As a general matter, conservatives oppose cancel culture. They will defend to the hilt most historical figures who do not meet modern progressive standards. Washington, Jefferson, and Madison must be saved. But there is one President that conservatives, as well as liberals, are happy to destroy: Woodrow Wilson.
The first footnote of Justice Gorsuch's concurrence in West Virginia v. EPA opens fire on Wilson:
It is vital because the framers believed that a republic—a thing of the people—would be more likely to enact just laws than a regime administered by a ruling class of largely unaccountable "ministers." The Federalist No. 11 (A. Hamilton). From time to time, some have questioned that assessment. [FN1]
[FN1] For example, Woodrow Wilson famously argued that "popular sovereignty" "embarrasse[d]" the Nation because it made it harder to achieve "executive expertness." In Wilson's eyes, the mass of the people were "selfish, ignorant, timid, stubborn, or foolish." He expressed even greater disdain for particular groups, defending "[t]he white men of the South" for "rid[ding] themselves, by fair means or foul, of the intolerable burden of governments sustained by the votes of ignorant [African-Americans]." He likewise denounced immigrants "from the south of Italy and men of the meaner sort out of Hungary and Poland," who possessed "neither skill nor energy nor any initiative of quick intelligence." To Wilson, our Republic "tr[ied] to do too much by vote."
