Book : The Forgotten Man
Posted on June 1, 2007
Filed Under Public Policy |
Over at TCS is this lengthy review of an interesting new book on the Great Depression of the 1930′s. If you are into history, as am I, then this will be a worthy read but I would encourage you to read this book with the context of current affairs in mind.
The country, he [Roosevelt] believed, had grown too fast: "beyond our natural and normal growth." The problem was that there had been "an era of selfishness." There existed "throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the last years." These people "look to us for guidance and for more equitable distribution of national wealth." This language sounded new–it was that of the pilgrims and the progressives. Roosevelt also assigned blame to Hoover for the inflation that they both wrongly believed was doing the damage…
This vision was a darker one than had prevailed in the 1920s. Where Americans…had believed in a future of plenty, Roosevelt believed in a future of scarcity.
While we are certainly not at risk another depression, I do think there is a struggle that will play out in the 2008 presidential election that mirrors many of the campaign rhetoric of 1932. On top of that is an ideological world struggle that has emerged in recent years between capitalist economies and newly minted socialists who don’t see the failure of socialism in Europe and the former Soviet Union as a failure of socialism at all.
Anti-business academics and free market champions haven’t stopped feuding and with the certain failure of entitlement programs like Social Security, absent of structural reform, looming on the horizon, we will all be living with the consequences of these battles. Ironically, Roosevelt’s New Deal policies are central to the coming debate that will be had, if for no other reason than the ideological principles they were formed around.
Roosevelt turned to his populist advisers for campaign rhetoric and for tax proposals that would punish wealthy individuals and large corporations. But most of the New Deal, including the alphabet-soup agencies like the NRA and the TVA, reflected the influence of the collectivist-planners.
The next election should not be about global warming or health care but about a far more fundamental issue, Federalism and free markets. Of course it won’t because those two topics are a certain loser in terms of firebrand stump speeches.
The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression
Comments
-
About
My name is Jeff Nolan and I write Venture Chronicles. I am the VP of Product Marketing for Get Satisfaction and I write about a range of topics that interest me, including public policy, technology, entrepreneurship, finance, and global issues.
-
Links
-
Feeds
