MAINTENANCE

Just as the ESB has undergone numerous renovations, so has our government. Emancipation, Sufferage, the Sherman Antitrust Act, Prohibition, the New Deal, Social Security, the FBI, the minimum wage, NATO, Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board of Ed, Roe v. Wade, NAFTA, Homeland Security...all major movements/decisions in American history...all initiated as responses to changing national/global circumstances. "Change" is not a foreign concept to our country.

Running on a platform of change, Obama won the 2008 election by a decisive margin. If the voting populace does not like the change enacted, he will be voted out in another two years...not much of a run for a Tyrant.

MAINTENANCE  (Part of an exchange with Adam.)

Just as the ESB has undergone numerous renovations, so has our government. Emancipation, Sufferage, the Sherman Antitrust Act, Prohibition, the New Deal, Social Security, the FBI, the minimum wage, NATO, Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board of Ed, Roe v. Wade, NAFTA, Homeland Security...all major movements/decisions in American history...all initiated as responses to changing national/global circumstances. "Change" is not a foreign concept to our country.

Running on a platform of change, Obama won the 2008 election by a decisive margin. If the voting populace does not like the change enacted, he will be voted out in another two years...not much of a run for a Tyrant.

Ah, something we can agree on! Yes, everything needs to be 'maintained'. But, how does one define "maintenance"? You've given me a long list of programs that, I assume, you are calling 'maintenance' and, though I lay no claim to being an historian, I am moved to comment on two of the programs on your list.    

As for, The New Deal: I was too young and ignorant to know what was going on when I lived through it but I have read about it. It seems to me, now, that The New Deal was a disaster. It was a disaster, that is, if its purpose was to right the ship of state and get us back on track to prosperity. Then again, it was a success if its real purpose was to ensnare more and more people into dependency on government. If that latter was its real purpose, then it was a smashing success, a huge leap forward in the Left's never ending grind toward Socialism.

In most cases, The New Deal did little to solve any real problems and much to create new and bigger ones. Instead of lessoning the pain of a 'bad time', it prolonged that pain and made it much worse; creating what we now call The Great  Depression. (By the way, I loved the book you sent me: "The Worst Hard Time". I never would have read it had you not sent it and it's a fascinating glimpse of the time we're talking about. It didn't surprise me at all to find out that the government was responsible for creating the conditions that created the whole Dust Bowl disaster.)

It's my guess that, without the Second World War, Roosevelt would have gone down in history as an unimportant and forgettable president. Fortunately, for us, he turned out to be a pretty good war-time president. Not all bad.   

As for Social Security: I don't believe any program that needs a lie, to give it birth, should be considered anything but a problem. At the very same time Roosevelt was lying to the American people about Social Security, calling it "insurance", his lawyers were lying to the Supreme Court, claiming it was a "tax". Rather than go further about SS, I recommend you read chapter 7 of the Levin book, "Liberty and Tyranny". He states the facts far better than I can.  

Got to go watch golf. Maybe more later.

 

PS, I loved "Last Night in Twisted River", too. Something about how it ended didn't satisfy, totally, but it was a good read, as Irving always is. I read about 2/3 of Ted Kennedy's autobiography but gave up on it after he made himself sound like a choirboy during the Mary Jo episode. I was older and a little less ignorant when I lived through that fiasco. I didn't expect him to trash himself but, after reading what he writ about that incident, I realized that I need not go any further. I would like to read a Ted Kennedy bio by a good historian, however.             

 

(Part of an email exchange with Adam.)

Just as the ESB has undergone numerous renovations, so has our government. Emancipation, Sufferage, the Sherman Antitrust Act, Prohibition, the New Deal, Social Security, the FBI, the minimum wage, NATO, Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board of Ed, Roe v. Wade, NAFTA, Homeland Security...all major movements/decisions in American history...all initiated as responses to changing national/global circumstances. "Change" is not a foreign concept to our country.

Running on a platform of change, Obama won the 2008 election by a decisive margin. If the voting populace does not like the change enacted, he will be voted out in another two years...not much of a run for a Tyrant.

Ah, something we can agree on! Yes, everything needs to be 'maintained'. But how does one define "maintenance"? You've given me a long list of programs that, I assume, you are calling 'maintenance' and, though I lay no claim to being an historian, I am moved to comment on two of the programs on your list.    

As for, The New Deal: I was too young and ignorant to know what was going on when I lived through it but I have read about it. It seems to me, now, that The New Deal was a disaster. It was a disaster, that is, if its purpose was to right the ship of state and get us back on track to prosperity. Then again, it was a success if its real purpose was to ensnare more and more people into dependency on government. If the latter was its real purpose, then it was a smashing success, a huge leap forward in the Left's never ending grind toward Socialism.

In most cases, The New Deal did little to solve any real problems and much to create new and larger ones. Instead of lessoning the pain of a 'bad time', it prolonged that pain and made it much worse; creating what we now call The Great Depression. (By the way, I loved the book you sent me: "The Worst Hard Time". I never would have read it, had you not sent it, and it's a fascinating glimpse of the time we're talking about. It didn't surprise me at all to find out that the government was responsible for creating the conditions that created the whole Dust Bowl disaster. What a great example of The Law Of Unintended Consequences.)

It's my guess that without the Second World War, Roosevelt would have gone down in history as an unimportant and forgettable president. Fortunately, he turned out to be a pretty good war-time president. Not all bad.   

As for Social Security: I don't believe a government program should be considered anything other than huge problems when its birth is based on a lie. At the very same time Roosevelt was lying to the American people about Social Security, calling it "insurance", his lawyers were lying to the Supreme Court, claiming that it was a "tax". Rather than go any further about SS, I recommend that you read chapter 7 of Mark Levin's book, "Liberty and Tyranny". He states the facts far better than I can.
  
Got to go watch golf. Maybe more later.

Pop

PS,  I, too, loved "Last Night in Twisted River". Something about how it ended didn't satisfy, totally, but it was a good read, as Irving always is. I read about 2/3 of Ted Kennedy's autobiography but gave up on it after he made himself sound like a choirboy during the Mary Jo episode. After all, I was a good deal older and a little less ignorant at the time of that fiasco. I didn't expect him to trash himself but when I read what he writ about that incident I realized that I need not go any further. I would like to read a Ted Kennedy bio by a good historian, however.