The more I think about Republicans the more I realize their goal is to destory (interesting slip) FDR's legacy. Democrats, in my opinion, can capitalize on their assault by reviving FDR's policies and speeches, but by modernizing them.
One interesting thing that FDR did, for instance, was to equate American's economic well-being with security. He felt, essentially, that a man that can't eat is neither free nor safe. A farmer that can't make a living from the sale of his goods is not secure.
After WWII FDR wanted to remake America with an Economic Bill of Rights, and here is what that looked like:
The Economic Bill of Rights
The best expression of this idea that I heard in 2004 was produced by Dennis Kucinich, when he called poverty a weapon of mass destruction. It was also present in his speeches about healthcare-induced poverty.
Here is an interview with Thomas Frank, author of "What's the matter with Kansas?", in which he talks about the Economic Bill of Rights briefly. It is an interesting article in which he also reduces the Democrat's message to two points, security and equality.
I'll have to study up on FDR because I think the past might unlock the future for progressives, and I hope we don't have to wait for the robber barons to collapse the banking system first.
1 comment:
Luke,
You seem to be arguing that FDR was no friend of prosperity, yet he took over an economy in shambles and engineered the greatest job growth in US history.
By progressive consumption tax do you mean a floating sales tax based upon your ability to pay? That seems like it might be more despised than our current system, but I like the notion of tying taxes to purchasing choices since that seems inherently fair (provided life-sustaining purchases, which aren't choices, can be excepted and morality can be kept out of it).
I like your idea to reward saving, since that strikes me as easy to sell and likely to boost investment. The Repulicans would probably promote this as ending the penalty on saving, or abolishing the saver's tax. They might also point out the government is double-dipping when it taxes income and savings.
I don't know what the EITC you refer to is. Is that similar to the European Value Added Tax (VAT)?
Finally, I feel that if you understand FDR then you understand Republicans (who wish to reverse his legacy) and you know when/where to fight them (i.e. "Fix, don't nix" Social Security, reign in "undisiplined greed", and create jobs).
Post a Comment