Joe
Palermo
Ken Burns' seven-part PBS series on
the lives of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, is a remarkable achievement. Burns sheds a poignant new light
on the personal and public lives of three monumental figures in 20th Century
American history. And in doing so, he illustrates the relative rottenness of
the hacks, partisans, and plutocrats who make up the political class that rules
America today.
By exploring the lives and times of
TR, FDR, and ER Burns shows that in our not-so-distant past the governing
institutions of this country were actually responsive to the needs and desires
of working-class Americans. This superb and moving portrait is a perfect fit
for our times. The utter failure of our current "leaders" is glaring
by comparison.
Yes, TR was a warmonger, and FDR
signed the order that imprisoned innocent Japanese Americans. There are long
lists of both presidents' failures. But we shouldn't let those flaws bury the
fact that both TR and FDR were not afraid to stand up to big corporations and
Wall Street if they viewed their actions as damaging to the country. That alone
is probably the biggest difference between those leaders of the early decades
of the 20th Century and today.
After thirty years of
"supply-side" economics that has left working people still waiting
for better times to "trickle down"; eight years of George W. Bush's
misrule that brought us war and recession; the Far-Right ascendency in 2010
that has all but shuttered the federal government in an attempt to destroy
Barack Obama; and a Supreme Court that is proudly subservient to every tenet of
plutocracy -- I think it's okay to flip on PBS and feel a bit nostalgic for a
time when there existed effective politicians who actually gave a damn about
the quality of life of the majority of Americans.
Over the past thirty years,
Presidents and Congresses have become so subservient to corporations and Wall
Street that the two major political parties are all but indistinguishable.
One of the reasons why our politics have become so
volatile and opinion polls show over and
over again that our people have nothing but contempt for the whole political
class in Washington is the widespread recognition that the plutocrats, CEOs,
and Wall Street bankers have effectively seized our governing institutions.
Another subtext for our times of
the Burns documentary is the reminder that people who come from the richest .01
percent of Americans don't have to be total assholes. Unlike the Koch Brothers,
or the Waltons, or Representative Darrell
Issa (the richest man in the House of Representatives) the
Roosevelts didn't feel they had a class interest in keeping their boots on the
necks of America's working people; they strived to uplift them.
And they saw the federal government
not as a bazaar of accounts receivable to vacuum up precious tax dollars for
the already rich but as a means to improve the lives of the 99 percent.
The Roosevelts also illustrates a time when Democrats had dirt under their
fingernails. There was no need to remind them that Democratic politicians
valued labor unions or sought new protections in the workplace. The leaders and
rank-in-file were tied together.
Today, when we see Democratic
politicians like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo or Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
bludgeoning teachers' unions while supping at the table of big campaign donors
from Wall Street we're left with the realization that working people have few
reliable advocates for their class interests anymore.
Since 1984, Democratic politicians
decided the party needed to "move to the center" given Ronald
Reagan's landslide. But "moving to the center" meant moving away from
serving the interests of working people and moving toward Wall Street and big
corporations.
Ironically, in the 1990s, when the
Democratic Party grew more diverse based on race and gender, it shifted far
closer to the Republicans in terms of class. We've seen one Democratic
president (Bill Clinton) push NAFTA and other "free trade" deals that
decimated labor unions; unravel the social safety net in the name of
"welfare reform"; and deregulate Wall Street. And we've seen another
Democratic president (Barack Obama) refuse to send any bankers to jail for the
massive fraud they committed in the mortgage markets; choose to beat up
teachers' unions with Arne Duncan's "Race to the Top"; and
accommodate the profiteers inside our health care system.
All of these policies represent a
capitulation to the interests of big corporations and Wall Street on the part
of Democratic administrations at the expense of their own constituencies. The
Burns documentary leaves one wondering what TR or FDR would do regarding these
same policies. We'll never know because history doesn't work that way. But we
can use our imaginations a little and recognize that compared to the
responsiveness of the federal government during the Square Deal and New Deal
eras, our current crop of "leaders" from both political parties have
failed the majority of Americans and in doing so they've failed the country.
Another aspect of the Burns
documentary is a revealing look at the kind of patriotism that TR, FDR, and ER
exhibited throughout their lives. It was a patriotism that recognized that the
country is strongest when all Americans had opportunities and the federal
government not only helped to uplift them materially, but also protected them
from the rapacious predators of the Wall Street ruling class.
We've lost that sense of patriotic
duty today. The "you're on your own" society has won out in recent
decades over the idea that "everyone does better when everyone does
better." So if you haven't yet seen The Roosevelts, by all means,
sit back, put on PBS, and enjoy watching a time in America that predates the death of the
liberal class.
MORE:
Politics Bill Clinton Financial Crisis Koch Brothers Corporations The Roosevelts Pbs Darrell Issa Ken Burns Plutocracy Barack Obama
Joe
Palermo teaches history at CSU-Sacramento.
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