[Dialogue] Howard Zinn's alternative

[KroegerD at aol.com]

>From Empire to Democracy
 
 
 
Let's not waste $700bn on a bail-out, but use 'big  government' for what it's 
best at – shaping a society that is fair and  peaceable
by Howard Zinn
 
This current _financial  crisis_ 
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/marketturmoil)  is a major way-station on the way to the collapse of the American  
empire. The first important sign was 9/11, with the most heavily-armed nation in  
the world shown to be vulnerable to a handful of hijackers. 
And now, another sign: both major parties rushing to get an agreement to  
spend _$700bn of taxpayers' money_ 
(http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jdH_jFDkWlSEeZocD5AIpAwxEfBA)  to pour down the drain of huge  financial institutions 
which are notable for two characteristics: incompetence  and greed. 
There is a much better solution to the current financial crisis. But it  
requires discarding what has been conventional "wisdom" for too long: that  
government intervention in the economy ("big government") must be avoided like  the 
plague, because the "free market" will guide the economy towards growth and  
justice. 
Let's face a historical truth: we have never had a "free market", we have  
always had government intervention in the economy, and indeed that intervention  
has been welcomed by the captains of finance and industry. They had no 
quarrel  with "big government" when it served their needs. 
It started way back, when the founding fathers met in Philadelphia in 1787 to 
 draft the constitution. The first big bail-out was the decision of the new  
government to redeem for full value the almost worthless bonds held by  
speculators. And this role of big government, supporting the interests of the  
business classes, continued all through the nation's history. 
The rationale for taking $700bn from the taxpayers to subsidise huge  
financial institutions is that somehow that wealth will trickle down to the  people 
who need it. This has never worked. 
The alternative is simple and powerful. Take that huge sum of money and give  
it directly to the people who need it. Let the government declare a 
moratorium  on foreclosures and give aid to homeowners to help them pay off their 
mortgages.  Create a federal jobs programme to guarantee work to people who want 
and need  jobs and for whom "the free market" has not come through. 
We have a historic and successful precedent. _Roosevelt's New Deal_ 
(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-big-question-what-was-roosevelts-n
ew-deal-and-is-something-like-it-needed-today-932942.html)  put millions of 
people to work,  rebuilding the nation's infrastructure, and, defying the cries 
of "socialism",  established social security. That can be carried further, 
with "health security"  - free health care - for all. 
All that will take more than $700bn. But the money is there. In the $600bn  
for the military budget, once we decide we will no longer be a war-making  
nation. And in the swollen bank accounts of the super-rich, by taxing vigorously  
both their income and their wealth. 
When the cry goes up, whether from Republicans or Democrats, that this must  
not be done because it is "big government", the citizenry should just laugh. 
And  then agitate and organise on behalf of what the Declaration of 
Independence  promised: that it is the responsibility of government to ensure the equal 
right  of all to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". 
Only such a bold approach can save the nation - not as an empire, but as a  
democracy. 
© Guardian News and Media Limited  2008







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