In its first paragraph about Wood Wilson, Wikipedia tells us he was a leading intellectual of the Progressive Era. Our 28th president was once the President of Princeton University and the Governor of New Jersey. He is the only president to hold a PhD although others have doctorates in different academic disciplines. And, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919 when the prize carried more prestige than seems to be the case now.

Sounds impressive to me, especially the PhD part. I have always admired educated people who function well in their surroundings. If you research Mr. Wilson, you will find a long list of his admirable accomplishments just as you would with any of our 44 presidents no matter how dismal the performance and approval rating.

Remember Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Harry Truman and Richard Nixon? Gallup reports each had a final approval rating less than 35% and the only presidents since World War II with negative net approval ratings. Four presidents with performances that few people liked. What would Mr. Wilson’s final rating be if pollsters looked into those things back in the early 1900s? We don’t know but there is at least one reason to believe his rating would not be high by today’s societal expectations.

White supremacy
Mr. Wilson was a white supremacist. However, if he were the president of the Great United States of America today, chances are he would not be a white supremacist; he would, as an intelligent man, unlikely have such beliefs even in secret. He entered the world during the period when African-Americans were, in the minds of many, “niggers” and “darkies” stealing watermelons. As times change, so do people. It’s a safe bet that a Woodrow Wilson living today would be much different than the Woodrow Wilson living a hundred or so years earlier.

Other than the racial issue, there doesn’t seem to be much in his presidency that the majority of the public today will criticize any more than we criticize our current (acting) president. A few will of course because anyone who knows just one person takes criticism from time to time on the way to his or her final resting place.

However, I have one big beef about Mr. Wilson.

The progressive era
Mr. Wilson presided over the United States during part of the period known as the progressive era which is much like liberalism in the United States today. The most negative aspect of his presidency in my mind is his signing into law the Revenue Act of 1913.

From that, we have developed into a country that uses the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to collect taxes on our income to fund the needs of the people. The atrocity is that subsequent legislation allows the government to go far beyond collecting our money for funding our needs - with emphasis on the word needs.

Now, our hard earned money goes to anyone and everyone who the politicians believe need our money more than those of us who actually earned the money. That’s wrong! But, we allow it to happen. We complain but do nothing positive to send a strong and no nonsense message to Washington.

How do we send that message? We do it by hitting the government in the pocketbook. We do it by not paying income tax. We do it by only filing the annual return if we have a refund due. Otherwise, we do not file and we do not pay any amounts due. That is the best taxpayer revolt imaginable.

The government can’t throw us all in jail. It can threaten all kind of legal action but it will defer if enough of us band together. That’s the rub. There are too many of us who won’t band together. Too many of us believe we are subordinate to the government. We aren‘t. Too many of us are cowards.

Instead, we will continue following the suggestion of basketball coach Bobby Knight from a 1988 interview conducted by Connie Chung about handling stress:

I think that if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it.

We’ve seen the government raping of wage earners over the years. Those of us who earn a living feel it and it is not enjoyable. There is no end in sight as our income goes not for our common needs but for the politicians wants.

Woodrow Wilson! When I hear or think of his name, I think of what he started. Sure, if not for him it could have been somebody else. But what would have been doesn’t matter.

It could have been better. We know now a sales tax with everybody paying the same rate is more equitable for working Americans because they can, after purchases, keep the money they earn for themselves. With this approach the able-bodied among us will either get out and support themselves and their families or whine in their misery.

Replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax would help return the country work ethic to what it was a couple of hundred years ago - a time when hard work paid off for the worker. No more sharing the wealth! Those who want to share the wealth can do it on their own and in their communities without fanfare. No tax deduction of course.

Mr. Wilson, a democrat with a democratic majority in the U. S. Congress happily sticking it to us! Sounds familiar doesn’t it.

In my mind Woodrow Wilson will always live in infamy.