Unfortunately for America, death intervened before FDR could see his plan through. Nor had FDR counted on the cupidity of the conservative wing of his own political party.
President Truman attempted to pass universal health care legislation after the war, but lacking FDR's charisma and gravitas, found himself opposed not only by Republicans, but by the conservative, southern Democrats (Dixiecrats) in 1946. The betrayal of the ideals of FDR was cemented the following year, when the Republican dominated 80th Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Anti-labor Act, overriding President Truman's veto. This occurred when the conservative "Dixiecrats" joined their Republican brethren in both Houses to provide the required 2/3rds majority. This crippled the 1935 National Labor Relations (or Wagner) Act, which, as co-sponsor Fred A. Hartley, Jr., stated, "points the way to correcting other errors of the government in the 1930's," including the Social Security Act. (The New National Labor Policy, Fred A Hartley, Jr.; New York, Funk and Wagnalls , 1948, p. xvi.)
Today in the Western Democracies, government economists--ignoring the lessons of history--are imposing austerity plans upon their populations, in spite of the fact that history has demonstrated that austerity by the national government, plus the failure to impose higher taxes on their wealthiest citizens and corporations to finance a government sponsored expansion of the economy, is a certain recipe for economic disaster.
If America's pitiable example under Herbert Hoover were not enough, Germany and Great Britain's examples during 1930 and 1931 should be warning signals even a conservative ideologue cannot ignore.
I will quote from Mark Ames's January 25, 2011 AlterNet article, "Stop the Austerity Craze! Massive Budget Slashing Can Lead to Economic Disaster, Violence and Repression," "The Depression was just spreading around the globe, and [Chancellor] Brà ¼ning, backed by Germany's industry titans, believed Germany would only recover with a strong currency, which he tethered to the gold standard, and a balanced budget through brutal cuts in wages, pensions and unemployment benefits, and hikes in taxes and fees. Brà ¼ning learned austerity as a doctoral student at the London School of Economics--which nurtured and promoted "free-market" whores like Friedrich von Hayek and the 'Austrian School' that is still being piped out to us through major outlets like the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal and the libertarian press.
Brà ¼ning applied the von Hayek medicine to Germany, and the resulting backlash was so intense he suspended parliamentary democracy and ruled by emergency decree, setting a fine example for the next guy who took power. After just two years of "austerity" measures, Germany's economy had completely collapsed: unemployment doubled from 15 percent in 1930 to 30 percent in 1932, protests spread, and Brà ¼ning was finally forced out. Just two years of austerity, and Germany was willing to be ruled by anyone or anything except for the kinds of democratic politicians that administered "austerity" pain. In Germany's 1932 elections, the Nazis and the Communists came out on top -- and by early 1933, with Hitler in charge, Germany's fledgling democracy was shut down for good."
Mr. Ames continues later in his article, "Austerity programs and gold-backed currencies were the cause of enormous pain, violence and disaster throughout the West in the early 1930s: In England, austerity measures led to one of the biggest mutinies in Britain's military history since the time of the French Revolution; the Invergordon Mutiny of 1931, when up to half the Royal Navy rose up against austerity cuts, took over ships and sent fears of a Bolshevik revolution throughout the country. The mutiny and strikes worked somewhat: Britain was finally forced to abandon the gold standard, and wage cuts were softened.
As a counter-example, Sweden, just about the only country that [initially] adopted a "mixed economy" model, suffered far less from the Great Depression that affected the whole world; unlike the austerity-dosing countries, Sweden was already back on its feet and booming by 1932."
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