I got to thinking today that, for all intents and purposes, today's GOP is still fighting the policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It makes me wonder, if WWII had not occurred, might they have stopped him via politics or assassination and brought us to an oligarchy back in the late 30's?
Remember- a group of wealthy men conspired to take over the country in 1934. They made the mistake of assuming General Smedley Butler, USMC, would lead the troops in a coup. He declined and he went public with their plot. There was an investigation but the conclusion was that it had been a lot of loose talk which probably means that, there just wasn't enough evidence to go to trial or take these guys out back to shoot...because they didn't get that far. Butler was a two-time Medal Of Honor recipient and the sort of military man who, respected by all the others in the ranks, probably could have pulled off a coup. This was at a time when the country was deep into The Great Depression. The Mr. Potter's of the day were opportunists and very fearful of the Tom Joad's of the day. Communism frightened them. Along comes President FDR and his calm, social programs to deal with the economic despair and you can see why the old men Potter's were pissed. They were poised to take over. FDR stood in their way.
This country didn't truly achieve "greatness" until after WWII. We saved the world. I wonder though, if WWII had not transpired, would the world have saved us? Would the world have survived us?
We had a great run here post WWII up until the late 70's or so. Let's face it- the Leave It To Beaver era (my childhood) was what defined us as we want to be defined today. It's what the republicans say they want back, when you get them to waxing about "...the good ol' days..." Except that you are thinking of neat suburban lawns and kids on bikes with baseball cards in the spokes, pedaling off to play baseball and they are only thinking of the absence of blacks. The republicans, the ones in charge at least, know that America can't go back to that time- not even get close- with anyone they currently have on their roster. How ironic that our last great, republican president, Dwight Eisenhower presided over that period of a 90% tax rate on our nation's wealthiest and all that strong, union saturated prosperity, and Ike wouldn't get the time of day from the GOP of today.
You see, capitalism as we know it to have been, was only a success when it was blended with socialism. We took care of business and business took care of us. The American Dream was actually pretty much open to anyone, more or less. They took away the more and it's less now. Capitalism only worked because of the inclusion of social programs. The world has always been sodomizing poor people but never like capitalism as practiced in a republic. We're so...civilized about it now. We can legislate it and make a lot of people think it's a good idea and that it was really their idea, all along. Some even think it's what Jesus would do. Not what he would have done- what he would do. Big difference.
In 1955 the minimum wage was 75 cents an hour. Seemingly not a lot but, it was enough to live on. In 1956 it went to $1 and I am pretty sure republicans screamed unholy Hell and that it would destroy the country. I know this because they have screamed the same thing every time it came up in the 60 years since and, come to think of it, since the inception of the minimum in 1938. In 77 years the wage has risen from 25 cents to $7.25. Compare that to the price of anything and, if you have active brain cells, you know it hasn't kept pace. Yet republicans not only balk at raising it at all, they want to eliminate it. Forget "The Fight For $15", they don't think the nation can afford $7.25. I guess that 25 cents an hour looks good- if that's what the free market dictates, that is. It was good enough for your grandfather- even though it was "too much" then...
I don't know that I can say that the greed is unprecedented. Certainly it's never been done on this scale before. I think we are poised to be a 3rd world country. What else could the elimination of a minimum wage and social services bring? The GOP is telling us that we can't afford to be America anymore. They are also offering less and telling us, it will somehow lead to more? The only thing cheap these days seems to people talk. But, having said that, the paid windbags in Washington and on TV are costing most of us all that we ever dreamed.
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