Monday, December 10, 2012

Critiquing the New Deal


While the New Deal was certainly a period of action marked by a series of government experiments, we still disagree on whether or not it was a success. The recession of 1937 proves that the programs were not resistant to economic decline, and the unemployment rate was still high by the late 1930s, despite the steady growth of the GDP over the decade.

Which criticisms of the New Deal do you find most convincing?  Are they at all reminiscent to economic or political rhetoric that we still use today?

11 comments:

  1. Though overly aggressive, I think the "Republicans Roast Roosevelt" article had a very convincing argument. By making parallels with the Constitution and the state of the country under Roosevelt, a clear image of why there were negative opinions towards the New Deal programs is created. The last part especially stood out to me because it highlights the negative side of too much government intervention. I agree that if too excessive, people can come extremely dependent on it and forget how to create success by themselves.

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  2. I think that the Criticism that is most convincing is how dependent people were getting on these new government handouts and not enough on getting themselves out there and working without the aid of the government. I think that as the country was getting lifted up onto its feet after getting knocked down so badly, that the help to get back up was needed, but as many people have criticized, the "new deal" programs were a little to involved with the way people found work. At the same time though i think that the "new deal" shaped the modern america with the building of her many national landmarks and a base for our future government to work off of. To be honest i am on the fence with this one. i think FDR's programs were needed and helped america become what we know and love, but they could have evolved into something much more sinister.

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  3. I think there are several very convincing points embedded in the "Republicans Roast Roosevelt" article. For example, the last line states that "[The New Deal Administration] has failed by seducing our people to become continuously dependent upon government, thus weakening their morale and quenching the traditional American spirit." In fact, this same argument has been often presented in present day. Far right Republicans tend to believe Democratic/Liberal policies only encourage government dependence, and do not promote making a living for oneself. Although there are flaws to this argument, it does sound very convincing.

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  4. One criticism that people still talk about today is how much power was given to government during this period. Republicans today believe that government shouldn't have nearly as much power as democrats believe it should have. Also, some may have found the projects like Mt. Rushmore etc a waste of government funding during such a difficult period in America's history.

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  5. The article that seems the most concincing to me is the "Republican Roast Roosvelt", because there are some decent valuable argument accused the New Deal program and FDR's adiminstration for trying to capture the superme court by challenge the consituition and a bit of cleverness.Also, by listing the undisputed fact that the FDR admistriation demosticated the us the deficit,doubled the national debt, and expensed the hands of federal goverment over ciziten's every day life just pinches the FDR very well. But to be honest, i am on the fence with FDR, because i think do something bold with confidence is always better than sit down and being a sour conservative one.

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  6. I find the political cartoons to be the most convinving. They definitely are similar to the criticism in political cartoons today. The first cartoon of the women and man can be used at this very moment. Our economy can be described today by this cartoon. The second cartoon is humorous, yet true. FDR is shaking hands with the "forgotten man". I think this symbolizes the way citizens felt about FDR. The smiles and shaking of hands demonstrates agreement between FDR and an average Joe.

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  7. I think that political cartoons are the most convincing. They attract the most viewers because they are so easy to read. But they also raise interesting points. Take the one on the top if this page for example. It is so simple and so easy to read. He's holding the constitution but its scribbled out saying "cancelled FDR" it's so easy to read and also accurate. People can easily relate to this and get a laugh out of it.

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  8. The most convincing argument for was the "Supreme court fight and after". The points it brought up about how the people of the United States became too dependent on government handouts, which played a big roll in the recovery of the united states. But like anything that seems too good to be true these government handouts had their draw backs like; over dependence.

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  9. I think that the most convincing article was the Republican article because it demonstrated the fears that people were having at the time and how it caused really big problems. It's also still relevant with the discussion on how involved the government should be in life. Most republicans believe in a smaller less involved government. Most democrats think that a more involved government it's better.

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  10. Criticisms of the New Deal that stuck out the most to me were pertaining to the concept of too much government intervention. This concept is very similar to criticisms heard today, about the Obama administration. Barack Obama has taken nearly every opportunity to offer handouts to low - income, urban families.

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  11. I can understand the point of view very well that maybe the US Government was intervening a little bit too much. Of course it can't be right to do nothing, in this situation there has to be help for the people, giving them hope and strength to move on and help to stabilize the economy by finding a job and buying stuff. But if the government takes to much care of the people, if the people get everything what they need to live from the government, they might not see a reason anymore to find a job and just live on the governments costs.

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