Posted on 06/19/2009 10:46:38 AM PDT by Daveinyork
Those New Deal programs did help some destitute individuals and did provide some public works programs that benefited specific communities. That probably looked like improvement to many, but such government spending just does not revive an economy in recession or depression. We recently saw the quotes (during the stimulus debates) from Roosevelt era officials acknowledging that the programs did not end the GD.
It might not be worth it to try and convince your mother of that, or most who actually experienced those times.
Feeling defensive? :)
My generation IS environmentally responsible for trashing the present, but not for reasons the author may have had in mind. Because of the antinuclear protests my generation were famous for, we're paying $3 for gas today and energy independence is even more of a pipe dream now than it was back then.
Re: “............My Dad (RIP) hated FDR and Kennedy - I never understood that as a kid..............”
***********
Mine too— actually both parents (RIP) grew up Republican and had lots to say about what transpired over time. They reserved their biggest ‘hate’ for FDR, however. They insisted until their dying days that the New Deal was a BAD deal for the US and would impact it negatively forever.
BTW, my father was also vehemently against any thoughts of Colin Powell running for POTUS, decades ago when that was first discussed, claiming he was NOT presidential material. And it wasn’t about race — NOW I understand what my dad was talking about. At the time I foolishly thought Powell would be just fine.
I refuse to blame any generational group as a whole for our troubles — this ‘blame must always be assigned’ garbage has got to go.
Nihilism is a great seller these days.
I’m a 60’s radical turned conservative, and I remember those older socialists exploiting our feelings of guilt, pushing us further and further to the left.
Let's see, I've awaken before 6:00AM every week day for over 40 years to get up and go to work in order to support my family ... it's what grownups do. I've paid my bills, paid my taxes, raised a family and tried to live my with integrity.
So, nope, no defensiveness here ... just an unwillingness to abide the uninformed generalizations of a bunch whiners.
The slippery slope we're on was started by, and is still being reinforced by, people who simply don't believe individuals should take responsibility for their lives ... and that's not a club populated exclusively by people born between 1946 and 1964.
Oh you have that so right!
“It might not be worth it to try and convince your mother of that, or most who actually experienced those times.”
What is odd is that her family worked hard for themselves, scrimped, saved, etc. With no help from the gov’t. She knows what it means to be independent. I think it is not so much what she experienced, but what she heard from the likes of Walter Cronkite over the years that has her believing that big government is the cure to some of our problems.
Jesse Helms was a true gentleman...and a great lover of his country and its people
In reality it was the democrats that gave us that crap, not all of the greatest generation voted for it..
I agree completely. It was despicable to hear Bochco bashing the man.
LOL! Oh, so true!
In 1969 as the sixties was finishing up the boomers ranged from age five to 23 and in 1972 52% of 18 to 29 year olds voted for Nixon.
Think about it, are the five year old to 23 year olds right now controlling our government and creating those types of things you listed, or any other thing?
Let's face it the kids live but they don't run the country.
Here is where I am as well. My only problem with the Boomers stems from, I believe, the upbringing by their parents. I think the social and cultural shift that Boomers brought on in the 60s and 70s greatly influenced the government culture we have today.
The Boomers, with pensions, SS, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. are by and large well funded for retirement. Today, we don't do pensions and SS will not be there for Gen-X let alone my children.
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