Down and Dirty

Since the Bandit's selection, by Judges no less, the United States' government has become more and more a criminal organization. It wasn't apparent it would turn out this way in the beginning, at least not to me. But, here it is, become a government of lawless men. Most people think it can't happen here, so they can't see it even though it has happened.

Yes, it has happened here. It's not like the movies. There isn't some gust of wind, some inner chill or fever, or a magic transformation. I look about the same in the mirror as I did a month ago. Most people I know look the same as a month or a year ago, too. It's just that now things are different, and a year or two from now we will see how different. The divergence begins with little things, then little by little gets to the big things. It's like driving from the farm to the city, starting on the country roads and ending on the freeway.
 

Those old enough to remember should get a few chills down the spine remembering the after-effects of Nixon, Watergate and Vietnam. There were high oil prices. There was a real estate boom. The stock market went nowhere for about 9 years. Then there was the Iranian desert disaster, the Republican-arranged hostage release, Ronald Reagan, and the worst Recession (1982-83) since 1933. On Ronald Reagan's account, there was a Depression in the Texas Oil Patch, the Rust Belt was created, and farmers were made desperate by the Farm Crisis. Because of the huge deficits created under Reaganism, there was a Social Security shortfall solved by taxing working people more. Because of lax regulations and deregulation, and because of the various Depressions, the 1970s Real Estate Boom turned into a Bust, which caused the Savings & Loan Crisis. .Things didn't get any better for ordinary people, America's working class, until 1996 - Bill Clinton's last term in office. But, the rich and powerful were riding high through it all.
 

After the 1929 Crash, things got worse and worse. Hoovervilles sprang up around Washington, DC. At the bottom, in 1933, about 1/3 of all white men were unemployed. Things were much worse for black men, women and other minorities. The New Deal alleviated things, reducing unemployment to only 20% by 1935, and about 10-12% by 1937. But, in 1938, things got worse again, and there was a mini-recession. After Hitler attacked Poland, and FDR's invention of "Lend-Lease," people were put back to work. A full-blown Welfare State was put into operation during World War II, which created the wealth of the post-War world which nursed the Baby Boomers. (Of course, they don't know that.) That Welfare State created the American Dream and nurtured the Middle Class, successfully managing the American economy until the aforesaid Ronad Reagan took office.
 

There is a legacy of the 1930s which seems to have died out with the Greatest Generation, and those of us old enough to remember the Way Things Were. In my childhood, business men were widely recognized for the crooks they are. Going into business was not considered a Good Thing. People knew it was Wall St and its minions that had created the Great Depression, and left most Americans in the lurch. In the famous film with Jimmy Stewart, A Wonderful Life, the wretched banker Potter fairly represents how people perceived businessmen after the Depression. People knew European governments actually did something about the Depression. For example, the Great Depression was mostly over by 1935 in France, and a year or so later in England. Unfortunately, it was Hitler's success in ending the Depresssion in Germany in a few years that also buoyed his power, and led to World War II. So, State control and intervention in the economy did wonders for people hard hit by the Great Depression. But, there was not so much help in America, where the ultra-conservatives fought the New Deal. The conservative-controlled Federal Courts declared the NRA, WPA and other New Deal programs unconstitutional. The military harrassed workers and Unions. Until Taft-Hartley, workers were still fired and beaten for joining Unions, and sometimes shot to death for going on strike. The vicious attacks against workers were finally stopped by World War II, when the government took over both management and labor in order to fight the war.

In my youth, people remembered all those bad things, and who did what to whom. The bad reputation of business, Wall St and their sympathizers was well earned. But, all that was lost and forgotten starting with the Baby Boomers. Boomer parents had a lot of children, and they coddled their children. They invented the "child centered" home. But, they did not provide the means for Boomers to get a good education. That's why most Boomers cannot correctly answer questions like, 'when was Abraham Lincoln President?' (A: 1861-65). A lot of Boomers don't know much about FDR, or that he was President during the Great Depression and WWII. Boomers really don't understand the workings of the American and global economies. For all those reasons, amounting to a poor education and even some anti-intellectualism, what happened 40, 50 or 70 years ago was forgotten. That was most convenient for the same ultra-coinservatives and reactionaries, who have rewritten history since Ronald Reagan's time. Not knowing better, the Boomers have taken the bait, and swallowed the lies, hook, line and sinker.

Thus we have glorified the Bandit, who is as bad as Hoover or Harding. All the bad things that led to the Great Depression are happening all over again. The last few years look like the late 1970s all over again as well. But, those in charge and their Boomer (and younger) supporters don't know that.
 

This is why we have to call the hand. We need to have the down and dirty cards turned for all to see.