Wilson’s position today. This is the fact that has made him the nominee of the Democratic party for president. That is the keynote of the Democratic platform. The Republicans have been busy telling us that things in general are settled forever, that our government, administered as much for the public good as the Paynes and the Dalzells, the Cannons and the Aldriches, the Lodges and the Penroses found convenient, is the best government possible. And the Democracy’s position in view of that is shaped by the deep conviction that certain changes will be worth all it will cost to make them.