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I recently finished reading New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR’s Economic Legacy Has Damaged America by Burton Folsom, Jr. In it he provides a thoroughly supported rebuke of the popular FDR administration.

That Roosevelt’s economic policies prolonged the depression, and still holds the prospect of national bankruptcy over our heads, was not news to me. Contrary to helping us through the Great Depression, we know now that FDR prolonged it dramatically. The list of bone-headed policies promoted by FDR is long, and includes a 100% income tax on all income over $25,000, paying farmers not to produce, and wage and price controls. Really, the best thing he ever did for our economy was to die.

But what was really fascinating was how FDR, a habitual liar, popularized almost all of the political behavoirs we criticize today. He quite possibly did more than all other Presidents combined to undermine our Constitutional government and its system of checks and balances. Furthermore, he showed that the easiest way to electoral success is through political patronage. By funneling massive amounts of federal dollars through his supporters, while simultaneously abusing federal institutions to harass and destroy his opponents (the use of the IRS for political purposes is another of his legacies), Roosevelt easily cruised to reelection (twice!) despite a record of near complete failure. This failure was best summed up by FDR’s Treasury Secretary of over 10 years, Henry Morgenthau Jr., who said:

We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong…somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises….I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started….And an enormous debt to boot!

The lessons of this book are frighteningly applicable to today. As Obama looks to repeat the economic failures of Roosevelt, those who care about the Constitution have every reason to fear that, by emulating FDR’s corruption, he can also repeat his electoral successes and secure a new New Deal Coalition to rain terror over our economy and freedoms for another generation. Reading this book is a good first step to knowing how to stop him.

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