When WWII ended, millions
of veterans returned to the States. A grateful
nation, and a united Congress, passed what was popularly called the G.I. Bill, which
included but was not limited to, the necessary funding for a veteran to finish
their education through to a PhD, if they so desired, or a low interest loan to
purchase a home. There were more than
enough tax dollars to care for the veterans who required medical treatment
and/or rehabilitation. These men and
women knew what they had fought for, and what they wanted in life. Primarily it was an education and a chance to
work hard and achieve more than their parents had been able to, and to provide
for the families they wanted. My brother
was a part of that, as were several cousins and friends. I was just a couple of years behind them.
The income tax rate in
1950 was progressive from 10% if a couple made $4,000.00 a year (a whole lot of
money in those days, by the way), up to 91% if a couple made over
$400,000.00. There were plenty of tax
dollars for a new highway system (which we are still using), a fabulous public
education system, with enough funding for the arts and humanities
education. A postal system par
excellence, and enough tax dollars to take on the job of bringing electricity
to rural areas through the Rural Electrification Act. That is when electricity came up our
canyon. Before that, we used oil lamps,
and about 4:00 PM my grandfather would build a wood fire in the furnace so
there would be enough hot water for dinner, clean-up, and baths. There was enough funding for a library
system, because people recognized that education at all levels for everyone,
was vital. At least for white
people. Sadly some states did not
concur, and probably still don’t. It was
not a halcyon time for everyone, white or not.
There was a lot of prejudice, and I remember learning in school, much to
my Dad’s horror, that we had to “tolerate Negroes, Catholics and Jews”. He was WASP to the core.
The children of these
post WWII veterans are now in their 50 and 60’s, and their children are in
their late 30’s and 40’s, and some of them are in Congress. Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner,
Kevin McCarthy. The list can go on. They are the direct recipients of much of
this largesse from a rightfully grateful nation. What schools did they go to? Private or public? Whose highways did they drive on to get
there? What libraries did they have
access to? If their house caught on
fire, what fire department responded? If
a burglary, what law enforcement agency did they call? The list goes on, and on, and on. We all had jobs if we wanted, unemployment
was low, our nation was the strongest in the world.
And then came Ronald
Reagan. And the “job creator” crap. And the mythical “welfare queens”. (I was a social worker, and I never saw
one.) It was Morning in America, all
right, but only for a very few. Taking
care of God’s green earth with environmental concern became a part of the
mantra of “those libruls” taking away our rights – for example, the right to
pollute the Hudson River to the point it caught on fire.
We hear from the
radical Republican right that all of these programs sap the will out of people
to work, that they make people lazy, etc., etc.
Therefore we have to balance the budget by cutting Social Security,
Medicare, and food stamps, among other programs. They ignore the fact that Social Security has
its own funding source, to wit., the people that pay into it, along with
Medicare, and that it is pretty difficult for people over 65 to find jobs to exercise
their work ethic, and it is really difficult for children to go out and get a
job while they should be in school. But
then, considering the billions of dollars that have been cut out of educational
funding in Republican states, perhaps the Republicans next move will be to
repeal the laws protecting children from having to work. What a source of cheap labor that will be for
them.
Instead of these
programs making people lazy and not wanting to work, it seems to have made some
of the children of this largesse selfish and greedy.
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