Francois Furstenberg argues that the “welfare state” (I hate that term, btw) was initiated out of self-defense by the wealthy of the Gilded Age. The extreme economic disparities of the late 19th century was causing widespread violence and threatened to tear the country apart. And these were people with living memory of the Civil War, so tearing the country apart had a reality to them.
The Gilded Age plutocrats who first acceded to a social welfare system and state regulations did not do so from the goodness of their hearts. They did so because the alternatives seemed so much more terrifying.
I don’t think that’s all there was to it, but it’s an interesting thing to consider.
I don’t think the new Lords and Ladies of “The Platinum Age” are as enlightened as the ones from the “Gilded” one.
Their point of reference isn’t the Civil War and it’s horrors, but rather “The Southern Strategy,” and the bounty that started to come to them since “The Reagan Revolution” started – or what the rest of us know as ‘The Reagan De-evolution.’
The Conservatives venerate The American Revolution , the Tea Party, and their newest summer patriots – the Teabaggers. Good, let them.
I think the rest of us need to look to The French Revolution, the Bourgeoise (really – they were the ones who led the peasants!), and it’s guillotine sharpeners.
Hell, if a guillotine can go through a neck, bags full of tea, or something else, shouldn’t be too tough.
Besides prayer and meditation, enlightenment can frequently also be accomplished at the end of a gun or the edge of a sharp blade. Self-enlightenment is accelerated when the self is in danger.
And if it comes to that, the least we can do is be quick and merciful.
Hell, they’ve got a lot worse in store for the rest of us. *
*Actually, I’m about the least violent person most people will ever meet, so most of this is BS. But, at least I can dream, can’t I?
Too bad today’s plutocrats aren’t equally terrified, but things could get bad enough to create some potential unrest in the near future. “A la lanterne” has been floating through my mind for some time now:)
One interesting thing that Shelby Foote noted in the first volume of “The Civil War, a Narrative” is that some of the ideas of Marx had influenced some of the political thought in the US, obviously more in the North than the South. It was not a strong influence, but he cites a quote by Lincoln regarding the importance of the contribution of labor to production and economy. Then later there was the Social Gospel Movement. So the landscape of ideas had some progressive concepts floating around.
I tend to agree with that, though I have no evidence to back me up. Few things in politics are done out of the goodness of people’s hearts. Sitting here in Walker’s WI, I’m thinking that the right has done a much better job of working to create their reality, while the labor movement relied on the goodness of politicians to achieve their ends, at least over the last 30 years. Politics is about making your reality a reality, if you step on toes and people don’t like it, well, screw them. The major newspaper in Madison, the Wisconsin State Journal (apropos acronym of WSJ) came out AGAINST the recall votes a week or two ago. My reaction was, screw you, I don’t care, I’m getting mine. Then we’re getting the big Dope in the gov’s mansion. Power politics at its best.
Also Too, if you haven’t seen the movie MATEWAN, see it. It’s about unionizing the coal mines in West Virginia. Great movie.
Welfare state my ass. People started getting to gether, and forming unions to fight these radical people who didn’t want to pay a living wage. Nothing was given to the unions, they had to t9ake it.
The point of the article is to explain that the plutocrats were frightened into giving in to unions.
Here’s a photograph of my Great Grandfather’s naturalization certificate. It’s an extraordinary lithograph the likes of which I’ve never seen anywhere, even the museum at Ellis Island doesn’t display such an elaborate certificate. My reason for posting it here is twofold..First as a show of pride for being an American, and secondly, to highlight a detail in the certificate that isn’t clearly seen because of the poor quality of the photo,but bears some relevance to the subject at hand…In the vignette at the center bottom is shown an engraving of a beehive with the eternal eye( like on at dollar bill)above it. The words, Never despair are written underneath the eye, and below the beehive is written Nothing without Labor. I find it ironic that immigrants coming to our country would be given such word of encouragement especially seeing how our nation has devolved into a country where everything without laborhas become the watchword.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1311/5167097925_c51b43fac1_b.jpg
Swami — the certificate is beautiful. So 19th century. Typesetting was a genuine art then. I can’t make out the year … ?
Bachman/ Palin 2012 ’cause a swift thrust to the neck is a faster than death by a thousand cuts. The house must fall before we can repair anything. “God has always been hard on the poor. ”
Jean-Paul Marat
maha…1874 The ninety ninth year of our independence.
I have always hated the fourth of July. It’s too noisy. But, as an American Indian, Independence day does not represent independence for my ancestors. It only represents being rounded up and put in reservations, the rape of our native lands, etc. When I worked I did appreciate having the day off; but, I usually went to movies in a mall somewhere to avoid the heat and the noise of firecrackers. However, since movies are a passion of mine, it was a good time.
Rather than fund a welfare state, today’s plutocrats’ insurance policy is funding propaganda networks like Faux and right-wing, pro-corporatist, gullible idiot groups like the teabaggers to beat down any impetus toward funding the general welfare. It costs less, and leaves them with the satisfaction of laughing at the rubes scrabbling among themselves over crumbs.
“The point of the article is to explain that the plutocrats were frightened into giving in to unions.”
Having grown up with parents that were staunch union believers and members and having read Philip Dray – There is Power in a Union, I believe that Furstenberg is either ignorant or disingenuous.
Nothing was initiated out of self defense. Plutocrats never gave an inch. The people at the bottom of the economic pyramid kept taking until those at the bottom felt there was a certain amount of equality.
In the US they stopped short of what happened in Russia in 1918.
After “The Gilded Age,” the people who benefited the most from the changes after that era put up pictures of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the homes.
Several generations later, the people who benefited the most from the people who put up pictures of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, took that picture down, and put up Ronald Reagan’s picture in their homes.
c u n d gulag, 🙂
Gosh Swami, I would be very proud of that too. I wish I could find my grandparents papers. My favorite piece is a flattened out “Uneeda Biscuit” box, which my grandmother used to save paper. She wrote down a number of phrases and constructions to practice English. My father said she spoke five languages, one of them almost certainly being Czech, which is considered a difficult language to learn. Of course, to most she was just another “dumb immigrant”.
“Several generations later, the people who benefited the most from the people who put up pictures of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, took that picture down, and put up Ronald Reagan’s picture in their homes.” — As John Prine said, “Exactlyoto, Quasimodo” (I’m not likening you to Quasimodo, but I think it’s a catchy phrase.)
I still have a very nice campaign poster of FDR that someone took down from its post and mounted on some WWII era ‘Saturday Night Post” covers so they could tack it to their wall. I can’t pretend to be impartial, but it seems like a sweet momento of the time when Americans believed in themselves and in what they could build when they put their backs and their minds together.
cundgulag was talking about having a “What If” thread. I was wondering what would have happened if the depression hadn’t happened when it did and the Republicans continued to hold the presidency through the war. There were enough people around that openly admired Hitler. I even have a period newspaper with a big article on a summer camp run by an American bund. There is not a whiff of disapproval in it. It’s not a great leap to conjecture that most people with a positive opinion of Hitler probably considered themselves pro-business conservatives. Of course, Pearl Harbor, would likely have had the same result, if it happened… (Cue “Twilight Zone” theme)
goatherd,
Phillip Roth wrote a counterfactual novel about that, “The Plot Against America,” where Lindbergh defeats FDR in 1940. It was a very good read.
The point of the article is to explain that the plutocrats were frightened into giving in to unions.
The violence of the French Revolution is why France is the way it is – the government there is rightly frightened of what their people are capable of. And people there haven’t forgotten how to exercise their muscle, by calling general strikes, which is the only thing that materially affects the position and income of the elites. Loss of income, position or power is the only thing they understand, or feel compelled to pay attention to.
Plutocrats here caved into the unions after considerable local violence and struggle almost a century ago. But we have rarely ever developed the unity and muscle that a general strike would require. We’re like a sleeping giant with untapped and unknown abilities in this regard. The plutocrats discovered the power of public relations and mass media, endeavors that really didn’t find their feet until after the caving in to unions. In essence, they discovered the power of manipulating the masses through media before we were able to find our strength. (kind of rambling ideas today, writing from a friend’s laptop in the mountains).
Great comment way upstream, gulag.
A lot of that comes from being divided against each other, along racial and other lines, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, alas.
Thanks, moonbat! 🙂
Must read:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/how-grover-norquist-hypnotized-the-gop/2011/06/30/AGYOUlsH_story.html
Deval Patrick explains the current right beautifully.
A lot of that comes from being divided against each other, along racial and other lines, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, alas.
When things get bad enough, I expect a certain degree of unification to occur, but I also expect a lot of divisiveness and self-seeking to continue. It’s going to be a very volatile situation that could facilitate some very positive (and negative) changes for those who are ready for it.
Gulag, thanks for the link to the Norquist story. It certainly goes a long way toward explaining what is going on. People like The Family, Peter Peterson, and Norquist have no real morals. The number of people following them is horrifying. How we are supposed to oppose this behemoth is beyond me. When Hilary talked about the “vast Right Wing conspiracy” she was belittled. She should hit that one again.
Swami, thanks for posting the photo. That is a gorgeous document… wax seal and little ribbon and everything. A treasure!
Hmm, I never found anything like that, snooping around as a child in all the secret drawers and crannies of the “secretary” in my grandma’s house. Makes me wonder if my forbears came into the U.S. from England in a laundry basket, Merry Wives of Windsor-style. (“Oi! Mabel, this in’t Manchester! What the bloody ell?!”)
We could solve(some of ) the problem with a federal lottery, one that exempts an individual from federal income tax for life.
Just imagine the amount of participation.
A fund raiser featuring A list entertainers could raise billions also.
People don’t like paying tax, but they sure love a good time and the prospect of living tax free.
Republicans are real big on killing social programs, but these very programs are insurance against revolution, and contrary to popular opinion, even docile, sedated Americans will revolt if things get really bad. Revolution could consist of a general strike and a run on the banks, failure to pay your monthly bills, etc.
Really bad, for some of us is the new reality.
There are some real good film clips today over at BUZZFLASH; check ’em out.
http://www.theonion.com/video/obama-befriends-rich-elderly-widow-in-hopes-shell,20305/