Forget reform
The elders are nervous. Robert Reich today calls for reforming capitalism. Not to worry about the socialist victory in France. Reform? Reform is white noise, that annoyingly forgettable hissing sound, a word reminiscent of Charlie Brown’s teacher. Remember? (wha wha wha wha wha!)
The elders believe we can put the brakes on things. Stop and sniff the roses and other fragrances not so sweet. For the elders, they feel time’s running out. Reform. Let’s recreate the 50s and 60s like they do on Mad Men. Lots of awkward lessons on that show. Turn on the History Channel. Remember when? How’s that Leni Reifenstahl film? Looks like it was shot yesterday. All those lost opportunities: Uncle Ho, Mao, Lenin, Castro, that leader we toppled in Iran right before the Shah? Great guys who coulda woulda shoulda been our buddies. Why, an American Army Captain even helped Ho write his Independence Day speech. Yeah, they plagiarized that guy, Tom Jefferson. Uncle Ho liked Jefferson.
The elders are worried. What are these young people up to, anyway? Besides jobs, what do they want? Jobs, for one thing. But you’ll have to ask them. And when they speak, text, blog, or post, read them. Listen closely.
Yes, there’s linear feet and terabytes of reformation, restoration hardware-like writing by elder states people. There’s that latest installment, volume 4, of an epic biography of LBJ. Clinton likes it. Clinton didn’t get his boots wet in Viet Nam.
Ah, a better time, we say. Could we just stop a minute and consider the past, the elders suggest? Sorry, I have a teleconference.
It’s not just us, OK? China elders are very sweaty, angsting about this younger generation. I’m not suggesting you to get a new wardrobe, kick off your slippers and act trendy. I’m just suggesting to my fellow elders that we chill out a bit. Relax. Shut up with the “wayback when lectures”. Listen to young people.
Listen. Forget reform.
Phil Cardarella
1 year agoIt would help if folks bothered to learn just a bit of history — the real stuff, not the FOX News version.
Not all old folks are created equal. Some are just too dumb or greedy to learn or teach. But, guys like Reich and Krugman are neither — and point out that repeating Hoover’s mistakes is NOT the way to get out of a Re(De)pression.
One of the things that history informs us is that there ARE actual facts. Some things are accurate, some are not. Some things have been successful policies, some have been suicidally stupid. And sometimes smart people do dumb things. After all, Lee did order Pickett’s Charge.
FOX and MSNBC are not equally wrong. There is no equality between good and bad ideas. Water does not flow uphill and the earth was not created in six days, six thousand years ago, no matter what Genesis says. Cavemen rode dinosaurs ONLY in Flintstone cartoons.
The last time there was income inequality and unregulated capitalism this bad was in 1929. If you know just a bit of history, you may recall the result. Luckily, FDR was enough of a “traitor to his class” to save capitalism from itself.
P.S. While at Versailles selling his idea of self-determination (for white folks only, since he was a terrible racist) Pres. Wilson refused to meet with a young Vietnamese nationalist named Ho Chi Minh — a guy who wanted to be OUR friend. It was we who drove him away. Few Americans knew about that in the 1960’s — while we fed 50,000 young American lives into that stupid meat-grinder. A little history might have been handy back then.
Tom Ryan
Crossroads, Kansas City
1 year agoso true, Phil
Mark Hastert
1 year agoI heard it said just today that Republicans are the party of the past. They prove it with everything they do.
Steven Fetter
66223
1 year agoA few more facts:
Uncle Ho wanted to be our friend in 1920 if we would help evict our WW1 ally France from their colony, French Indo China. As we were not even a member of the new League of Nations, we had no standing to do so, even if we would have been inclined to.
As far as cozing up to Lenin and Mao, I think not. Although FDR did ally himself with and spill blood and treasure for the mass murderer Stalin. Too bad we could not have nurtured that relationship better.
Finally, FDR programs produced little recovery throughout the 30’s. The country suffered a major recession again in 1937. Unemployment was still 15% in 1940. Only after braking his promise to keep us out of WW2 by enacting the lend-lease program did unemployment really begin to plunge.
I heard it said just today that Democrats are the party of the future. They will gladly take a handout today for payment tomorrow.