Over the years, I have spent a lot of time reading about Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Presidency. I have done this because I believe that Roosevelt (aka FDR), through his New Deal programs, set the stage for the modern Democratic Party, and I also believe that he put the United States of America on the path to become the world's first and greatest superpower. His policies transformed America for the better and made life much better for tens of millions of Americans.
The Roosevelt Administration’s New Deal programs covered 14 categories, which one can read about at The Living New Deal website. When I study people or ideas, I often like to figure out what the core of a person or an idea is. In other words, I like to figure out what is most important. If I were to boil down the single most important acts of Roosevelt's administration, it would be the following:
1. He raised taxes on the wealthy
2. He raised wages through America’s first Federal Minimum Wage laws.
3. He created government Jobs to lower unemployment, to get important projects done, and to put upward pressure on wages. These jobs were paid for in part by the taxes that he raised. He was able to raise these taxes successfully because of the improvement in the economy that happened because of his raising taxes, his raising of wages, and his creation of government jobs. In other words, these ideas worked in combination with one another.
4. He created organized labor laws that helped, in the long run, to make jobs pay better, make jobs safer, and make jobs offer better benefits.
There were many other things important things that President Roosevelt did during his administration, but until he improved the economy from the mess that it was during the Great Depression, everything else had to take a back seat to these four core ideas. If I were to sum up these ideas in a single phrase, it would be this:
More and Better Jobs
If this phrase seems familiar to people here at DailyKos.com, that is because it reads an awful lot like a phrase that DK founder Markos Moulitsas has used a number of times on this site when referring to one of his primary goals of this site: More and Better Democrats.
The idea of better Jobs can include what is currently one of the Democratic Party's main goals: More and Better Healthcare. You see, healthcare often is a benefit of the jobs that include better benefits. In addition, we Democrats would like to see all Americans receiving good quality healthcare—even if an existing job does not provide it. In other words, we want to make all jobs better by seeing that everyone gets healthcare even if a job does not currently provide healthcare. We Democrats generally only disagree on how we should get there. Right now, should it be a mix of private and public healthcare or just a national healthcare system?
I will leave that healthcare debate to other essays. I just wanted to make the point that healthcare can be seen as an extension of what FDR wanted when he sought more and better jobs. In fact, FDR wanted to create a healthcare system for Americans but was unable to implement it during his lifetime. I guess if we really wanted to express what FDR was ultimately going for, it might be this:
More Jobs, Better Jobs, and a Better Life for All Americans.
As Democrats, isn't what FDR was ultimately aiming for—making sure that there are plenty of good jobs and that all Americans have a decent life--what we are still aiming for? I think that FDR’s goals were much better, much clearer, and much more honest than say, "Build The Wall (keep immigrants out!)". Now, consider trying this experiment:
Read about the 14 categories of New Deal programs at the website The Living New Deal. Then also make a mental note that FDR planned to introduce national health insurance after WWII, but died before he could see it through. Finally, look at all of the programs that have been presented by Democratic Presidential Candidates Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren during their campaigns by going to their websites (Sanders, Warren).
Where did a lot of these ideas first come from? If you read up on the New Deal programs, you know exactly where they came from. Unless, of course, you think that the phrase “Green New Deal” is just an incredible coincidence (no, our readers are much too smart for that :) ). Guess what? FDR's ideas for transforming America are still exciting people today because they have been updated by a new generation--for a new generation. Thanks, FDR. I believe that, even today. you are still showing us the way.