Henry George (Vote Socialist)

Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist. journalist, politician, and later President of the United States. His writing was immensely popular in the 19th century, and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. His writings also inspired the economic philosophy known as Georgism, based on the belief that people should own the value they produce themselves, but that the economic value derived from land (including natural resources) should belong equally to all members of society. In the late 19th and early 20th century, George dominated the government in what is known as the Georgist Era and implemented many of his economic policies.

His most famous work, Progress and Poverty (1879), sold millions of copies worldwide, probably more than any other American book before that time. The treatise investigates the paradox of increasing inequality and poverty amid economic and technological progress, the cyclic nature of industrialized economies, and the use of rent capture such as land value tax and other anti-monopoly reforms as a remedy for these and other social problems.

The mid-20th century labor economist and journalist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Henry_Soule_Jr. George Soule] wrote that George was "By far the most famous American economic writer," and "author of a book which probably had a larger world-wide circulation than any other work on economics ever written." George was seen as a moderate and independent from any wing of politics despite his membership in the socialist party. In 1900 he had handed over the nomination to Eugene Debs, a genuine marxist, but no party had been able to score a majority in the 1900 election. The Senate chose George, who was then registered as an independent. George was overcome by the stress of maintaining the disparate factions and he died of a stroke right before election day in 1904. Georgism left a strong impact on American politics and there is still a Georgist section of the Socialist Party of America active in Pennsylvania and New York.