loaded question

Here is a question that I found on a Virginian, 7th grade, SOL Test. This is the the state's "Standards of Learning" test, that as I recall, all children in public education are required to take every other year.


5. A _______ was a forward-thinking person who wanted to make American society better.
? Procrastinator
? Proponent
? Progressive
? Protagonist

Does anyone find this question a bit loaded? It in essence says that anyone who opposed the Progressives were backward-thinking and wanted to harm American society. The Progressives did some good things, such as the child labor laws, but overall, they caused more harm to our form of government, individual rights, state rights and economy. They are the ones that really forced the notion that the individual, you and me, need to sacrifice for the common good. The legislation of morality of the Temperance Movement brought to you by the Progressives, Income Tax - Progressives, The Federal Reserve - Progressives. I came across the quote below which is attributed to Woodrow Wilson. It doesn't sound like something that a former president would say, but it points out the gross error of the Federal Reserve.

"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men." -Woodrow Wilson, after signing the Federal Reserve into existence

Good old Teddy started it by his "Trust Busting," and punishing successful businesses. Being successful and wealthy is not greedy, but somewhere around this time it became so. Sigh. I am too tired to expound more, but undoubtedly will later.

Here's a link if you want to see the former test online.

http://www.iq.poquoson.org/7socst/progressiveera/7progressiveera06tlm.htm