The secret history of cowboy socialism

The American West may fly the flag of individualism, but it was built on a bedrock of Big Government

A man sits on horseback at the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Oregon, in 1955.
(Image credit: O. A. Fitzgerald/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.