Even the most ardent defenders of the New Deal admit that as a savior of the economy, pulling the United States out of the Great Depression, it was a dismal failure. World War II brought us out, in spite of a decade of government-to-the-rescue intervention in the once vaunted “free” market.
Our failure is in ignoring what the New Deal was really about, and why Obama is now rushing down the same primrose path. The New Deal, when judged correctly, was a bust economically, but politically it was a phenomenal success.
“Roosevelt Democrats,” people who grew up in the Great Depression era, worshipped FDR and remained loyal to the Democratic party to their dying day. FDR was a hero, a savior, a man who gave them hope, a future, economic salvation. Various programs put money in their pocket; they often saw their family or father, seriously depressed by having no work, pick up and regain their self-esteem. Tangible results directly attributed to the government actions instigated by FDR.
My father-in-law, now deceased, grew up in Pioche, a severely depressed mining town in 1930s Nevada, and he fits this description to a tee. He was one of the most charming people you could ever meet. He never argued with anyone, using a natural politician’s tool of agreeing with anyone and everyone about everything. The only exception was finally flipping his otherwise calm and friendly demeanor over my criticisms of FDR.
His voice rose in an angry tone I had never heard, and he gave me a lecture I still hear in my head, for it was a moment of separating economic theory from political reality.
He yelled about how I did not understand what it was like to have no hope, no work, nothing but a gnawing sense of desperation. Roosevelt restored their sense of dignity as men, made them breadwinners, proud husbands, worthy fathers. Roosevelt gave them back their manhood.
I could argue the economics, the numbers, the cold and politically neutered facts, but none of that mattered to those who lived through it.
So, with him, every other issue was fair game, but criticizing FDR and the New Deal crossed the line.
And he was right. I did not have a clue about such desperation. I always had work, money, opportunity. My understanding was academic; economists can (correctly) point out the New Deal did not save the country, and in fact probably caused the Depression to be extended.
But that will not matter to a guy who is out of work and cannot make a mortgage payment; who pulled his daughter out of piano lessons in a desperate attempt to save every penny. Drowning men gladly grasp at straws.
Obama and his advisers look at FDR and the New Deal with the jaundiced eye of politicians. Publicly it is all about economics, but privately, and much more cynically, it is all about raw political power. The “stimulus” package will do little if anything for our overall economy, but the gratitude of those on the receiving end may prove incalculable and even inter-generational. The FDR Democrat generation is almost gone. A new, “saved” generation may be at hand.
But that assessment may be premature. There are big risks. Will Obama go down as FDR, or as Hoover? Timing may be everything; after all, Hoover actually initiated many of the programs FDR later appropriated and expanded. FDR actually ran on a platform, believe it or not, of cutting government spending and bureaucratic growth. Hoover’s big spending ways was the scapegoat of the 1932 election.
So don’t expect any miracles except on the political front. If there is enough benefit, it can create a plurality of voters swaying the balance of power for years. That’s what it’s really all about.
Ira Hansen is a lifelong resident of Sparks and owner of Ira Hansen and Sons Plumbing.
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