Dear Citizens and Elected Officials:
I wanted to share with you some thoughts I wrote out, and resources I linked to, for Green New Deal enthusiasts in Western Maryland, where we have a large physical legacy from the first one, still paying many public dividends almost a century later. I’m also hoping that Maryland’s two contemporary Senators, Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, will join the early stages of a new legacy, and back the resolution now pending in Congress, the one that three of their Maryland reps have already committed to: Jamie Raskin, Elijah Cummings and John Sarbanes. As well as six Presidential Candidates. So here it is:
A few things to keep in mind in the contemporary debate about the Green New Deal, given the attack lines from the Republican Right and Democratic Center. First, FDR did not have a specific plan to bring before the American people during the 1932 election, and indeed, was torn between the old 19th century ideal of a balanced federal budget and what he clearly knew was the collapse of the economic system and rise of vast, unmet human need. And nature soon would be calling as well in the form of a dust storm which made a deposit on DC in March of 1935. The Dust Bowl was here as well. He knew we were at a watershed, which he conveyed in his campaign speech to the Commonwealth Club in SF, but only promised action, and experiment. He didn't ask for emergency powers, but a befuddled and passive Congress gave him the closest thing a Congress has ever done to writing a blank check for programs, the famous "100 days" starting in March of 1933. We'll get no such "free pass," short lived as it was. We have 40 years of a Republican Right and passive Democratic Center to throw roadblocks at us, but they are on the defensive now as reality keeps flooding and burning its way into the public's perceptions. And, as much as one can trust polls, they're with us.
In some respects, where we are now is an advance over the late winter of 1932 and early 1933, in the sense that we have goals and a direction clearly indicated - the Resolution; but no formal plan, much less legislation. We have a tremendous amount of work to do, and many think tanks on the center and left ought to be involved, and Sanders and Warren's campaigns as well with their in house resources, to bring some sense of order, sequence and "how we'll do it and pay for it" to the American people. Paul Krugman has been harping on this from his column in the New York Times. I don't always agree with him, but I think on this he is mostly correct. My thinking out loud about what a Green New Deal might work on in Western Maryland was an attempt to ground the general directions in projects we need that are not being supplied, or even talked about.
{Editor’s Note: Yesterday, Friday, Feb. 22, 2019, as I watched some hearings in Annapolis on environmental bills before the legislature, I was struck by a sense of some of them, the legislators, that all is well, that Maryland’s existing regulatory system has it under control — no new laws needed. I don’t believe that’s the case, on Climate Disruption, fossil fuel infrastructure proliferation, forest protection, or on what is rising now to the forefront around the world: the realization that insect numbers and diversity are plummeting at such a rate (Britain, Puerto Rico, Germany...for example) www.theguardian.com/... that the collapse of the base of the entire food chain is possible. The culprits: mainly chemical dependent agriculture and less so, climate disruption. I could be wrong, but I am unaware of any sampling program conducted in Maryland which is trying, on an annual basis, to measure where we are. The MD Biodiversity Project is recording all species and incidence, but not population densities and numbers in the way we need to see if the “collapses” is a reality here to. But I digress — for a good reason: I don’t share Larry Hogan’s — or former Governor Martin O’Malley’s sense of complacency. And sympathy for insects, even based on clear human self-interest, is a hard sell. I’m coming late to the realization myself, but I do have “antennae” for political complacency and self-congratulation, and Maryland is full of it.)
Now here are some imaginative resources, based on "living history."
The current push for a Green New Deal is breathing new energy into an already excellent website, the Living New Deal, which has some of the most powerful photography I've seen, just like the famous originals from the 1930's. It's a living museum and encyclopedia of the works of the first New Deal, which were vast, including public works, parks and many pieces of public art, still on display. Here's the parent site: https://livingnewdeal.org/about/
Maryland educated Brent McKee is on the board and been on my mailing list for some time; we've stayed in touch off and on and he now lives in West Virginia. And here is a listing of projects built in Maryland during the first New Deal: https://livingnewdeal.org/us/md/ - a total of 167 projects, many of which are still contributing today, like Green Ridge State Forest, New Germany State Park, Savage River State Forest, and, local council members take note - many municipal improvement projects of a wide scope, including the long retaining wall in Frostburg, done very late in the New Deal. PA had 517 projects; WVA 234.
Here is an excellent update from the organization, which must feel as exhilarated as I do that after so many decades of the Right's propaganda machine and Clinton Wing of the Democratic Party trying to bury the legacy of the New Deal, trying to get us to think as small as their public programs...there are now very different winds stirring, even in the corridors of power in Congress. We have a long way to go, but the weather pattern has changed.
Here it is: https://livingnewdeal.org/green-new-deal/?utm_source=The+Living+New+Deal+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f093f31999-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_02_11_01_48&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9b1d50921b-f093f31999-1211331449
I thought so much of this article that I'm going to quote ten points they made:
Here are ten principles that explain the success of the New Deal:
- Create Universal Programs. The New Deal succeeded by initiating universal programs like pensions for all elders, work relief for all unemployed, and investment in all corners of the country. In so doing, it gave income, hope and voice to millions of Americans.
- Reduce Inequality at Both Ends. Inequality is a plague that drags down the economy, breeds resentment, and rots the foundations of democracy. The New Deal dramatically reduced inequality by heavy taxes on wealth, curbs on speculation and lifting the fortunes of workers through the right to organize, fair wages from contractors and a federal minimum wage.
- Modernize the Economy. America has suffered from industrial closures, financial speculation and sluggish investment. The New Deal was the first to use fiscal stimulus to spur growth, while pushing modernization through research, investment, and education.
- Think Big. America’s foundations are crumbling, leaving unsafe water, potholed roads, and failing electric grids. The New Deal made a priority of investing in modern infrastructure and in so doing laid the foundation for prosperity far into the future.
- Think Small. Not all public works need to be large. The New Deal built every kind of small project that local communities wanted, whether parks, schools or water systems, using the labor of local unemployed workers and jobless youth.
- Invest in Lagging Places. The gulf between rural areas and big cities has to be addressed, just as the New Deal did through programs such as rural electrification, soil conservation and roads — bringing work, income and hope to forgotten places.
- Let the People Serve. Americans want to work for a higher purpose than personal gain, and the New Deal gave them the means to rebuild their communities and reconstruct the nation through public works, social service, education and the arts.
- Restore Faith in Government. Too many people feel that government does not serve them. The New Deal proved otherwise, making FDR the most popular president in US history. It showed that leadership must be based on high morals and personal honor.
- Build a Greener America.Conservation was a pillar of the New Deal and a reason for its popularity. It showed that environmental improvement and social justice are the same thing by bringing clean water, free parks and reforestationto every corner of the country.
Combating climate change is a worthy centerpiece of a new New Deal, but it must be part of a program of national reconstruction and renewal for all. This great nation can rise to the challenge if it has the right vision and good leadership. We did it before and we can do it again.
I'll close with two thoughts: that the answer to "bringing everyone together" lies in the universality of the programs now on the table. And there was, and ought to be again, a dynamic tension between the federal funding and direction, and the local projects and participation, which there was in the 1st New Deal. The call to "Invest in Lagging Places" won't be successful without it. I don't think either Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, with clear national ambitions, or his predecessor, Martin O'Malley, understand or understood that, and Bill Clinton didn't think the age he helped usher in would need it again: a large role for the federal government. Well, big problems are back, and the late 1990's always looked a lot like the late 1920's to me "old sport." As on some other major policy directions, he was flat out wrong.
Best,
Bill of Rights
Frostburg MD