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FDR and a plea for patience

by: ericf

Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 17:40:41 PM CDT

( - promoted by The Big E)

This is a follow-up to my dairy last week, One thing we can change: complaining about the lack of change. I've put together a list of accomplishments during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, and what I ask readers to notice is that he didn't do everything in the legendary first 100 days or even the first year, but he actually needed the rest of the 1930's. Even at that, he wasn't able to do everything he wanted. I put this out for anyone buying into the notion Obama is really no different than a Republican (even these days, some people can't tell the difference? Really?) or that Congress is hopeless and nothing can be made better.

ericf :: FDR and a plea for patience

1933
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
National Recovery Administration
Civilian Conservation Corps
Tennessee Vally Authority
Separation of commercial and investment banks

1934
Securities and Exchange Commission
Federal Housing Administration

1935
National Labor Relations Act
Social Security
Works Progress Administration
Aid to Families with Dependent Children
Rural Electrification Administration
unemployment insurance

1937
United States Housing Authority

1938
Federal National Mortgage Association
minimum wage
child labor
overtime
Federal Crop Insurance Corporation

1939
Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department

Just to make the obvious caveats, some items in the list were together in one bill; not everything worked; some programs worked but were ended when they were replaced or were deemed no longer necessary; sometimes Roosevelt was on the side of the deficit hawks.

There are multiple versions of the story where some advocates for some progressive cause made a pitch to Roosevelt, who said something like, "You're completely right. Now go out and make me do it," meaning Roosevelt politically needed the push from the left. What that tells us is that though we need to be patient, we need to push at the same time.

What I'm saying is we mustn't mistake the need to push for Obama being a secret conservative, or Democrats being part of some monolithic corporate conspiracy. Even though FDR had a friendly Congress, more than Obama I will argue, he sometimes couldn't get his bills through. He even had vetoes overridden.

So let's not get discouraged yet.

Tags: Roosevelt, FDR, new deal, (All Tags)

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FDR and a plea for patience | 2 comments

I would have loved to see (0.00 / 0)

Obama come blasting out of the gate with a full-blown public investigation of the criminality of the previous administration, its congessional allies (subsequently, co-defendants), and its corporate allies in general (ditto), especially right-wing propaganda mills posing as outlets for legitimate information and discourse. But that wasn't, and isn't realistic. It would be a crazy circus - albeit a highly entertaining, and satisfying one, for me -and probably overwhelm real reform efforts.

I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll get a decent health care package, with a public option; of course that's only a first step toward universal single payer, but incrementalism of that sort is going to be the order of the day, because that's how our system works. I'm with ericf that a combination of pressure and patience is best. And, (and I don't mean this personally, because in a way it's a rather cruel, bitter thing to type), to howl and cry because one didn't get absolutely everything one wants, right now, is what Republicans do.

by: dan.burns @ Mon Oct 05, 2009 at 10:04:09 AM CDT

That's one instance with no precedent (0.00 / 0)

It would be handy if Obama could look back to Roosevelt for a precedent on what to do in that situation, but for all its faults, at least the Hoover administration wasn't accused of war crimes.

Sometimes when it comes to incrementalism, we forget that Canada established single-payer in one province and proved the concept before the other provinces implemented it. I hope conservative fears that the public option is the start of single-payer are justified.

by: ericf @ Mon Oct 05, 2009 at 15:22:31 PM CDT

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