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What has the GOP ever done for the working class?
Not too long ago, my wife and I attended a TV football party in south Tulsa.
With a lopsided score, the conversation turned to a livelier subject -- politics.
The crowd was, of course, top-heavy with Republicans. With each point
expressed their faces became more flushed, eyes bulging a little more and veins
popping in their foreheads as they railed against the liberal programs.
Finally a lone, liberal voice asked: "Will you
people name me one bill your party
ever passed to help the working man of this country?"
The question created much
din and clamor, and someone sputtered, "Well,
what have the Democrats done?"
The liberal responded with a few programs and
was interrupted by howling and disdain.
He noted that he had not promised they would
like the programs and he asked to
complete his statement -- a difficult task to
ask of Republicans.
He spoke of Social Security; Medicare-Medicaid;
Peace Corps; unemployment insurance;
welfare (for the poor and corporate); civil rights;
student grant and loan programs;
safety laws (OSHA); environmental laws; prevailing
wage laws; right to collective bargaining
(which brought about paid medical insurance,
paid vacations, pensions, etc.); workers'
compensation; Marshall Plan; flood-disaster insurance;
School Lunch Program; women's rights.
He spoke of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which
established a minimum wage,
instituted child labor laws, and set up time-and-a-half
pay for over a 40-hour week.
He mentioned FHA-HUD with its public housing,
urban renewal and 44 million residential
homes (before WWII almost 70 percent of our nation
were renters; by the 1970s this had
been reversed). And farm-conservation subsidies
-- USDA programs, Farmers Home
Administration (the bankers didn't want to make
rural loans), small flood-control lakes
(more than 3,000 in Oklahoma alone), rural water
districts, rural electricity (REA).
The GI Bill was passed, which the Republicans
at the time bitterly opposed. They were
salivating over millions of returning veterans
to hire as cheap labor. More than 8 million
have used college benefits, creating millions
of entrepreneurs; most of us had never dreamed
of college. For the unemployed GI, there
was $20 a week for 52 weeks to help get started
(a lot of money in those days). The Veterans
Administration provided more than 2 million home loans.
For the bankers at the football party, it was
pointed out that the liberals saved their industry
with the creation of FDIC and FSLIC, insuring
their deposits, and saved Wall Street with
the establishment of the Securities Exchange
Commission.
The oil men came on bended knees to FDR at a time
when East Texas oil was 4 cents a barrel
and begged him to save their industry. He did;
prorationing overturned the rule of capture and
the days of flush production were over. Prorating
has served this great industry (and nation) well.
And the list went on and on, but of course this
group didn't let him get halfway through. He noted
they were weary, inattentive, so again he challenged
them to offer up any Republican legislation examples.
"I'm sure your party has authored one or two comparable
bills from time to time, but I can't think
of any, and apparently you can't either. What
it boils down to is this: the liberals dragged you into
the 20th century scratching and screaming with
your heels in the mud, fighting anything that's
progressive, everything that's made this country
great. You Republicans have never understood
that the spending power of blue-collar workers,
obtained through Democrats and unions, is what
really made this country great. You really believe
"The Good Life" was obtained from your own
endeavors. You cloak your greed in religion and
patriotism, railing against any form of tax, never
comprehending that these programs have benefitted
all of us and our country."
Well, I almost didn't make it out of the house.
My wife and I didn't even get to see the end
of the football game.
If Reps. Steve Largent or J.C. Watts had been
there, perhaps
politics would never have come up, only the game
plan ... pity.
==================
Clint C. Gold is former mayor of Moore, OK and
a retired savings and loan executive.