In the years prior to the 2016 Presidential election, then President Obama took a lot of verbal abuse. WinLoseorDraw heard a lot of anti-Obama rhetoric on the softball fields while playing softball with other old guys. These guys castigated former President Obama’s every move in grimly, jovial fashion. When Osama Bin Laden was captured and killed, WinLoseorDraw was expecting a slight nod of approval from the other ball players; but WinLoseorDraw was disappointed. Former President Obama got no credit.
WinLoseorDraw has listened to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh enough to be able to recognize the distinctive flavor of their rhetoric. WinLoseorDraw soon realized he could stop tuning into Hannity and Limbaugh. He was getting a solid dose of those programs every gameday.
As the 2016 candidates were beginning to vie for the nomination, the support amongst ballplayers for Donald Trump was not strong. They were heard to express vague preferences for other candidates. However, as the ground-swell for Mr. Trump got underway, the support of the ballplayers also solidified. The rhetoric of Hannity and Limbaugh was again being re-broadcast on the ballfield. They praised candidate Trump as a businessman. They said the country needs to be run “like a business”. They castigated the other candidates as “politicians”, and they said the word “politician” with a sneer.
A brief digression: WinLoseorDraw shares the ballplayer’s disdain for most politicians. They almost always adopt a subtly elitist perspective as soon as they get elected.
Back to the main point: Recent events have called President Trump’s reputation as a non-political businessman into question. In WinLoseorDraw’s humble opinion, President Trump is totally out-politicking the politicians. He is the most political President ever. Does that make him the best politician or the worst? Only future history will tell.
FDR’s policies were necessary to expand government, not to restore economic vitality. An example to illustrate helps: Warren Harding took office in 1921 when unemployment was 11.9%. He cut taxes and spending. Five years later unemployment was 1.9%.
1930 was the middle of the Hoover administration when unemployment stood at 8.9%. Being a “progressive” Republican, he increased spending, began public works and raised taxes. Things got much worse. FDR took office in 1933 and expanded Hoover’s policies of government intervention. Five years into the New Deal unemployment was 19.0%.
Divide and destroy the Left? I wish. I hear from Prager, Levin, Limbaugh, etc. a profound respect for the vast majority of people; they are trying to educate. The likes of Pelosi and Schumer are “demonic” in their lies and looting. The Left would prefer that we just shut up and take their programming, we have to play nice.
Bitter Deplorable said, “FDR’s policies were necessary to expand government, not to restore economic vitality.”
WinLoseorDraw is willing to bet real money that any analysis of what FDR actually said at the time will reveal a concern for the “Common Good” and the “Welfare of the People”. He probably never said, “We have to make this government as big as possible. Once we are completely in control, we won’t even have to listen to the complaints of the sweaty populace.”
You, Bitter Deplorable, might correctly point out that his actual words are less important that the effects of his words.
Most historians (correct me if I am wrong) still believe that FDR’s policies were designed to ease the country through a very tough time.
Government cannot be run like a business because a business is disciplined by customers and competitors every hour while government is a monopoly that uses the threat of force to take taxes from strangers and bestows it upon other strangers to buy votes. Business is about serving customers while government is about power. Trump became a politician the moment he decided to run for office. He used the metaphor of draining the swamp, instead he is drowning in it.
Washington was the most political president ever. He positioned himself to be selected top general of the army. After the war he was the chief lobbyist for a new constitution of a strong central government. During the Constitutional Convention he posed tall at the head of the meetings and was then elected as the first president while cultivating the impression that he was reluctant.
Super politician FDR was elected president four times but his party’s policies turned a recession into the Great Depression and his legacy of political control of the economy continues to promote costly dependencies and market distortions. Policy-wise for those who think government is too big, the best presidents were Cleveland, Harding and Coolidge but their policies were quickly reversed after they left office.
Limbaugh, et. al. serve a market to complain about big government and the machinations of the Left; there is content, not just flavor. Limbaugh’s nationally syndicated radio program began during the Reagan administration. Obama’s rhetoric of “bitter clingers,” “share the wealth,” “fundamental transformation,” “punishing our (political) enemies,” was supported by his policies of increased political control of the culture and economy. Opposition was derided as racist. Verbal abuse is mild compared to the real abuse of massive increases in health insurance premiums caused by the Affordable Care Act.
Richard:
Para 1:Thank you for outlining the salient distinctions between business and government. Also. thank you for reminding us that President Trump promised to “drain the swamp”, and that he has not done so. WinLoseorDraw does not agree, however, that President Trump is “drowning in it”. Like all the amphibious creatures in Washington, he is alive and healthy in the swampland we have allowed them to create. They will continue to use underwater breathing apparatus to survive nicely until we drain the swamp. When that happens they will all flop around on the muddy banks (pun intended) until they dry out enough to claim that they were all trapped in the swamp. They will fight each other to be the most grateful that we have saved them.
Para 2: WinLoseorDraw has a more kindly perception of Potus 1. America was impoverished by the Revolutionary War. As President, George had to advocate a strong central government. A strong central government was necessary to raise revenues through taxes. We had to pay the troops and raise a navy and establish a centralized banking system. Otherwise, we would have disintegrated and become just another footnote in history. As for the President’s political acumen, I will concede that he was a lot more politically adept than historians sometimes paint him.
Para 3: WinLoseorDraw agrees with your assessment of FDR and his legacy in principle, but, again, with a more kindly and forgiving attitude. Necessity of action is the pillar upon which the FDR legacy leans. However, WinLoseorDraw does agree with you that an unfortunate dependency on Big Government is also a part of that legacy, a mis-guided and regrettable part.
Para 4: WinLoseorDraw can only hope that Rush Limbaugh, et al. will revert back to the rhetoric they were using in the Reagan era. That rhetoric was less devisive and less destructive. You cannot forge a positive coalition for change by demonizing half the American populace.