Do things ever change?

On the Left Tip has a great post today comparing turn of the 20th century corporate America with turn of the 21st century corporate America. A portion about the political and culture climate of the early 1900s of a book she is reading:

Forging prototypes of the modern corporation, [the robber barons] built the backbone for America's twentieth century almost entirely without government interference or regulation, and with even less regard for individual human lives. The resulting Midas-like riches they hoarded exclusively for members of their own class, and greeted protests they should do otherwise with sneering contempt. By the turn of the century, through the influence of their various "trusts" - i.e., strangleholds - the super-rich controlled virtually every level of the country's financial and political life. All that was about to change.

Inspired by Teddy Roosevelt's presidential activism and led by a crusading younger generation of reformers, during the new century's first decade the growing labor movement mounted a stand against robber baron capitalism. A war for the hearts and minds of the nation's middle class ensued. Newpapers owned by the bosses presented money's side of the argument to a complacent public conditioned to believe what they were told. The Dickensian realities of the sweatshop and slaughterhouse, the mine and mill, wouldn't be given a national voice until the intellectual muckrakers of Greenwich Village found theirs.

And her rewrite:

Forging prototypes of the modern corporatocracy, the Republicans built the backdrop for America's twenty-first century almost entirely without government interference or regulation, and with even less regard for individual human lives. The resulting Midas-like riches they hoarded exclusively for members of their own class, and greeted protests they should do otherwise with sneering contempt and tax cuts for the wealthy. By the turn of the century, through the influence of their various "corporate interests" - i.e., strangleholds - the super-rich controlled virtually every level of the country's financial and political life. All that was about to change.

Inspired by grass-roots activism and led by a crusading younger generation of internet-savvy reformers, during the new century's first six years the growing accountability movement mounted a stand against Republican capitalism. A war for the hearts and minds of the nation's middle class ensued. Newpapers and media outlets owned by the bosses presented, almost exclusively, money and security's side of the argument to a complacent public conditioned to believe what they were told and react fearfully. The Dickensian realities of the state of civil rights and the plight of the working middle class, the mine and factory, wouldn't be given a national voice until the intellectual muckrakers of the blogosphere found theirs.

Teddy Roosevelt was never called a Communist for wanting to reign in corporate greed, exploitation, and corruption, yet this is a common label for liberals. It is slapped on us by people who don't know what communism is (or for that matter, capitalism) and view it as some sort of faceless "enemy."