General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: I refuse to let cynicism make me bitter.. [View all]F4lconF16
(3,747 posts)It clearly DID NOT work.
First, the people it did work for were almost exclusively straight white men.
Second, the primary cause of economic growth was our international status at the end of WWII. Thomas Piketty's book does an excellent job of discussing that, though I disagree with his rather optimistic Keynesian conclusions.
Third, 70 years later and we're almost (I'd argue we already are) in a new gilded age. We've been heading there steadily since the economic boom in the 50s. Something's not right.
Fourth, our entire economic and political system was designed by people who explicitly set out to protect property rights for the elites of the time, as well as creating stable oppressions and divisions in the working class. They have done phenomenally well. The fact that we haven't had a revolution is only because FDR was able to hop in and save the elites from themselves. He was part of the corporate and economic elite that managed to prevent a total collapse by feeding just enough to a new middle class to gain their support. He was not the hero that people think he was.
Fifth, climate change will not be fixed by a new New Deal. That's a huge limiting factor on the growth of capitalism, which depends on unrestrained expansion to survive. You ignore that issue at your own peril.
Sixth, a new New Deal does nothing to address the massive social unrest we feel today due to the oppression of women and minorities. We need a solution that comprehensively addresses both.
I'd recommend the book "The Democrats: A Critical History" by Lance Selfa. It exposes the facts that the Democratic Party, despite it's occasional success, has historically been the stabilizing party for a constantly crashing economic system propped up by support of a self-interested middle class. Radical left movements have been the only thing enacting real, significant, and positive change for years now.