Guest Essay from Harold Brown
This time on the L-Rev, we have a guest columnist. Making his blogging debut, my Uncle, Mr. Harold Brown.
Last night after some deep thought, I realized that many of the problems of America and the world in the last 100 years have been caused by a conservative approach. The Great Depression was the direct result of no regulations on the stock market or the banking industry. Companies were allowed to run free and the Coolidge Administration turned a blind eye and closed ear to what was happening. Hoover did not help either, but the damage had been done. The Tea Pot Dome scandal of the Harding Administration was another issue that missed government oversight. A few years earlier, President Wilson had the US joining the League of Nations, but a conservative US Senate failed to ratify the treaty, thus the newest and greatest nation being born had no influence on other nations, thus WWII seem to happen.
Looking at examples of government oversight, during the FDR era, prior to WWII, we had people being put back to work in public projects. The CCC, WPA, TVA and other programs funded by the government to build our economy and raise up America and the world. During that era, Social Security was formed, the SEC was implemented, and various banking regulations were put in place to prevent another 1929. The programs worked. Big business may not have liked them, but the American people benefited. After WWII, we had a recession but Truman took measures to ensure it was a short one. After the Korean conflict, President Eisenhower put people to work building our interstate highway system that we now enjoy. It is now in need of repair because of age and neglect to some degree and President Obama plans on stimulus monies on repairing it.
JFK took measures during his short tenure to stimulate the economy and bring America justice. LBJ followed through on JFK’s idea and had added a few of his own. The Civil Rights Act, The Voting Act, Medicare and Medicaid. These were great pieces of legislation that a President from Texas had the vision to see and provide for America. Very few conservatives supported any of LBJ's programs. Only at the last minute, did a few moderate Republicans support the Medicare program for our senior citizens. During the 1980s we had another era of hands-off business, big tax cuts to business and the wealthy, deregulating the savings and loan banks, all under the heading Reaganomics. The result was a stock market crash in 1987, many banking executives landing in jail for fraud, and stock market executives landing in jail for fraud. Deregulation help big business and wealthy Americans make money, but the average American loses in the process. The business took the money and ran and the same with the wealthy. But the seniors had only four COLAs in eight years averaging less than 2%. Health care insurance rose dramatically and so did the cost of living. We had another housing crash in 1988 and bank foreclosures on the rise. We cut taxes!
During the 1990s, President Clinton changed many previous practices, placed tax increases on big business and wealthy Americans, and the American economy responded by having the largest growth in jobs, good paying jobs, and the standard of living rose for Americans. His wife, now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, envisioned the need for health care reform. Her ideas were good but she ran head long into opposition from the conservative movement, insurance companies, and the health care industry. Granted, her program was complicated, but as President Clinton published years later, when people had a chance to review a variety of health programs around, the Clinton program was acclaimed the best. President Clinton balanced the books and left office with a surplus in the bank, no wars waged, only police actions of surveillance in the Middle East and Balkans. Very few American lives lost in the Balkan issues. In 2000, we entered a new century with a President who dodged Vietnam by running to Alabama to hide, who allowed the Twin Towers to be attacked because he was too busy cutting trees in Texas to read the intelligence reports, and a Vice President who wanted to get us into a war in Iraq for no good reason. Bush took what money Clinton saved and squandered it, but taxes to big business and wealthy Americans were slashed, and our economy started on a downward spiral. The economy for all practical purposes collapsed in 2007, but we did not see it. Bush implemented a drug program for seniors on Medicare with no way to pay for it. Furthermore, he did not allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Drug prices are negotiated for the VA and Federal Employees but not for seniors. What a shame! The banking industry and stock markets collapsed in 2008 because no one in Washington was watching the store. The American people are now paying the price for the incompetent Bush Administration, run by conservatives who served the will of a few and neglected the many. By the way, health care insurance went out of sight for many Americans and they had to do without or accept lower services.
Now, we have President Obama who has inherited this mess. He has passed a stimulus legislation to return American economy to greatness with no conservative legislative help. He is attempting to restore a broken health care system to respectability, with no conservative help again. President Obama has had more trials going on than should be expected but he is up for the task. Now we have people questioning where he was born, which has been proven, but still is debated by right wing conservatives who want to distract the American people from the real issues at hand. The President should seek a universal health care system similar to Canada for Americans. The people who have insurance now should be able to keep it if they like. There is a way to pay for this program: by having an intelligently run system, similar to the VA, which I use, Cleveland Clinic, and the Mayo Clinic. These organizations provide quality affordable health care, and the doctor-patient relationship is maintained without the government involved. That is amazing.
The stimulus program is working slowly, but working much to the dismay of conservatives. The “Cash for Clunkers” worked so well that GM and Ford have hired back over 3 thousand workers and the related industries to supply the auto industry have hired workers back. A pretty good program from the Obama Administration, but the conservatives said it would not work but now are silent as a mouse on Christmas morning. The Conservatives are the right wing of the Republican Party.
The Party of NO.
History repeats itself when we allow it. WE HAVE ALLOWED IT! Wake up America and smell the coffee! President Obama has visions for clean energy but China is beating us to the punch.(NY Times 8/25/2009). The best of America came from PROGRESSIVE ideas and actions.
We need that now.
Harold
