Compared to Wilson, they were reactionaries.
Do you know about their actual policies? Taft was very progressive- his administration broke up Standard Oil, and prosecuted more trusts than TR ever did. Taft himself was a conservationist. If you're talking ideology, Wilson was far more conservative (in modern terms) than Taft or TR.
Wilson raised the top rate from 7% to over 70% in just a few years.
TR did not oppose all monopolies, but did want to regulate them. I don't like him either. He and Taft both hated the Constitution.
TR was the first president to side with the workers rather than the bosses when he threatened to have the army occupy the coal mine in question. That doesn't look like much these days, but don't forget that it constituted the first act of its kind. Taft may not have been the most innovative president, but he actually conserved more wildlife than TR and busted more trusts. However, whereas TR and Taft didn't oppose monopolies and distinguished between good and bad trusts, Wilson opposed monopolies altogether. You're probably upset about Wilson's income tax, but he also introduced such "Stalinist" measures as child-labor laws, which haven't even been around for a 100 years! Harding ended the progressive era, NOT Wilson!
Poll
