Some scenes from the FDR memorial we saw this summer. Can we turn this moment around?
From his first inauguration speech, which my daughter's class read in school this week:
And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered, because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.
Primarily, this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
True, they have tried. But their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.
Yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of that restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
Ian Walsh at FireDogLake has some very concrete and specific ideas about how we could rebuild without caving in to bailout hysteria. Follow his links.
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4 comments:
What will cause the most recession - bailout, or no bailout?
You know Obama will get really famous if he gets elected and then institutes a new New Deal in January.
I am not competent to answer that question, but I tend to agree with those who have said that while some action is necessary, the bailout as it was drafted the first time, and even the compromise version, were worse than nothing. I think there will be a temporary fix until Obama takes office and that he will then show us if has the guts and nerve to rally all the people who really want to make the changes we need. I think the Republicans are losing so much support that there may be room for bold action.
Well I still claim Obama can win Louisiana, and I am phone banking for him Saturday. I'm glad the package failed and so are the nuns next door. Barbara Lee opposed it and I have decided that she and Kucinich and Kaptur will be my gurus on this. I hope Obama really does get some guts. I hope there is a large large turnout.
Great! I think all previous bets are off because folks are hopping mad now. The pros at organizing say that for every 12 people you talk to, one person will go vote who might not have voted before. That's the return they are looking for with door-knocking and phone-banking.
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