Before reading The Forgotten Man, which outlines the major events and personalities surrounding the Great Depression, I had no idea how pervasive, sweeping, and all-encompassing (is that emphatic enough?) were the changes brought about by FDR's New Deal.
Author, Amity Shlaes, presents Roosevelt as a man willing to do most anything to manipulate economic recovery, even if it required constant vascillation in his positions and even when it meant subjecting millions to his social experimentation! Apparently, his charming disposition and ability to establish a sense of rapport with his peers as well as with "The People," propelled him into a very powerful situation. He added power upon power by circumventing the normal processes and extending the Executive hand.
The proliferation of governmental departments, employees, programs, personal and corporate taxes, and litigation can be traced to this time, as can government's invasive intrusion into labor, commerce, big business, class warfare, and wealth redistribution. I was wrong in my previous assumption that all this social engineering we experience today came about over the course of many, many decades, when, in reality, it is nearly all a continuation of the leaps taken by Roosevelt and his men.
One striking example of government's exponential growth: in a 12-month period, a single (newly-created) department - the National Recovery Administration - created 10,000 pages of new law. That represented more than a 300% increase over ALL accumulated federal legislative output SINCE 1789!!! Fewer than 2800 pages of federal statutes existed prior to 1934!
Many of FDR's proposals came to fruition through a combination of political expediency, a perceived need to address the "emergency" created by The Depression, and the prevailing zeitgeist of the day, which was an ideological love affair with the Communist "Ideal."
Unfortunately, emergency measures, once allotted, tend to become permanent institutions which we pay for in perpetuity and which continue to expand year after year after year. We continue to implement the same philosophies today so that we are "always recovering, but never recovered!"
This was a long, and occasionally tedious read, but I came away enriched in my understanding. Ms. Shlaes is never preachy or negative but remains quite neutral in her presentation of the facts of history. Thanks to my friend, Meha, for making me read it!
6 comments:
Excellent, sounds like a good read. But I would point out that FDR was in the Wilson administration. I think he got a lot of his ideas from him.
According to this book, they were not friends or friendly and Roosevelt made every attempt to separate himself from Wilson and his positions. Ironically, he ended up taking many similar (though more radical) actions.
It's spooky how similarly your descriptions fit the political climate of the "fundamental transformation of America" agenda of the current administration's Obamacare legislation.
That is interesting Lori. Sounds kind of like W. He was elected in 2000 running on a non-interventionist platform that was critical of the conflicts of the Clinton administration. But then look what happened!
Yes to both of you. The ongoing political parallels between then and now are striking.
That Meha is one smart cookie! Glad you enjoyed her recommendation. I think I'll read it after Obama is out of office . . . perhaps in my retirement years. Oh wait, there probably won't be retirement years.
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