he two old parties the tragedy of our history is
continued; and one great geographical part of the Republic is separated
from other parts of the Republic by an illogical partisan solidarity.

The South has men and women as genuinely progressive and others as
genuinely reactionary as those in other parts of our country. Yet, for
well-known reasons, these sincere and honest southern progressives and
reactionaries vote together in a single party, which is neither
progressive nor reactionary. They vote a dead tradition and a local
fear, not a living conviction and a national faith. They vote not for
the Democratic party, but against the Republican party. They want to be
free from this condition; they can be free from it through the National
Progressive party.

For the problems which America faces to-day are economic and national.
They have to do with a more just distribution of prosperity. They
concern the living of the people; and therefore the more direct
government of the people by themselves.

They affect the South exactly as they affect the North, the East or the
West. It is an artificial and dangerous condition that prevents the
southern man and woman from acting with the northern man and woman who
believe the same thing. Yet just that is what the old parties do
prevent.

Not only does this out-of-date partisanship cut our Nation into two
geographical sections; it also robs the Nation of a priceless asset of
thought in working out our national destiny. The South once was famous
for brilliant and constructive thinking on national problems, and to-day
the South has minds as brilliant and constructive as of old. But
southern intellect cannot freely and fully aid, in terms of politics,
the solving of the Nation's problems. This is so because of a partisan
sectionalism which has nothing to do with those problems. Yet these
problems can be solved only in terms of politics.

The root of the wrongs which hurt the people is the fact that the
people's government has been taken away from them--the invisible
government has usurped the people's government. Their government must be
given back to the people. And so the first purpose of the Progressive
party is to make sure the rule of the people. The rule of the people
means that the people themselves shall nominate, as well as elect, all
candidates for office, including Senators and Presidents of the United
States. What profiteth it the people if they do only the electing whil