General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAre you old enough to remember when Keynesian economics dominated both parties, unions were powerful
and domestic economic liberalism was a major force even in the Republican Party? I'm talking of course of the days before Ronald Reagan - a time when even most - in fact almost all - self-described conservatives believed government had a duty to try and help the genuinely needy. Are you old enough to remember those days?
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18 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited | |
Yes, I do remember those days quite well. | |
13 (72%) |
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No, that was before my time. | |
3 (17%) |
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I don\'t know about the politics. But, all this talks of the olden days is making me hungry. I could go for some old fashioned diner style pork chops cooked in maple syrup and served with some cinnamon marinated apple sauce on the side – with some strawberry upside down cake ala mode for dessert. Come to think of it, a plain old fashioned soda fountain cherry coke would be really nice right now. | |
2 (11%) |
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0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided. | |
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MillennialDem
(2,367 posts)KG
(28,751 posts)TBF
(32,000 posts)I was born in the 60s. Rural area with small farm and factories. More and more I am feeling like a relic of history ....
Bossy Monkey
(15,863 posts)Octafish
(55,745 posts)Apart from a little Jimmy Carter, it's been solid trickle down ever since.
LAGC
(5,330 posts)...we've really slid to the right on economic issues. Unions have been decimated, minimum wage is only a shadow of what it once was, jobs are being exported at an increasing rate to countries that pay their workers shit wages all in the name of "free trade", and here we are with all these conservative talking heads claiming we are on the verge of Communism taking over in this country, because of the Affordable Care Act of all things!
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)newspapers still separated their "Help Wanted" classified adds -from "Help Wanted Women" and "Help Wanted Men." It was considered liberal and enlightened to view homosexuality as a treatable illness instead of psychopathic and criminal. But as much as we have advanced on social issues - we have gone backward on economic issues. Barry Goldwater back in 1964 was considered a right wing kook by most Americans. By the time he died in the 90's he was way too liberal for the Republican Party and the conservative movement.
grattsl
(63 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)And the Republican Party has moved clean off the scale to the right.
LiberalEsto
(22,845 posts)so I didn't understand Keynesian economics that well.
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)Would you believe, he just died a few months ago on July 28, 2013? - Yet for a very brief moment in history he was a serious contender for President of the United States and the leader of the liberal wing of the Republican Party -something that has not existed for some time now.
LeftishBrit
(41,202 posts)I grew up during the last stages of the 'Postwar Consensus' which had begun in 1945, and ended with Thatcher's election in 1979.
Although Conservatives were always more pro-business and pro-upper classes than Labour, and Labour more pro-union and pro-working class than the Conservatives, there was a broad consensus on the importance of a mixed economy, full employment as a major goal, and the crucial role of the public services and the social safety net.
We have never really recovered from Thatcherism, and from the rightward shift that it caused in our politics, so that Labour PM Blair was in many ways to the right of earlier Conservative Prime Ministers Macmillan and Heath.
Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)there is a way in which British politics does parallel American politics. I guess Tony Benn was George McGovern - but of course the comparison is far from complete - given that Britain had a genuine socialist tradition - which America lacked and even most staunch conservatives would ultimately support a socialist healthcare system - when a fee for service based single payer government backed insurance system is considered far left in America - something well to the right of what even conservative British assume
mmonk
(52,589 posts)HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)I remember the 50's as a time of serial recessions that ultimately caused my father to give up carpentry and become a public school custodian.
I remember in 1965 my father was diagnosed with TB in his lung, and being out of work for about 4 months, his hospitalization, which included removal of part of his lung was in a state run TB sanitorium about 30 miles away.
The union contract he worked under for 5-6 years had let him, as a janitor, accumulate sick days with full-pay, and he had nearly 100 of them available at the time he needed them. After 4 months of being out of work, he actually had his job waiting for him, he wasn't forced into bankruptcy and the mortgage was never foreclosed.
I can't imagine that scenario of events ending as well in 2013. Granted it's likely that rather than surgery and confinement in a sanatorium a person with TB would be given pharmaceuticals and sent home with check-ups from public health nurses to be sure medications were being taken.
Then about 8 years later he fell off of a ladder while working on something in the ceiling of a school gymnasium. He broke his right femur in multiple places resulting in surgery and a weeks long hospitalization while in traction...once again, he had sick-days available, once again his job was waiting for him after it all, and once again because of adequate employer paid medical insurance he and my mother weren't financially devastated by hospital bills.
The union contracts he worked under would have to have been negotiated and agreed upon by R' on the School Board since the district's politics were dominated by republicans.
I can't say it's just a matter of unions, it was also partly due to a friendlier economy. The mortgage payment on the house was ~$27 per month, and even on a janitor's pay, it represented less than a week's work.
Life wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible, for a working class family, and the greater respect for workers by all parties made a big difference in life.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)has happened is that the corporations/rich have taken over the rethug party and the middle class and the power have lost their power in the process. Not good for our nation or our people.
watoos
(7,142 posts)I was a local union official for 28 years. Now, only 12% of the work force is unionized. The fascists are winning.
NRaleighLiberal
(60,006 posts)Romulox
(25,960 posts)Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)bigwillq
(72,790 posts)JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)adirondacker
(2,921 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)but I remember a U.S. when the New Deal was still operative.