New Deal

We Are On The Way To The Most Reactionary Right Wing Supreme Court Since The 1930s

Ronald 1 Comment

In the 1930’s, Franklin D. Roosevelt had the most reactionary right wing Supreme Court, working to undermine the New Deal.

This led him to promote the so called “Court Packing Plan” in 1937, to add six new Justices for each one over 70, but the Congress, controlled by his own party, but having a strong Southern conservative contingent, promoted its defeat.

Now, eight decades later, America is on the brink of having the most reactionary right wing Court since then, with the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett by President Donald Trump.

Already, the Supreme Court has four Justices appointed by Presidents who lost the popular vote, and now they will have a majority, if Barrett is approved, which is likely.

And Barrett does not believe in the doctrine of “Stare Decisis”, the legal principle of determining points in litigation based upon earlier precedents.

Instead, she has very strong personally held beliefs, tied to her strong Catholic faith, and her involvement in a religious charismatic Christian group called “People of Praise”, which preaches that the man is the leader of the family over the wife.

This is very concerning, because she seems likely to wish to overturn many precedents and laws that have been upheld, in unison with others on the Court who have right wing views, including Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh.

The reliability of Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch is uncertain, as both, and particularly, Roberts have surprised on some decisions.

So a potential 6-3 Court on many cases could end up 5-4 in favor of the right wing, or possibly 5-4 with the three liberal appointments on the Court, but it seems more likely that the possible so called “best” outcome is at least 5-4 conservative.

So that means the Affordable Care Act, coming up for review in November after the election, could be gutted.

Also in danger are cases involving women’s rights, abortion rights, gay rights, labor rights, religious issues favored by conservatives, voting rights, Presidential authority, environmental laws, consumer laws, and the overall regulatory state promoted since the New Deal of FDR and the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as agencies formed under Richard Nixon and later Presidents through Barack Obama.

So we are involved in a crisis constitutionally which could destroy much of what the federal government has done in the past century of American history, and all brought about by Justices appointed under questionable circumstances by Republicans who do not follow rules except when it favors them, and by Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump, who failed to win the national popular vote, and by Justices who, in the case of Thomas and Kavanaugh had major issues with private behavior with women.

And with Justice Stephen Breyer being 82, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor having issues with her health (diabetes), two of the three liberals on the Court could be replaced if Donald Trump or a future Republican President gains the opportunity!

Horrifying Reality: Tens Of Millions Of Americans Will Go Hungry And Be Homeless In Coming Months!

Ronald Leave a comment

With Congress not moving toward additional assistance in the midst of the CoronaVirus Pandemic, due to the refusal of the Republican Senate to take action, and the resultant collapse of the American economy, the horrifying reality is that tens of millions of Americans will soon go hungry and be homeless!

It is obvious that we are moving into a Second Great Depression, with more than triple the population of America as compared to the 1930s, and it will have massive ramifications.

We will see the poor more harmed than the middle class and the wealthy, and racial minorities and single mothers with children will be the major victims.

Crime will rise, much of it in desperation by hungry, homeless citizens, and at least for the next six months, we will be living in a literal Hell, as we have a President and administration that has no compassion, no empathy, no decency, and is refusing to do anything to assist the needy among us.

Donald Trump is far worse than Herbert Hoover, and the hope has to exist that Joe Biden and his team will be able to come to the rescue, with a new New Deal, of the type that Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated in response to the Great Depression.

To listen to Republicans and conservatives would mean do nothing and have great harm continue, causing suicides, child abuse, health crises never ending, and deaths rising, not only from the CoronaVirus Pandemic, but also from starvation and deprivation.

We have been put into this living Hell by a man so criminal and obscene that he will go down in the annals of history as the most cruel, evil national leader in American history.

It will take years, not months, to overcome the damage that has been done, and will continue to occur until the cancer of Donald Trump is removed, and he is held accountable for his crimes, and transgressions!

Donald Trump Has Finally Gone Too Far: A Sense That Trump Has Endangered Public Health And His Own Presidency’s Ability To Survive

Ronald 55 Comments

Through all of the outrages and obscene words and actions of Donald Trump, even through his impeachment trial, the sense is there that Donald Trump has now endangered public health and his own disgraceful Presidency’s ability to survive.

His acting like a Medical Doctor, and giving his stupid, cult like followers advice on medications and now on ingesting or injecting disinfectant into their bodies has led to some hospitalizations and likely deaths. Others are not understanding that the President is totally unhinged and dangerous, and that they should ignore his ranting and raving in his daily, disgraceful displays of insanity!

Trump is now being given advice to stop participating in the daily updates, and on Friday, he took no questions and ended the press conference within a few minutes.

If he has not lost all credibility now, and if he continues to have a “Jim Jones” type effect on his lunatic followers, then those morons will deserve to die, and at least clean our nation of people who support his racism, nativism, and misogyny. The danger he presents to our domestic progress represented by the New Deal of FDR and the Great Society of LBJ, and to a stable foreign policy in support of our allies in NATO and in East Asia is massive.

And now, he threatens to destroy the Postal Service; stop all immigration when it is an essential part of the American success story and necessary for economic growth; eliminate all environmental laws on the books; and to bomb Iran. The latter is a ploy to gain an image as a wartime President, making it possible for him to be reelected, but he must be prevented from any such action.

The pressure to resign, and let Vice President Mike Pence finish the term, will start to grow to prevent a total destruction of the Republican Party, and the sense that he might finally have reached the point, where the nation’s safety and security is at stake.

Clearly, anyone who still will take the view that Trump should be reelected, as Joe Biden and his potential female running mate have this or that fault or shortcoming, is a sign that such person has severe mental illness, and cannot see what is essential for the nation!

That is the resignation of Donald Trump, far more dangerous now, than Richard Nixon was, when he resigned on August 9, 1974!

Six And A Half Months To Most Crucial Presidential Election Since 1940

Ronald 5 Comments

We are facing this November the fifth most crucial Presidential election in American history.

Every Presidential election matters, of course, and in the midst of each campaign, there are those who will think it is the most important event ever to occur.

But in reality, the number of times that an election has been truly “crucial” is limited to what this author and blogger believes are only a few times.

Those few elections that have been crucial to the extreme would include, chronologically the following:

Election of 1860, a four way race, with the Civil War seen as on the horizon, and Abraham Lincoln winning with only 39.8 percent of the vote, over Stephen Douglas, John C. Breckinridge, and John Bell.

Election of 1864, in which Lincoln defeated former General George McClellan, at a crucial time in the Civil War.

Election of 1932, in which the nation was at its lowest economic point in history, with the failure of Herbert Hoover, and the alternative of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal.

Election of 1940, when America faced the danger of Fascism in the world, but isolationism reigned, and Franklin D. Roosevelt faced a businessman with no government experience, Wendell Willkie, as the world was engaged in World War II.

Now, in 2020, we face a CoronaVirus Pandemic; a collapsed economy worse than any time since the Great Depression; and a crazed, dangerous President who should have been removed from office for abuse of power, and instead is, effectively, taking the nation over the brink of the cliff that it is facing at this time!

So just as Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt came to the rescue, each of them twice, now Joe Biden and his female running mate face the challenge of the greatest crisis in 80 years, and we have to hope he can gather the strength, courage, and decisiveness of Lincoln, FDR, and other great Presidents, including Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama in difficult moments in their Presidencies!

75th Anniversary Of Death Of FDR: A President We Need Desperately Now In 2020 And Into 2021!

Ronald Leave a comment

Today is the 75th Anniversary of the death of the greatest 20th Century President, Franklin D. Roosevelt!

Other than Abraham Lincoln, no President matches the significance and impact of FDR!

Of course, there are naysayers, and as a scholar and author of a book on the New Deal, and having taught about FDR and the New Deal for decades, it is clear that there were faults and shortcomings in the FDR record in both domestic and foreign policy!

But the reality is that FDR came to office at the worst time since the Civil War, and while the Great Depression did not end until World War II, millions were helped by FDR New Deal policies, and he saved the nation from total collapse, as was happening under his predecessor, Herbert Hoover.

A person such as FDR is needed now, at a time when the situation is the worst for America since the Great Depression and World War II!

The question is can Joe Biden be the savior for the next four years, since he will be 78 two weeks after the Presidential Election of 2020.

Many will see Joe Biden as having possible signs of dementia, but this blogger and author has observed and listened to him, and while he has his “moments” of sounding a bit silly or clueless, can anyone really say that Donald Trump sounds less silly or clueless?

In fact, Trump daily seems much more dangerous, as his personality and viewpoints on all issues domestic and foreign, is horrific!

And if one looks back at Lincoln and FDR, Lincoln had definite issues with depression and circulatory issues with his health, and FDR had polio and bouts with poor health in his last few years. And yet, they both led brilliantly under the strains of their times!

Biden has elements of decency, compassion, sincerity, humanity, empathy, and a genuinely kind personality, and he has always been this way. Joe is loved by many because he is real, not a phony. That does not mean everything he has ever said or done is perfect, far from it!

But elections are choices, and Joe is far superior to Donald Trump in personality, but also in experience, knowledge, work ethic, and willingness be considerate in what he utters and actions he takes!

And let’s face it, either Biden or Trump could become incapacitated or die during the next term, as it has been a long time, nearly six decades since a President died, and five decades since a President left office during a term. This is longer than at any time in American history since 1841 to 1974, when we had a total of eight Presidential deaths and one Presidential resignation, so in a sense, we are overdue.

So the key issue is not whether either Biden nor Trump make it to the end of the term, but rather does one prefer a woman VP or Mike Pence to be the 47th President of the United States, which may be the end result sometime during the term!

Any sane, decent person would say the former would be preferable!

CoronaVirus Pandemic Proves Need For An Empathetic President, And Another “New Deal” And “Great Society” In Future!

Ronald 24 Comments

The present CoronaVirus Pandemic proves the need for an Empathetic President, and another “New Deal” And “Great Society” in the future!

“Big” Government is needed, as it was in the 1930s “New Deal” and the 1960s “Great Society”!

We need leaders such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, as with all their foibles, as all human beings have, they demonstrated empathy and understood the need for federal government action!

Yes, state governors, such as Andrew Cuomo, Gavin Newsom, and many others, have stepped up in this present crisis, but the lack of concern and competency of Donald Trump and his advisers, only concerned about politics rather than human lives, needs to be repudiated once and for all!

Conservatism and limitation of national government since the time of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich and many others has led to this debacle, and now needs to be in their death throes, as they have caused this debacle!

We need a nation where we do not have a few people having as much wealth and assets as half of the nation!

We need a nation where everyone is entitled to decent, affordable health care, and the opportunity for an education that meets their needs and abilities!

We need a nation where we do not have a wide percentage of people who are homeless, or are unable to gain enough nutrition, and where racism, nativism, and misogyny are actively prosecuted, rather than becoming government policy!

We need the kind of nation where everyone has opportunity to move forward, as was the aim and policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson!

We Are Now In The Greatest Crisis Since World War II!

Ronald 22 Comments

It is time for all Americans to reckon with reality!

America, and really the entire world, is immersed in the greatest crisis since World War II!

Since there are very few Americans or human beings who can recall in detail what World War II did to the world, this is for almost all people a unique situation.

What we need now in America is a Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, but instead, we have Donald Trump and “Make America Great Again!”

How America and the world at large will deal with this, short term and long term, is still unsettled.

At the least, all of us need to recognize sacrifices will be necessary, and the basic one to start with is to stay home, hunker down, as we try to flatten the curve of the ultimate rise in Covid-19 cases!

Is Bernie Sanders The Equivalent Of George McGovern In 1972?

Ronald 13 Comments

Half a century ago, the Democratic Party nominated South Dakota Senator George McGovern for President, and sadly, he went on to suffer a massive defeat at the hands of President Richard Nixon, losing all states except Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.

This blogger and author was then a graduate student who was intrigued by McGovern, and loved the fact that he had gained a Ph. D. in History, as I was pursuing at the time.

I always loved McGovern for the rest of his political life, and was saddened by his death in 2012.

I felt he would have been good for the nation, but he was perceived as too far to the left, and this is what concerns me about Bernie Sanders in 2020.

Sanders is no danger to democracy, as some see it, but his ideas are self declared “Socialistic”, which I believe is a guarantee of a massive defeat.

I know there are readers of my blog, and students who I have taught and still teach, who do not agree with me about this, including my loyal contributor “D”.

But defeating Trump is even more significant than if Nixon had been defeated, as Nixon was brought down anyway, but that is not the case if Trump were to win in 2020.

So a moderate, mainstream Democrat, such as Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, or if he can revive, Joe Biden, and even Michael Bloomberg would be more likely to win the Presidency, and save us from another four years of Trump, preventing the total destruction of the New Deal of FDR and the Great Society of LBJ, and all other progress under Presidents of both parties in the past century and more!

The Economy Over Character And Morality: The Typical Trump Supporter

Ronald 59 Comments

It is very disconcerting that a large percentage of Donald Trump supporters admit they do not like his tweets; wish he would stop uttering a lot of his controversial comments and promotion of divisiveness; and yet still support him, all because of the stock market being up, and their 401 Ks being better, and many wealthy people getting massive tax cuts.

So economics, the evil of money, dominates them, and if Trump takes us into a war; or is destroying environmental laws; or undermining consumer protections; or is flirting with authoritarian leaders; or is destroying our traditional alliances with democracies; or is threatening civil liberties and civil rights; or is mistreating migrant children and undermining their physical and emotional health long term; or is out to destroy all regulations of corporate practices; or is turning our court system back to the Gilded Age; or is working to destroy all the good that came out of the New Deal of FDR and the Great Society of LBJ; well, that is not important as long as one’s economic prosperity is greater.

The fact that the economy being in good shape is due to the amazing revival under Barack Obama, and would most certainly have continued under Hillary Clinton, is often denied by such people. And they clearly do not give a damn what happens to the nation, as long as they, personally, are doing well economically. Nothing else matters, as this is a case of ME, MYSELF and I, and nothing else.

So character and morality and the harm being done to America does not matter as long as one is economically better off personally, so to hell with what is good for America!

What could be more despicable than that? But remember, a similar mentality existed in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, and look what it led to!

Urgency To Raise Marginal Tax Rate On Wealthiest To 70 Percent, As Existed In Years 1936-1951, And 1963-1980, With 90 Percent Between 1951-1963, All Of Which Created The Middle Class

Ronald 2 Comments

With the middle class rapidly diminishing, and poverty spreading to more and more of Americans, a trend since 1980, it is urgent that America go back to the tax policy that prevailed from 1936-1980.

From the time of the New Deal at its peak in the mid 1930s through the year of the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the US government, by its tax policy, created a growing and prosperous middle class, and while the wealthy complained about the tax rates, it did not harm them, but made a vast difference to the nation.

The marginal tax rate, meaning the tax rate above a fixed income, reached 70 percent from 1936 to 1951, and was raised further to 90 percent from 1951-1963, followed by a return to 70 percent from 1963-1980. It allowed a growing middle class to improve their life style and buy goods and services that could not have occurred without this small sacrifice by the wealthy.

Now, it has been proposed that the marginal tax rate go back up to 70 percent on incomes over $10 million, so notice this is not raising taxes on the first $10 million of income, and is not going to strip the top one percent of their wealth by any means.

The middle class dwindled once the tax rate was allowed to plummet under Ronald Reagan onward, and has led to an economy where former middle class people, who still think they are middle class, have to work second and third jobs, and both wife and husband must work full time, in order to struggle to remain in the lower middle class at best.

This is not good for the struggling middle class, and in the long run, is a detriment to the wealthy. The anger and bitterness over the unfairness of our tax policy endangers everyone.

Instead of keeping the tax rate at what it was, the wealthy have had three massive periods of tax cuts, under Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and now Donald Trump. It is time for that horrible tax policy to come to an end, as the wealthy do not need any more exploitation of the middle class and the poor to be on their necks.