It’s interesting to note that the quote, “ A rising tide lifts all boats” is often mistakenly attributed to Ronald Reagan, who frequently employed the phrase to promote Trickle down economics. But it was actually JFK, having borrowed it from a regional New England chamber of commerce, who popularized the saying. The idea at the time was as the economy improved, the benefits could be passed on to everyone. It was an idea that the Democratic Party had been fighting for for decades. The idea that government had a responsibility to it’s citizens.
And at the time he was employing the phrase in Canton Ohio in 1960, JFK said this:
Party labels tell us something. The Democratic Party would not have nominated Mr. Nixon and the Republican Party never would have nominated me. We come out of the parties because the parties do stand for something. They do stand for a long history, and the record is written in the last 25 years and in the last 50 years. A Democratic majority wrote the Social Security Act and a Republican majority tried to kill it. The Democratic Party wrote unemployment compensation and the Republicans opposed it; a Democratic Party wrote the minimum wage law - a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour away back in the thirties, and four-fifths of the Republicans voted against it...parties mean something. They tell something about the candidates and they tell something about what the candidates will do if they are elected to office.
What President Kennedy was articulating was not just about an economic theory, he was articulating a type of approach, a view of the world and governments role in it. What it meant for the average person was being able to make a wage that allowed them to support their family and have social mobility. What it meant in terms of Narrative was that Government could and should take an active role in peoples lives.
Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us.
-FDR
What Reagan meant was something quite different.
Reagan used the term about the Rising tide to lift all boats to justify a completely different set of ideas. He used it to usher in Trickle Down Economics, promising that passing on tax cuts to the wealthy would lead to benefits for all. If you look at the graph at the top, you can see how that worked out when it comes to a typical workers compensation. What it meant in terms of Narrative was demonization of the government, the very thing that he was asking people to elect him to run:
Government is not the solution to our problems, Government is the problem
-Ronald Reagan
The problem is, the idea that government is the problem becomes a self fulfilling Prophesy. Because who really benefits from government that rejects the idea that they should serve the needs of the people, and embraces the idea that they should serve private interests?
This is probably the most insidious thing about the Reagan Legacy, undermining the ability of people to act collectively. “Morning in America”, turns out to be an ugly day for the majority of the American People.
Carry that narrative forward to the Republican party in it’s current visceral embodiment, Donald Trump. Like Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump is another salesman and former actor who promises to tear down the very system he is asking you to elect him to govern. A Party whose major objective over the past decade has been to promote a small government ideology at any cost.
People have a right to have a conversation about the issues that really matter in their lives. If We really had a liberal media, more people would know about the clear difference in outcomes the two parties policies have had when it comes to the Productivity-Pay Gap. When you look at the graph at the top and think about the rising tide, be hopeful.
There is a rising tide that can lift all boats and it could again: It’s the Big Blue Wave in the graph up above.
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something
-FDR