AFFIRMATIVE
GOVERNMENT
Readings
Selected by Dick Bennett
March 24,
2016
Contents
2000 Years
Ago in China to Extension Offices Today
FDR’S New
Deal 1930s to Republican Reaction
Kaye, The Fight for the Four Freedoms
Bill De
Blasio’s NYC Programs 2015
Banking for
the People by the USPS
Barbara Lee,
The People’s Budget 2016
Bernie
Sanders, “a vision of the day when ‘we will no longer be outsiders in
the House.’”
Michael
Moore, Traveling the World for What We Need
AFFIRMATIVE
GOVERNMENT AN ANCIENT IDEA
FROM CHINA
2000 YEARS AGO TO US COUNTY EXTENSION OFFICES/LAND GRANT UNIVERSITIES 19TH
CENTURY TO PRESENT
(from Wikipedia) Origins
of agricultural extension https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_extension#Origins_of_agricultural_extension
It is not known where or when the first extension activities
took place. It is known, however, that Chinese officials were creating
agricultural policies, documenting practical knowledge, and disseminating
advice to farmers at least 2,000 years ago. For example, in approximately 800
BC, the minister responsible for agriculture under one of the Zhou dynasty emperors
organized the teaching of crop rotation and
drainage to farmers. The minister also leased equipment to farmers, built grain
stores and supplied free food during times of famine.[5]
The birth of the modern extension service has been attributed to
events that took place in Ireland in the middle of the 19th century.[6] Between 1845–51 the Irish potato crop
was destroyed by fungal diseases and a severe famine occurred (see Great Irish Famine). The British Government
arranged for "practical instructors" to travel to rural areas and
teach small farmers how to cultivate alternative crops. This scheme attracted
the attention of government officials in Germany, who organized their own
system of traveling instructors. By the end of the 19th century, the idea had
spread to Denmark, Netherlands, Italy, and France.
[COUNTY
EXTENSION OFFICES AND LAND GRANT UNIVERSITIES]
The term "university extension" was first used by the
Universities of Cambridge and Oxford in 1867 to describe teaching
activities that extended the work of the institution beyond the campus. Most of
these early activities were not, however, related to agriculture. It was not
until the beginning of the 20th century, when colleges in the United States
started conducting demonstrations at agricultural shows and giving lectures to
farmer’s clubs, that the term "extension service" was applied to the
type of work that we now recognize by that name.
In the United States, the Hatch Act of
1887 established a system of agricultural experiment stations in
conjunction with each state's land-grant university, and the Smith-Lever Act of 1914 created a
system of cooperative extension to be operated by
those universities in order to inform people about current developments in
agriculture, home economics, and related subjects.
npic.orst.edu/pest/countyext.htm
County Extension Offices. Through its county agents, the Cooperative Extension Service gives individuals access to the resources at land-grant
universities across the nation. These universities are centers for research in
many subjects, including entomology (the study of insects) and agriculture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_extension
Wikipedia
www.uaex.edu/counties/
Search for Arkansas counties and Extension Offices.
FDR’S NEW
DEAL
New Deal
United States history
Written
by: The Editors of
Encyclopædia Britannica
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New
Deal, the domestic program
of the administration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt between
1933 and 1939, which took action to bring about immediate economic relief as
well as reforms in industry, agriculture, finance, waterpower, labour, and
housing, vastly increasing the scope of the federal government’s activities.
The term was taken from Roosevelt’s speech accepting the Democratic nomination
for the presidency on July 2, 1932. Reacting to the ineffectiveness of the
administration of President Herbert Hoover in meeting the ravages of the Great Depression,
American voters the following November overwhelmingly voted in favour of the
Democratic promise of a “new deal” for the “forgotten man.” Opposed to the
traditional American political philosophy of laissez-faire, the New Deal
generally embraced the concept of a government-regulated economy aimed at
achieving a balance between conflicting economic interests.
![Civilian Conservation Corps [Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]](file:///C:/Users/ROBERT~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg)
Much of the New Deal legislation was enacted within the first
three months of Roosevelt’s presidency, which became known as the Hundred Days.
The new administration’s first objective was to alleviate the suffering of the
nation’s huge number of unemployedworkers. Such
agencies as the Works Progress
Administration (WPA) and the Civilian Conservation
Corps (CCC) were established to dispense emergency and
short-term governmental aid and to provide temporary jobs, employment on
construction projects, and youth work in the national forests. Before 1935 the
New Deal focused on revitalizing the country’s stricken business and
agricultural communities. To revive industrial activity, the National Recovery
Administration (NRA) was granted authority to help shape
industrial codes governing trade practices, wages, hours, child labour, and
collective bargaining. The New Deal also tried to regulate the nation’s
financial hierarchy in order to avoid a repetition of the stock market crash of
1929 and the massive bank failures that followed. The Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) granted government insurance for bank
deposits in member banks of the Federal Reserve System, and the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) was formed to protect the investing public
from fraudulent stock-market practices. The farm program was centred in the Agricultural Adjustment
Administration (AAA), which attempted to raise prices by
controlling the production of staple crops through cash subsidies to farmers.
In addition, the arm of the federal government reached into the area of
electric power, establishing in 1933 the Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA), which was to cover a seven-state area and
supply cheap electricity, prevent floods, improve navigation, and produce
nitrates.
In 1935 the New Deal
emphasis shifted to measures designed to assist labour and other urban groups.
The Wagner Act of 1935
greatly increased the authority of the federal government in industrial
relations and strengthened the organizing power of labour unions, establishing
the National Labor Relations
Board (NLRB) to execute this program. To aid the “forgotten”
homeowner, legislation was passed to refinance shaky mortgages and guarantee
bank loans for both modernization and mortgage payments. Perhaps the most
far-reaching programs of the entire New Deal were the Social Security measures
enacted in 1935 and 1939, providing old-age and widows’ benefits, unemployment
compensation, and disability insurance. Maximum work hours and minimum wages
were also set in certain industries in 1938.
Certain New Deal laws
were declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court on
the grounds that neither the commerce nor the taxing provisions of the
Constitution granted the federal government authority to regulate industry or
to undertake social and economic reform. Roosevelt, confident of the legality
of all the measures, proposed early in 1937 a reorganization of the court. This
proposal met with vehement opposition and ultimate defeat, but the court
meanwhile ruled in favour of the remaining contested legislation. Despite
resistance from business and other segments of the community to “socialistic”
tendencies of the New Deal, many of its reforms gradually achieved national
acceptance. Roosevelt’s domestic programs were largely followed in the Fair Deal of
President Harry S. Truman (1945–53), and both major U.S. parties came to accept
most New Deal reforms as a permanent part of the national life.
KAYE, THE FIGHT FOR THE FOUR FREEDOMS
Fighting for the Four
Freedoms
April 11, 2014 | Updated January 5,
2016
If you believe America desperately needs a
great surge of democracy in the face of fierce opposition from reactionary and
corporate forces, then remembering and reviving the spirit of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died 69 years ago this week, is in order.
Seventy-five years ago, FDR’s State of the
Union address made it clear that a fight was inevitable, a fight to preserve,
protect and defend four essential freedoms: freedom from fear and want and
freedom of speech and religion.
This week, Bill speaks with historian Harvey
J. Kaye, author of the new book, The Fight for the
Four Freedoms: What Made FDR and the Greatest Generation Truly Great,
about how FDR’s speech was a rallying cry to build the kind of progressive
society that Roosevelt hoped for but did not live to see at war’s end.
Kaye says the president was able to mobilize
Americans who created “the strongest and most prosperous country in human
history.” How did they do it? By working toward the Four Freedoms and making
America “freer, more equal and more democratic.”
He believes Americans have not forgotten the
Four Freedoms as goals, but have “forgotten what it takes to realize them, that
we must defend, sustain and secure democracy by enhancing it. That’s what
Roosevelt knew. That’s what Jefferson knew. And no one seems to remember that
today. That’s what we have to remind people of.”
Producer: Candace
White. Segment Producer: Robert Booth. Editor: Sikay
Tang. Outro Producer:Lena Shemel. Outro Editor:Rob
Kuhns.
I wrote the
following letter to The Nation in
response to the onslaught against New Deal values and to The Nation’s editorial:
Your Jan. 25/Feb. 1, 2016,
editorial, “Four Freedoms Besieged,” engages particularly all who share the
Democratic Party’s fight for the Four Freedoms for speech and worship and from
want and fear. Eleanor Roosevelt’s American dream “of greater
justice and opportunity for the average man” and FDR’s expansion of the New
Deal to achieve that Dream could be grasped through affirmative government of,
for, and by the people. Thus were the phantoms and panics of
fear defeated. Despite powerful opposition, Kaye writes, our nation
became “freer, more equal, and more democratic than ever before.”
Restoring and sustaining these values despite even fiercer opposition continue
for Democrats today.
BILL DE
BLASIO’S NEW, IMAGINED, PROPOSED AFFIRMATIVE GOVERNMENT
NYC’S Mayor
Bill de Blasio’s new programs, “What Has Bill de Blasio Done?”
The Nation (2/9, 2015), 6. $8 million for after school programs,
1 million workers to have paid sick time, $13.13 new living wage up from
$11.90, 500 thousand ID cards for undocumented immigrants.
See Eric
Alterman, Inequality and One City: Bill de Blasio and the New York Experiment,
Year One. Nation Books, 2015. http://www.thenation.com/article/inequality-and-one-city/?nc=1
Banking Goes
Postal
FEBRUARY 13,
2015
Sixty-four
unions and community groups are demanding a banking public option—at the post
office.
BY DAVID
MOBERG. IN THESE TIMES (March 2015).
In one year,
the underbanked and unbanked pay out more in financial service charges than the
federal government spends on all domestic food aid.
American
Postal Workers Union (APWU) president Mark Dimondstein has an offer that should
be hard to refuse, especially for the 10 million American households, mostly
low-income, that do not have a checking account or other basic banking
services.
Through its network
of 30,000 post offices and other outlets, the United States Postal Service
(USPS) could readily and cheaply provide many banking services (just as it now
provides money orders), no matter where you live or what you earn. This could
save people without bank access from paying the exorbitant interest and fees at
currency exchanges, payday lenders, rent-to-own dealers, pawn shops and other
subprime financial institutions. MORE
DAVID MOBERG
David
Moberg, a senior editor of In These Times,
has been on the staff of the magazine since it began publishing in 1976. Before
joining In These Times, he completed
his work for a Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Chicago and worked
for Newsweek. He has received
fellowships from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the
Nation Institute for research on the new global economy. He can be reached at davidmoberg@inthesetimes.com.
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MICH 
Sep 28,
2015 | 368 Pages
PRAISE
“I endorse Brother Bernie Sanders because he is a long-distance
runner with integrity in the struggle for justice for over fifty years. Now is
the time for his prophetic voice to be heard across our crisisridden country.”
—Cornel West, author of Race Matters
“Bernie’s been in the forefront of all the crucial environmental fights of recent years.”
—Bill McKibben, cofounder of 350.org
“Bernie is the real thing. He’s not about reading the polls and finding out what he needs to say in order to get elected. He’s about an unwavering commitment to basic justice, equality and sound financial sense.”
—Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry’s and founder of Stampede: Stamp Money out of Politics
“I feel weird using words like ‘values’ and ‘morals’ because those are words that have been co-opted to justify terrible things like bigotry and greed. I’d like to take those words back and use them to describe Bernie Sanders because his moral compass and sense of values inspire me.”
—Sarah Silverman, comedian and social commentator
Praise for the previous edition, Outsider in the House:
“A clear, compelling and comprehensive vision for reinvigorating democracy, reducing poverty, rebuilding the middle class and restructuring our health care and education systems. Sanders gives us a vision of the day when ‘we will no longer be outsiders in the House.’” —In These Times
“Outsider in the House is a rare achievement: a concise, compelling book that both tells an interesting story and provides a readable, down-to-earth blueprint for political change.”
—The Onion
“A road map for how progressives can win elections and not be a part of the two party duopoly.”
—Ralph Nader
“A grass-roots ‘how-to’ guide, especially helpful and inspirational for prospective independent candidates—a firsthand description of the career of the most successful American socialist politician in modern times.”
—The Hill
—Cornel West, author of Race Matters
“Bernie’s been in the forefront of all the crucial environmental fights of recent years.”
—Bill McKibben, cofounder of 350.org
“Bernie is the real thing. He’s not about reading the polls and finding out what he needs to say in order to get elected. He’s about an unwavering commitment to basic justice, equality and sound financial sense.”
—Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry’s and founder of Stampede: Stamp Money out of Politics
“I feel weird using words like ‘values’ and ‘morals’ because those are words that have been co-opted to justify terrible things like bigotry and greed. I’d like to take those words back and use them to describe Bernie Sanders because his moral compass and sense of values inspire me.”
—Sarah Silverman, comedian and social commentator
Praise for the previous edition, Outsider in the House:
“A clear, compelling and comprehensive vision for reinvigorating democracy, reducing poverty, rebuilding the middle class and restructuring our health care and education systems. Sanders gives us a vision of the day when ‘we will no longer be outsiders in the House.’” —In These Times
“Outsider in the House is a rare achievement: a concise, compelling book that both tells an interesting story and provides a readable, down-to-earth blueprint for political change.”
—The Onion
“A road map for how progressives can win elections and not be a part of the two party duopoly.”
—Ralph Nader
“A grass-roots ‘how-to’ guide, especially helpful and inspirational for prospective independent candidates—a firsthand description of the career of the most successful American socialist politician in modern times.”
—The Hill
SEE MORE
BERNIE SANDERS ON POLITICAL
& ELECTORAL REFORM
Senator Bernie Sanders demands that the United
States’ elected government represent us, its people. He observes a disturbing
trend where the average citizen is disenfranchised, and fears that we are
losing what makes America great — our system of democracy. Bernie has said:
“We are moving rapidly away from our
democratic heritage into an oligarchic form of society where today we are
experiencing a government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the
billionaires.”
What is an oligarchy and why don’t I want one?
The Oxford Dictionary defines
it as “a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or
institution.”
The United States, in theory, is a democratic
republic, where the voices of the many are represented by the men and women
whom we elect to political office. But, according to aPrinceton University study,
our government no longer represents most of us. In fact, “the preferences
of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero,statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”
Former President Jimmy Carter stated during an interview in July
2015 that “the billionaire class now owns the economy, and they are working day
and night to make certain that they own the United States government.”
That’s really, really bad. What do we do?
We need to work together to fix our
government. Bernie believes we
can do so:
“We need people who are ready to take on the
handful of billionaires holding the power, to tell them, ‘Enough is enough.
This country belongs to us. This government belongs to us.”
Here’s how we do it:
Citizens United: Bernie wants
to overturn Citizens United, a “disastrous Supreme Court decision” which
allows unlimited sums of money to be funneled into electoral politics.
DISCLOSE Act:
Bernie wants to enact legislation to protect the integrity and
transparency of federal elections by establishing disclosure requirements
for all contributions.
Public Funding of Elections:
Bernie wants to move towards public funding of elections to promote a more even
playing field where all Americans can participate.
Democracy Day: Bernie wants
to celebrate democracy by creating a holiday to encourage voter turnout
for elections.
Gerrymandering & Voter Suppression:
Bernie wants to curb redistricting as well as reinforce the Voting Rights Acts
by making it easy for anyone to cast a vote, including former felons who have
served their time.
The Two-Party System: Bernie
Sanders believes that many Americans have “rejected the two party system” and
is one of the US Senate’s only two Independent members. He has supported
legislation to introduce Instant Runoff Voting in order to give third parties a
fair shot at competing in our elections.
www.ontheissues.org/2016/Bernie_Sanders_Government_Reform.htm
1.
Senator Bernie Sanders demands that the United States' elected governmentrepresent us, its people. He observes a disturbing trend where
the average citizen ...
feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-government-regulation/
1.
Where does Bernie Sanders stand on government regulation?
feelthebern.org/bernie-sanders-on-political-and-electoral-reform/
1.
Senator Bernie Sanders demands that the United States' elected government represent us, its people.
AEL MOORE’S COMIC CONQUEST OF
THE WORLD REVIEWED BY ROGER EBERT. Where to Invade Next http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/where-to-invade-next-2015
[Moore travels the world, takes the things we need, and brings
them back to the United States.]
Michael Moore’s
surprising and extraordinarily winning “Where to Invade Next” will almost
surely cast his detractors at Fox News and similar sinkholes into
consternation. They get lots of mileage out of painting Moore as a far-left
provocateur who’s all about “running America down.” But his new film is all
about building America up, in some amazingly novel and thought-provoking ways.
In my view, it’s one of the most genuinely, and valuably, patriotic films any
American has ever made.
It comes billed not as a
documentary but a comedy, and the first joke is its hilariously misleading
title. You think it anticipates a stern, leftist denunciation of American
foreign policy. Instead, Moore tells us the Joint Chiefs of Staff invited him
to Washington, DC, to confess that all their wars since “the big one” have been
disastrous and ask his advice. He responds by offering himself up as a one-man
army who will “invade countries populated by Caucasians whose names I can mostly
pronounce, take the things we need from them, and bring them back home to the
United States of America.”
So, wearing his trademark
baseball cap and literally wrapped in the flag, he sets off across the Atlantic
searching out peoples to conquer who have things America needs. Yes, he knows
all of these countries have their own share of problems. But he’s come, he
says, “to pick the flowers, not the weeds.” And
what a bouquet he assembles.
First stop is Italy,
where he wonders why “Italians always look like they just had sex.” He
finds some reasons for that happy glow in talking to a 30ish couple—he’s a cop,
she works for a clothing company—who start enumerating all the paid vacation
time they get. The basic portion, decreed by law, is four weeks, but when you
add in government holidays and such, it comes closer to eight. They use all
this time to vacation in places like Miami and Zanzibar, so there’s more than
just sex (though we guess there’s plenty of that too) to explain their radiant
tans and satisfied smiles. MORE http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/where-to-invade-next-2015
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