Posted on 08/10/2024 10:20:28 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
It is often forgotten, but Hoover was a political philosopher. He first outlined his political philosophy in 1922 in "American Individualism." In 1934, in response to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, Hoover wrote "The Challenge to Liberty."
Both "American Individualism" and "The Challenge to Liberty" were a defense of what Hoover called the “American System,” or constitutionalism. In "American Individualism," Hoover hailed the principle of equality of opportunity or the “fair chance of Abraham Lincoln,” which reflected his own life story. Hoover argued that it was the American system of liberty that allowed an individual to advance. Orphaned at an early age, Hoover just as Lincoln had done, had advanced in life on his own initiative.
(Excerpt) Read more at aol.com ...
I recommend that you surf over to AOL and read the entire article.
In history books and in our political culture, President Hoover is blamed for the Great Depression.
We all know that the truth is a lot more complicated than that. But the way things get discussed in our politics and the way history is written the blame goes to him. And conversely, FDR is credited with saving us from the Great Depression.
There too the actual events of the 1930s are far more complicated than saying Hoover caused the depression or that FDR ended it
“...surf over to AOL and read the entire article.”
Hells bells, I didn’t even know that AOL was still around.
The Great Depression was worldwide and in those days the US economy was not big enough to wreck the economies of the rest of the world.
Some of FDR’s stupid programs were started by Hoover.
That is an interesting point. I tried a quick search and saw indications that America may have been a global trigger, though. Collapse of the US stock market had global ramifications from international financing connections. US banks called loans in Europe to cover losses.
There was some indication, which I find credible, that the Bolshevik revolution in Russia could be largely responsible. Bolshevism was spreading throughout Europe at the time. I find it hard to believe that this did not cause economic uncertainty.
Tariffs were raised against all other nations. And then all other nations raised their tariffs. International trade came to a halt. Production happened and nobody bothered to buy anything from a foreign country. Nobody could sell anything. And instead of getting rid of tariffs, the world decided that it would rather have a long term economic depression.
Unfortunately, it was actually the spending resulting from WW2 beginning that really ended the depression.
FDR did what all Marxists have always done, take advantage of any, and all, emergency scenarios to advance the tenets & cause of Marxism while the peasants are distracted...
FDR solved the American communists number one problem/issue: gaining control of the citizens’ pocketbooks...
Under cover of WWII he implemented his most important Marxist goal and, supposedly temporarily, implemented direct theft of the peasants earnings through “payroll deduction”...
This assured the communists that spending, through this overt theft, would never again be controlled by the peasants ...
It was FDR's greatest achievement...
American citizens lost, forever, control of government spending...
Since that moment, the chains of communist tyranny have grown exponentially and the American citizen replaced those fabled frogs in the pot...
Yes I’ve heard how tax withholding was instituted during World War II , and it was supposed to be a temporary measure.
I’ve sometimes wondered, if tax policy and tax rates, would be very different nowadays if we did not have tax withholding.
How would people feel about taxes and tax rates, if they had to sit down on April 15th and write a check for $15,000 on that one day?
Instead many people seem to have a mindset in which they are happy if they got a tax refund. Tax refunds are fine but some people act like they’re getting a bonus of some sort. They don’t seem to appreciate that with tax refunds , what’s happening is you’re getting paid back your own money that you earned.
I also admire Hoover and his sin because they promoted radio and amateur radio com munication.
errata - sin should be son.
Herbert Hoover was one of the main, most high profile voices who decried progressives taking over the word “liberal”.
We dishonor Hoover’s memory by not taking that word back. Progressives did not earn it and don’t deserve it.
“ In history books and in our political culture, President Hoover is blamed for the Great Depression.”
Yep. I remember an old fellow who would refer to the Depression as “the Hoover days”. I also have heard the shantytowns in the day were called Hoovervilles.
Not to dispute you point about WWII spending ending the Great Depression, but doesn’t that kind of prove the liberal philosophy that government taxing and spending is helpful? I suppose someone could say if government only spent what they had (not deficit) it’s ok. Then the argument could be about how much they take in (tax)
To me, it shows that many of FDR’s programs didn’t actually get the US out of the depression. I think some folks might say yes to you, but will they also say that the sacrifice of millions of lives was also worth it? H’mmm, perhaps FDR planned WW2 so that he could get us out of the depression....
Amen to the point FDR socialist, worthless, anti-constitutional programs did nothing to end the depression.
And I do NOT actually believe my closing line: H’mmm, perhaps FDR planned WW2 so that he could get us out of the depression....
I graduated from Herbert Hoover High which was built when he was still President. Proud of that.
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