The Great Debate

We have been told throughout this presidential campaign that the contest is a referendum about two visions of government, one activist, the other passive ‑ like every presidential election since 1980. But that may actually understate the stakes. In a larger context, it is a choice between maintaining the last 80 years of American governance or abruptly ending it.

In fact, this election is really about whether the New Deal and its descendant, the Great Society, will survive or whether they will be dismantled. And that is historic.

What does dismantling the New Deal and Great Society mean? It means converting Medicare from guaranteed medical insurance to a possible privately run system of health procurement. It means Medicaid could be capped, which could strip millions of children of their healthcare. It means scaling back financial regulation. It means poverty programs, like food stamps, may be cut dramatically. It means the Davis-Bacon Act, insuring that workers on government projects receive the prevailing wage, could be revoked. It means the end of subsidies for public transportation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and, of course, the Public Broadcasting System. It even means slashing disaster relief.

All these cuts, and so many more, are enumerated in the Ryan budget. More, they are a systematic program to gut government action – action that has accreted for decades to meet public needs.

This would constitute a gigantic reversal, even in Republicanism. It may be hard to believe, given today’s rancorous political climate, that Republicans never really challenged President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s program to revive the country during the Great Depression. The Social Security Act passed the House of Representatives with 81 Republicans voting yes and only 15 voting no, and the Senate with 16 Republican yeses and only 5 nos. Similarly, despite grumblings from Wall Street, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that regulated the financial industry received wide Republican support. The Civilian Conservation Corps, which put the unemployed to work on conservation projects, passed Congress by a voice vote. Even the National Labor Relations Act protecting union rights passed the House by a voice vote and the Senate with just 12 dissenters.

– James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own. –

(Correcting name of academic to Peter Reuter on Feb 27)

Want to help fund the bank bailout, ease California’s budget crisis and shore up strained U.S. finances? Legalize drugs, tax the trade and save on interdiction, domestic enforcement and the prison and court system.

I’m only partly joking.

It won’t solve all of the U.S.’s problems and lord knows will cause some new ones, but the money is undeniably big enough to make a dent.

Dean Wright is Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards. Any opinions are his own.

The president was inaugurated in front of adoring crowds and positive reviews in the media. As the unpopular incumbent sat on the platform with him, the new Democratic chief executive took office as the nation faced a crippling economic crisis. The incoming president was a charismatic figure who had run a brilliant campaign and had handled the press with aplomb. The media were ready to give him a break.

That was 1933, and in Franklin Roosevelt’s case, the media gave him a break.

For Barack Obama, the honeymoon was shorter.

Less than 36 hours after Obama took the oath of office, the White House denied news photographers access to the new president’s do-over swearing in, instead releasing official White House photos of the event. Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse protested and refused to distribute the official photos (which nevertheless showed up on the websites of a number of large U.S. newspapers).

Liaquat Ahamed is the author of “Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World”, a book about the causes of the Great Depression to be published by Penguin Press in January 2009. After working as an economist at the World Bank, he spent twenty-five years as a professional investment manager in London and New York. The opinions expressed are his own.

The papers have been full of comparisons between the elections of Barack Obama and Franklin Roosevelt. Like FDR, Obama is assuming the presidency in the middle of a financial crisis. Also like FDR, he has been carried to the White House on the back of the public’s repudiation of the policies of the previous administration and a wave of enthusiasm for his promise of change. There is even talk of a new New Deal.

With all these references to Roosevelt in the air and so much speculation about the transition, it seems natural to ask if there are any lessons to be drawn from how FDR handled his transition into office.