Sunday, January 28, 2007

The New Deal

Just a few thoughts on the New Deal after teaching it to my students. In short it was a sham. Roosevelt somehow managed to maintain high approval ratings while the economy continued to suffer. I believe that he was a great man for keeping up moral but for turning the economy around, well he was a failure. In England and Germany the depression was long gone by the time Roosevelt sent the country into a recession in 37, five years after taking charge and turning out law after law. Hoover cut taxes to give people more money to spend, but Roosevelt raised taxes. Hoover was criticized for not giving veterans bonuses from WWI, but Roosevelt cut veteran pensions and reduced military spending, yet was spared criticism. Thank goodness for Japanese imperialism or we might still be in a depression (ok that is a stretch). Let's not forget what Roosevelt did during that engagement. Putting Japanese Americans in camps? Who else imprisoned his own productive loyal citizens? Oh yeah Hitler and Stalin. At the same time too. I'm not saying Roosevelt is equal in evilness to Hitler or Stalin, just similar at the same time. I am just tired of people celebrating men when there is no reason to celebrate. It turns out that the best presidents are probably their own best advocates. It seems that tooting ones own horn is more important than running the country.

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