The Old "New Deal" Redux

Franklin D. Roosevelt became President as the Great Depression was already in full swing. He had a plan however and nothing was going to keep him from implementing his New Deal with American society. People wrote letters decrying their circumstances with the expectation that he and his administration would elevate the country and bring it out of the financial morass it was mired in. He believed that his New Deal was the only solution. Many people were simply trying to survive and either couldn't or didn't have the available time it takes to express their opinions. It was the Depression after all and people were consumed with living from day to day. Today's current technology, the advance of private computing, the connectivity and availability of the Internet into a majority of households, has lent itself to providing a more robust forum of supporting and opposing views for a vast majority of people. FDR also used modern technology to his advantage as well and in that arena, during that time, he held all the cards. His preferred delivery method for communicating to the masses was the radio.

While FDR had really struggled to complete his education, he was certainly a person with the ability to speak to peoples' hearts and minds. It was this natural talent for public speaking that overcame his own shortcomings since he had no business acumen, nor had he been able to graduate from law school. His mastery of public speaking produced in many Americans a guarded believability of his intentions. Many regular folk listened to his promises with rapt attention during his Fireside Chats and were uplifted simply by his choice of words and inflections of tone and pitch. To his complete advantage, radio was one-way communication. Having this technical advantage allowed him to promote his "New Deal" directly to the people. To further his "New Deal" agenda, he instituted a group of professors from Columbia University that he called "The Brains Trust". This group was comprised of academic people who had proven their loyalty to his agenda, much like the group of "czars" that are currently advising President Obama. FDR needed these people to express his rhetoric into persuasive language that average Americans would then accept at face value and even support. These intellectual ideas, although completely hypothetical, were touted as fact. Roosevelt held firm to the belief, ignorant though it was, that to attain economic stability and social equality, only the intervention of the federal government into the private sector would succeed. Roosevelt believed it so firmly, he set out to prove it over the course of his four Presidential terms. Even though after two terms his own Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgantheau - who was also a close confidant - testified to the Ways and Means Committee in 1939 that "We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work", Roosevelt forged ahead. Decades later, upon reviewing the history of his actions in simple cause and effect rationality, his agenda failed to accomplish its goal of creating a more "just society".

The premise of FDR's "New Deal" was to provide relief for the needy, economic recovery, and financial reform. These are certainly erstwhile endeavors and they are no different at all from the progressive rhetoric Americans are hearing again today from modern Progressive politicians of both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. During those harsh, depressive times in the 1930s, there were many people who were truly in need; the economy had tanked, financial institutions had engaged in nefarious business practices and many people were completely destitute. Progressives jumped at the opportunity to correct what they believed were errors in the Constitution. As Roosevelt implemented his "New Deal", Americans garnered hope for the future. However, his policy did very little, if anything, to truly help Americans across the country. Much of the federal assistance was closely tied to states, districts, and cities that fully supported FDR and the progressive, "government knows best" Democratic Party. Far too many American tax dollars were distributed through his use of "patronage", thereby he was able to silence most of the real and valid opposition against his social engineering experiment. Times were hard, this cannot be denied, however many Americans at that time were also simply unaware of how one-sided the distribution of federal assistance truly was. Historical review of monetary distribution of funds reveals that most of the federal aid went directly to those areas that fully supported FDR and the Democratic Party.

The New Deal was full of snappy catch-phrases and laudable arguments that spoke directly to the emotions of many Americans. This same tactic has been and is being used once again on the American public. The recent Democratic Presidential campaign utilized our modern-day equivalent of radio; the Internet. It worked quite well for them, just as the radio worked for FDR and his New Deal. Progressives, just like FDR, fully believe that the federal government is entitled, not limited, and has the rights beyond the Constitution that enables the government to legislate in all areas of job creation, education, the economy and now ultimately, health-care. However, this is completely contradictory to the simple but profound wording of our U.S. Constitution and dismisses the Bill of Rights. These two founding documents of the United States were drafted and written in direct response to the insidious pervasiveness of a non-representative government mandating to each individual what types of taxes they must pay, to which religion was sanctioned by the government, to how justice would be derived and to whom would govern the Colonies through appointments rather than votes. These very real issues have now risen again only they have now come from within our United States branches of government and not from a monarchical government reigning from across an ocean.

The Internet, for now, is neutral, as was the radio when it was the new method of communicating with the multitudes. The World Wide Web was utilized to its fullest potential in our most recent Presidential election. It worked and worked well. Now, however, those who are principled in the fundamentals of freedom are the very people who have taken to the Internet, the radio, the newspapers and to their neighbors to have their voice be heard, not ignored. FDR was able to ignore dissent by silencing his critics in ways that simply cannot be accomplished in our now modern times. Today, many politicians ignore, dismiss and even vilify those Americans who believe in these personal fundamental rights. They do so at the peril of losing their political positions because the "Sleeping Giant" is now fully awake. For those who are still dreaming of a government-mandated Utopian society, be forewarned; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are fundamental rights, not civil rights and Americans can recognize the differences. Americans do not want a New Deal Redux!