Defending the Public From Greed: FDR's classic 1932 campaign speech

[marmar]

from OnTheCommons.org:



Defending the Public From Greed
FDR's classic 1932 campaign speech

| by David Morris

“I therefore lay down the following principle: That where a community—a city or county or a district—is not satisfied with the service rendered or the rates charged by the private utility, it has the undeniable basic right, as one of its functions of Government, one of its functions of home rule, to set up, after a fair referendum to its voters has been had, its own governmentally owned and operated service…the very fact that a community can, by vote of the electorate, create a yardstick of its own, will, in most cases, guarantee good service and low rates to its population.”

A month before the 1932 election, Franklin Roosevelt traveled to Portland, Oregon to deliver a speech about government and governance. Some 80 years later, his talk, given in the depths of the Depression to a nation that had yet to accept government as a key player, remains one of the clearest and most accessible explications of the relationship between the public and the private.

FDR specifically addressed the relationship of government to electric utilities but one could easily translate the theory and principles he proposes to today’s banks, or cable companies or airlines.

In the decade before FDR’s visit to Portland the electricity sector had undergone a sea change. Power companies that once served neighborhoods now served cities and even states. The era of competition when Chicago had 29 electric companies and New York at least 6 had given way to a consensus that the inherent nature of electricity production and distribution lent itself to monopolies.

The key question after 1920 was who would own and control these monopolies. At the local level, the war between the public and the private raged for a decade. More than 2200 smaller cities eventually built their own electric networks. Most large cities lost the battle although a few like Los Angeles, Seattle and Cleveland emerged victorious. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://onthecommons.org/magazine/defending-public-greed#sthash.xl2ADFav.dpuf

[L0oniX]

1. A core Democratic principle mostly not found in todays Democratic party and reason enough to...

be fed up the Dem party. We're on notice: Progressives/unions/FDR Dems not wanted ...and apparently not needed either.

[iemitsu]

2. The author should have mentioned health care insurance too.

It is clear that in a democratic society the government, by definition, exists to serve the public, not the other way around.
Here, the government and the uber-classes, seem to think the proper role of government is to serve our dinner to the rich.
The way we deal with oil extraction and production is a wonderful example of how public resources are given, for minimum rents, to a few private companies, who become rich by selling the oil in the global market, driving up the price of gas for the American public.
This is not good stewardship of the public treasure. The system, as it stands, encourages public officials to enrich themselves, and their donors, at the expense of the citizenry.
All our elected officials come out of public office rich. This should not be the case. One should not lose ground, financially, when serving the public, but one should not be able to become rich while serving either (or as a result of things done while they served).
What is clearly bribery is called "freedom speech" by five, criminal, Justices on the Supreme Court. The court has been bought just like the congress.
All utilities, the transportation system, health care, education and other institutions and services, vital to the smooth functioning of society, ought to be owned by the public. Affordable lives for the citizenry and good paying civil servant jobs for government employees would be the result of this policy.
Instead we see our officials trying to give away public institutions and services to for-profit, private concerns, which will charge us top dollar for goods and services that can be had for little more than cost, when provided by the government.
It is much easier to regulate government agencies too (except the intelligence community) making essential industries more responsive to public concerns about workplace safety and environmental compatibility.
Private companies always cost more, for providing goods and services, than publicly owned institutions. Their goal is to maximize profits. This inevitably results in lower quality materials and work for higher cost.
Americans pay more for medicines made in America than anyone else on earth. We pay twice what others pay for health care and don't even cover all our citizens. Private banks produce our dollars and we buy them, with interest, to facilitate exchange when we could produce our own dollars and charge little or no interest for their use. Paper dollars are nothing but promissory notes, IOUs, which represent the value of our labor. Why should we have to buy them from private banks in order to function in society?
We are being farmed. America is a plantation where some pigs are more equal than others.

[gopiscrap]

3. Good for FDR we need to heed his warning today