David Thomson
2009-03-21 03:57:55
“We can — and will — argue endlessly about whether the New Deal served mainly to alleviate or to prolong the Great Depression.”
This is not really a legitimate debate. Only a fool argues that the New Deal did not prolong the Great Depression. The evidence clearly shows that Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt worsened an already bad situation. Both men advocated for an activist government where the president acted somewhat as the CEO of America. Why is there still some disagreement? The reason is that “elites” want to run our lives. They perceive themselves as well educated and benevolent—and therefore entitled to tell the rest of us what to do. Existentially, they must believe in the New Deal. It provides meaning to their lives.
