Monday, January 31, 2005
Ending our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity
Daniel Gross is easily the best regular columnist on Slate.com, and he outdoes himself with this history of Republican frustration with the wild success of New Deal policies.
Gross's thesis is that Republicans have never gotten over the fact that FDR was right: that regulation, taxation, and government programs could save capitalism from itself, give it a conscience, and simultaneously usher in a new age of growth, prosperity, opportunity, and equality, and save the world from Communism and fascism. Instead, Republicans blindly assume things must be worse than they would be under unfettered capitalism---and refuse to even listen to contrary evidence. Gross says Republicans are scheming to demolish Social Security not because of any of the official reasons they give, but because they want to stick it to FDR. If they have to end our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity in the process, so be it.
I wouldn't be surprised if this sort of self-schadenfraude motivated the Grover Norquists of the world. But I think the muscle is coming from politicos, not intellectuals, who see the chance to carry out the greatest heist in history...
I love one point Gross makes: who saved the country from Depression and the world from fascism? Who led when the Greatest Generation was soldiering through America's darkest hours? Not the Republicans---they just helped create the catastrophe. No, it was the Democrats who were in charge when it really mattered. Thank God. And let's never let the Republicans forget it.
Gross's thesis is that Republicans have never gotten over the fact that FDR was right: that regulation, taxation, and government programs could save capitalism from itself, give it a conscience, and simultaneously usher in a new age of growth, prosperity, opportunity, and equality, and save the world from Communism and fascism. Instead, Republicans blindly assume things must be worse than they would be under unfettered capitalism---and refuse to even listen to contrary evidence. Gross says Republicans are scheming to demolish Social Security not because of any of the official reasons they give, but because they want to stick it to FDR. If they have to end our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity in the process, so be it.
I wouldn't be surprised if this sort of self-schadenfraude motivated the Grover Norquists of the world. But I think the muscle is coming from politicos, not intellectuals, who see the chance to carry out the greatest heist in history...
I love one point Gross makes: who saved the country from Depression and the world from fascism? Who led when the Greatest Generation was soldiering through America's darkest hours? Not the Republicans---they just helped create the catastrophe. No, it was the Democrats who were in charge when it really mattered. Thank God. And let's never let the Republicans forget it.
