...
Woodrow Wilson signed the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. A few years later he wrote: “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" ...
Jem, though many scholars regard Wilson as one of our best Presidents, being a libertarian, or an old school liberal --as you once correctly categorized me, the only one on ET to get that right, for which I thank you -- I have always regarded Wilson as one of our worst presidents. Not only did Wilson's administration draft the language of the Espionage Act of 1917, but Wilson, himself, wanted censorship of the press. Wilson wanted to make expression of opinion counter to the governments opinion, his opinion, a crime! This was kept out of the Act by one vote! The next year, however, the Act was amended with even stronger censorship provisions. The Amendment became known as the Sedition Act. Thankfully the Sedition Act was later repealed.. but not before Wilson had used it to put one of his political enemies, along with quite a few others, in prison.
This is why I find it ironic that the Woodrow Wilson who said: " ... [our government is] no longer a government of free opinion..." was the same Woodrow Wilson who said, in 1917,
"Authority to exercise censorship over the press....is absolutely necessary to the public safety". (See "Woodrow Wilson" in Wiki)
_________________
N.B. Wilson's Espionage Act is the Act under which both Daniel Ellsberg and Edward Snowden were charged, two people I regard as American Heroes. The Act is still very much with us. The problem with it is that fear of prosecution under the Act quashes exposure of government wrong doing and law breaking. Moynihan thought the law enabled the government to keep far more of its questionable activities a secret then it should be been able to, and thus helped perpetuate bad government behavior.. With careful redrafting the Act could be amended to accomplish what it needs to; yet not be usable as an aid to the covering-up of government errors, wrong doing, and law breaking .