Thereafter, when President Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency upon the tragic death of JFK, he used his persuasive powers in Congress and with Americans to launch the Great Society during 1964-1965; it spawned the Civil Rights Act of 1964, legislation designed to eliminate poverty and racial justice. New major spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems, and transportation were launched during this period. And, a major achievement was the enactment of the Medicare and Medicaid programs in 1965. These programs resembled and rivaled the New Deal in their scope and importance to America.
From that time, when the U.S. landed a man on the moon in 1969, to this day over 40 years later, I can think of no other great achievement made by our government that can compare with those I've mentioned. That is simply astounding and it shows that visionary thinking in our government has vanished. We seem to have evolved from a nation that was very proactive and creative to one that is stuck in a reactionary mode, one that it just can't shed.
A big reason for our apparent national malaise and failure to think big is that, over the decades, America has become mired down in a long succession of wars and military actions that have sapped its energies and its wealth. Also, politics in America have become much more divisive, confrontational and fraught with obstructionist tactics. Corporate America has exercised its immense power and influence to control the Congress to the extent that bold thinking and actions leading to innovative job creation have become non-existent.
America has seen its manufacturing sector go from being a world leader in decades past to one that has severely declined as U.S. corporations concluded that cheap overseas labor would greatly maximize their profits. Well, this nation and its people should not spend time crying and whining; they must accept the reality of "out with the old and in with the new" and help this nation turn into a completely new direction by strongly supporting a new manufacturing sector; that is, if our president and the government ever accept this important responsibility.
This president and the government have a brilliant opportunity to develop the most important far- reaching jobs creation program in the history of America. The need for a new industrial sector could not be more evident. America today is beginning to experience significant energy problems that threaten our future economic stability as petroleum becomes more and more scarce and much more expensive.
The new sector would be largely based upon developing alternate sources of energy and what is commonly called the "green economy." it's time to act now to develop all those alternative forms of energy so often discussed: solar, wind, geothermal, biofuels, hydrogen, and others yet to be discovered. Developing this new manufacturing sector could kill two birds with one stone; it would jumpstart our efforts to replace petroleum as our primary energy source and, at the same time, create millions of sorely needed new jobs. We must not wait until a catastrophe is upon us; why in the world we are not doing this right now is beyond belief.
In pursuing this massive jobs creation program, let's call it America's Job Revolution, there is a great danger that once it gets underway and becomes very successful, we could see U.S. corporations once again get rid of American workers and transfer the labor to overseas nations. That cannot be allowed to happen ever again. As has been suggested numerous times, all Congress needs to do is set up a taxing system for corporations that would give generous incentives to those who did not move labor overseas and give very painful tax penalties to those who did; plus creation of appropriate tariffs on imported products. It is high time that such legislation be enacted.
Here's what it will take to get this extremely ambitious set of programs started; all of the necessary resources are now available in America today:
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