FDR Not Sucessful - Are You Serious?

It seems as if the Republican cry for bipartisanship during last years election carried as much weight as Chicken Little’s cry of “the sky is falling”. Since the President Obama’s inauguration Republicans have done whatever possible to make our new President’s job a difficult one. The GOP have now attempted to create a new history for America by saying President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was unsuccessful, and President Obama’s New Deal II will follow suit.

Paul Siegel writes on WatchBlog.com, “Republicans say FDR’s New Deal did not work and Obama’s New Deal will not work either.” Some political pundits are comparing Obama to FDR because they are following a Republican president who left the country in economic turmoil; and both increased the size of government and government spending to pull the nation out of crisis.

Siegel points out that Republicans such as Newt Gingrich, Rudolph Giuliani, Mark Sanford, Jon Kyl, and Mike Pence are getting the idea that the original New Deal failed from a book by Amity Shlaes called The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. As the title suggests, it is a rewrite of history. As Siegel points out, “It presents an extremely biased view.”

The American people must have thought the New Deal was successful; having elected President Roosevelt for four terms. The country prospered for almost 50 years until its opponents began to slowly dismantle many of the social programs that the New Deal established until many had disappeared by the Regan and Bush Sr. administrations.

The New Deal established temporary job relief to those who lost jobs, created the Social Security system and relief for dependent families, helped farmers, regulated industry, and reformed the banking system. Mr. Siegel mentions, “My family lived through the Great Depression in a dilapidated tenement house with no heat. We just barely had enough to eat. My father could not find work. We were wondering how we would get along. Then Roosevelt established the Public Works Administration (PWA) and my father got a job. It wasn't a wonderful job and he did not like it very much - he was part of an army shoveling snow. But it kept our family of 7 - 2 parents, 4 kids and a grandma - a step away from starvation……Don't tell me and the many other poor people who were helped by FDR's programs that FDR's stimulus program did not work.”

President Roosevelt’s New Deal not only changed the economy; it changed the direction and history of the United States. We can only pray that President Obama is as successful. Hopefully, 80 years from now historians will truly be able to compare Barack Obama to the great Franklin Roosevelt; by comparing how they repaired America.

The Coming Civil War - Yeah Right!

I found “Fox News ‘war games’ the Coming Civil War” to be an attention-grabbing piece. The commentary was written by Glen Greenwald, a former constitutional law and civil rights attorney. Mr. Greenwald is also a best selling author having written, “How would a Patriot Act” a critique of the Bush administration's use of executive power, and "A Tragic Legacy" which examines the Bush legacy. His most recent book, "Great American Hypocrites", examines the manipulative electoral tactics used by the GOP and propagated by the establishment press.

Mr. Greenwald does an outstanding job of pointing out some of the hypocrisies of America’s “Grand Old Party” better know as the GOP. It is good reading for those with the ability to think rationally and objectionably about the current political climate. The outcry from the Republican Party is bipartisanship however their actions fall on their on deaf ears.

Greenwald points out that Presidents Clinton and Obama, as well as their administrations have faced onslaught rhetoric from conservatives who claim they intend to fight against liberals and leftist. When President Clinton became president large numbers of white middle-aged men felt they had to defend the country from the liberals and leftists. The ideal logy created the group “Angry White Male”, who took an anti-government stance. Anything stance our last Democrat president as taken; has been attacked by the conservative Republican platform. However, during the past Bush era, especially, the slightest mention of disagreement with the president and American policy would get you marked with the 21st century’s version of the Scarlett Letter – UN patriotic.

An attempt to illustrate the hypocrisy was used in comparing Clinton’s and Bush Jr.’s use of presidential powers. When Bush seized and used limitless and unchecked surveillance activities, detention powers with no insight, secret prisons, and increased federal spending the “Angry White Male” was quiet and no longer angry. Conversely, year’s earlier when former president Bill Clinton obtained warrants to eavesdrop on Americans – America’s liberties were being threatened. When Clinton would deploy U.S. soldiers around the globe – Republicans saw no benefit.

Now the conservative Republican view, in its zealousness, has done the reprehensible as well as irresponsible. Fox News did a show on the potential of a second “civil war” where the military would possibly side with the people and not listen to the government. Since the inauguration of President Obama, there seems to be an increase in anti-government and violent rhetoric from conservative Republicans. The rational and objectionable thinker must now distinguish between the GOP (Good Old Party) and the GOB (Good Old Boys) – or the 21st century segregationists.