General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: FCC Proposes Groundbreaking Free Public Wi-Fi Throughout United States; Mobile Companies Protest [View all]Peace Patriot
(24,010 posts)Last edited Tue Feb 5, 2013, 05:18 PM - Edit history (1)
books yet!
It was "New Deal" SOCIALISTS. It was the president whom the !% called a "dictator." It was the man who said, "Organized money hates me--and I welcome their hatred."
The late great Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his cabal of commie pinko egghead democrats with a small d, whom the American people four times elected to take this country back from the rich assholes who crashed it nearly into oblivion. The New Dealers who put this country back together, fought World War II and left us a legacy of progressive ideas and programs that the 1% have yet to entirely extinguish and that we may yet restore along with our democratic heritage.
But surely you're kidding ("whoever it was" .
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At the time the Rural Electrification Act was passed, electricity was commonplace in cities but largely unavailable in farms, ranches, and other rural places. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued Executive Order 7037 on May 11, 1935, establishing the Rural Electrification Administration.[1] ...
In the 1930s, the provision of power to remote areas was not thought to be economically feasible. A 2300 volt distribution system was then used in cities. This relatively low voltage could only be carried about 4 miles before the voltage drop became unacceptable.
REA cooperatives used a 6900 volt distribution network, which could support much longer runs (up to about 40 miles). Despite requiring more expensive transformers at each home, the overall system cost was manageable.
REA crews travelled through the American countryside, bringing teams of electricians along with them. The electricians added wiring to houses and barns to utilize the newly available power provided by the line crews.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_Electrification_Act
(my emphasis)
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And here's an interesting item in that much too short wiki article: "1949 - extended the (REA) to allow loans to telephone companies wishing to extend their connections to unconnected rural areas."
Indeed, the modern infrastructure of the United States--roads, bridges, ports, electrification/power, telephone system, public buildings (city halls, libraries, schools, hospitals), etc.--was almost all created by GOVERNMENT WORKERS and OUR TAX DOLLARS, almost all during the New Deal, and some of it (such as freeways and international airports) in later expansions of the "New Deal" notion of "the Commons." U.S. corporations used all of this taxpayer-subsidized infrastructure, and all of its maintenance and expansions costs borne by you and me, to create the transglobal corporate monsters of today, who have loyalty to no country or people, and who are robbing and exploiting us without mercy, including trying to DISMANTLE any remaining elements of the "New Deal" that benefit "the people," such as Social Security, and trying to smash the idea of "the Commons" forever. FDR must be rolling over in his grave at the horrors of "privatization," job outsourcing, the Enron-ization of energy, the decimation of communities, rural areas and small farms, the requirement of possessing a million dollars to even think of running for Congress, oil corporation price-gouging and price-fixing, corporate monopoly of the public airwaves now used for non-stop corporate propaganda, and all the multiple and massive evils of out-of-control transglobal corporations.
We've got our work cut out for us, for sure, to reclaim our country and our democracy--which needs to start, in my opinion, with a REAL "Boston Tea Party" to eject corporate-run, 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines from our election system. But before we can even do that, we need to start REMEMBERING how this country became great during and because of the New Deal. Rural Electrification CO-OPS, taxpayer-funded infrastructure and a belief in "the Commons."