Friday, July 11, 2014
What did our fathers fight for?
Today's promo soundbite for a local Brand-R radio talker: "I'm more of a paleo-conservative. I want to restore the America that our fathers and grandfathers fought for."
I'm with him on the need to bring back the original decentralized arrangement. Ideally, I'd prefer to bring back something like the Articles of Confederation, with the feds serving only as common defense and common currency. Practically, I don't see how to get there from here.
But Rick's reference to our fathers and grandfathers is just factually wrong.
First fact: There was only one time when our fathers fought for America, and that was WW2. All wars since then have been fighting against America. Completely unnecessary projects that created pure damage and pure hell on all levels, and dramatically weakened America. All wars before WW2, with the possible exception of 1812, were equally unnecessary and destructive.
Second fact: When our fathers were fighting for America in WW2, what kind of America were they fighting for? They were fighting for FDR. Most of the soldiers had lost jobs and money under the 'paleo' America, and had regained jobs and confidence under WPA and CCC.
Admittedly the contrast was partly inaccurate. Hoover was emphatically not paleo. He tried to apply big-government solutions but didn't make them work, for reasons that still aren't clear. Not enough experimentation, not enough will, simply the wrong man for the time.
Still, the basic fact remains. Our fathers were consciously fighting for a strong federal government, strong enough to punish banks and corporations.
¶ 4:42 AM 
