..which is what many conservatives call cutting all entitlement programs. Such a life is described in the ground breaking book MIDDLETOWN A Study In Modern American Culture written Robert and Helen Lynd in 1929. Life is described in a 'typical American town'. actually Muncie, Indiana. And it is grim to the extreme for most working people. It describes a world where factories routinely lay people off at the age of 40 because they're too old and too slow, there is no social security, medicare, unemployment, or social safety net of any kind, no health insurance. 38,000 people in town, 53 beds in the hospital. Only the wealthy could afford it. A typical American town where people suffer and starve and old age is just starting to be recognized as a 'problem.'
These first person accounts of unemployment, hunger, no days off, long hours, low pay, and just hard lives are as shocking now as they were then. This was America and this was the 20s. They weren't even in the depression yet! This study of a hard-ass America gives us a preview of life in America without a net, which Bush's crazy tax cutting and wild deficit spending may yet bring back.
This was a very corrrupt time and this quote like many others sounds familiar:
"Not the least significant feature of this political corruption is the fact that it is so taken for granted by most citizens and both parties. To the Democrats charge of the Teapot Dome Oil Scandal in the presidential election of 1924, the local Republicans found it necessary to reply only "of course. Any party is corrupt and the Democrats are just as bad."
In the 1924 election, the papers in town refused to print lists of the candidates so that people would vote straight Republican. Those voters who used the then brand new voting machines were only allowed 15 seconds to make their choices making it impossible to split your ticket. Republican scandals and new voting machines. They had it all back then. It's pretty amazing reading about that world, a world it would seem, Republicans want to return to.