Back to the Future????

We've long thought that it takes extremes to move the mass. In the 60's the tension between groups like the John Birch Society and the Students for a Democratic Society polarized debate about the war in Viet Nam and some social issues. This dichotomy of ideas influenced the end of the war and the domestic policies of LBJ--the Great Society which incorporated civil rights and Medicare into our society. The mass in the middle needs the radical fringes to motivate it.

But what happens when those radicals become the voice of the people in a republic like ours?? What outcomes can be expected when the radical fringe assumes control?? We poked a little fun at the Hutaree Militia but the underlying threats posed by religious cults and right wing domestic terrorists is palpable. Remember Jonestown and Timothy McVeigh. A conservative group called Guardians of the Free Republics is under investigation for sending threatening letters to governors.

Most of these groups, and others in the conservative movement, rail against the growth of so-called big government. The latest documents from the Guardians talks about returning to the pre-1933 form of government. Let's see, wouldn't that be a return to the Great Depression??? Wonder if they'd provide dime a gallon gas and $.07 loaves of bread as well. Somehow we believe the circumstances of the world economy wouldn't permit that, nor would people work for the same wages. The poverty threshold in 2008 was higher than the average wage in 1932!!

The federal government grew with jobs programs, Social Security, and other innovations to get the country out of an economic meltdown in the period from 1932-1934. (In truth, full recovery and full employment came about because of World War II.) But the government interventions in the '30s moved the economy in the correct direction. The recent economic slowdown was exacerbated by the shrinking of government regulation since the 1990s. Wasn't the Republican Party, the conservatives led by Newt Gingrich and George W Bush in charge of the economy and government then? Isn't the lesson of history that less government intervention in the economy a recipe for disaster---see the history for 1929 and 2007 for examples.

So let the tea-partiers continue their tea-bagging and let Rush bombast to his heart's content. But don't for a minute believe them----we would NOT be better of if we revisited 1932!!!!!