The problem, of course, is that eating a lot of junk food has consequences. The act of eating Cheetos may be purely pleasurable, but the feeling you get when you realize you've just eaten an entire bag of cheesy orange puffs is less so.
The goals of the Knights of Labor mirrored the main concerns of workers across the U.S. The union fought for the regulation of working hours, and especially championed the eight-hour day. They addressed the deskilling of labor that rendered workers powerless on the job.
Many intellectuals increasingly challenged the foundations of the social order. Voices of reform thundered over the nation calling for democratic government, better cities, and the curbing of corporate power. This movement, labeled progressivism, found its first national leader in Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt actively pursued many of his goals: labor mediation, consumer protection, conservation, business virtue, and activism abroad. His successor, Taft, continued in Rooseveltâs aims but lacked his political genius.