“There is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program.” – Milton Friedman, 1965
Image Credit: The White House / Facebook
By William Haupt III [Tennessee Watchdog Journalist, Columnist, Author, and Citizen Legislator via The Center Square] –
People often confuse bad decisions with destiny. For almost a century America has been living on borrowed time trying to balance its books with government as its economic integer. Since the Great Depression of the 1930s when America traded its soul to the federal government for an economic fix, they got more than they bargained for. Instead of getting a hand up, they accepted a hand out.
Since that economic challenge, Americans have been coddled by federal programs they consider too big to fail. Every time a Depression-era social support program is in danger of going belly up, politicians find new ways to spread the misery around and keep it on life support. For too many years, states have allowed federalists to spoon-feed them entitlements in trade for state rights.
Expanding government with an alphabet soup of federal agencies, Franklin Roosevelt is credited with creating the “Blue Model” for Americans. For nine decades, the federal government and the states have become dependent partners in support of Franklin Roosevelt’s shameful Blue Model.
“Nothing happens by accident. It happens because we make it happen.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
The poor were the victims of FDR’s New Deal tax increases yet they were also principle members of FDR’s blue coalition. Low-income groups, union members, special interests, unskilled labor, blue collar workers and identity groups felt FDR was a gift who’d keep on giving. And this symbiosis has empowered Democrats to increase America’s dependence on FDR’s blue government for decades.
For the past 90 years, the coast-to-coast growth of government has been driven by this alliance of politicians and the “New Blue Deal Coalition.” Major cities across the U.S., especially in the north, west and east coasts are emblematic examples of failed sociopolitical “Blue Model” transgression.
The Blue Model has barely survived many a storm; sometimes through happenstance and others when Americans voted with their wallets instead of their politics. Dwight Eisenhower was elected in 1953 to transition America from World War II to peace and convert war growth to domestic growth.
“A true leader gets things done that the people have told him that they wanted done.” – Dwight Eisenhower
Segregationist and opportunist Lyndon B. Johnson answered the sociopolitical unrest in the 1960s with the “Great Society” in 1964. Johnson’s massive centralization of federal power proved fatal when the states reacted with race riots across America in 1966. LBJ’s mistake was forcing the Blue Model down the throats of Americans who didn’t need or want it. After only one term in office, he threw in the towel.
During the 1970s, the Blue Model destroyed respect for America. Jimmy Carter’s failure to free 52 American hostages for 444 days held by Iranian Muslims exposed Carter’s weakness as a world leader and incubated Islamic terrorism. And these terrorists attacked the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.
With 10% unemployment and inflation and failed domestic and foreign policies, in 1981 Americans turned to Ronald Reagan to mitigate the Blue Model for eight years. When he left office, unemployment and inflation were at 3%, and America restored global respect when Ronald Reagan helped to end the Soviet reign of terror.
“The Soviets were the focus of evil in the modern world.” – Ronald Reagan
The Blue Model was on shaky ground again when Bill Clinton failed to cut the size of government in 1994. During the midterms, voters put Newt Gingrich and the GOP in charge of Congress. They balanced the budget, cut taxes and reformed welfare with the Contract with America. This rescued the Blue Model again. Clinton won reelection and survived another sex scandal and impeachment.
Since the Blue Model is entitlement based, LBJ and Carter grew government to keep entitlements “afloat thinking America would never go broke.” LBJ’s “war on poverty” increased poverty since it made the poor dependent on federalism. Both Carter and Clinton claimed homeownership was a “right” and convinced banks to make risky loans and set the stage for the 2008 Great Recession.
Barack Obama was elected to rebuild the Blue Model and spent eight years changing everything that was great with America into what was great for progressives. The economy limped along with a federal benchmark fund rate at near zero for eight years. America got “change” but not the change it needed.
“Nothing can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change.” – Barack Obama
The 2016 election was supposed to maintain Obama’s Blue Model by crowning progressive Hillary Clinton queen. But when Donald Trump nabbed over 300 electoral votes on Election Day 2016, the left was awestruck! Americans voted with their wallets, not their politics. Until the pandemic, despite attacks from progressives, Donald Trump reduced dependence on the Blue Model by reviving capitalism.
In 2020, with the help of liberal media, TV news, the fishwrap, social media, and daytime talk-show soap-operas, Joe Biden nosed out Donald Trump in the first “all-vote by mail presidential election.”
The selling job the Left did on Joe Biden was a bigger con job than Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.
The left decreed Biden would bring America prosperity with increased spending and entitlements.
Biden’s progressive trifecta has proven the Blue Model is a colossal failure. It brought us double digit inflation, a labor shortage, open borders, soaring energy prices, and a broken supply chain. Our foreign policy is a costly mess. Radical racial unrest and record high violent crime have made our streets and neighborhoods a war zone.
“Our plan is working. Just give it time.” – Joe Biden
Data from The Budget Policy Center shows 68% of our federal budget now finances entitlements. We’re short-changing the nation to finance the blue system. FDR created over 150 programs and agencies, plus those we’ve created in the last eight decades, and there are no more blue solutions to save them. Every scheme Biden has come up with to try and save the Blue Model has failed.
Bob Dylan wrote, “Those who see success in failure will see no success at all.” The institutions, ideas and expectations that shaped American life for 90 years after the New Deal don’t work today. The failed expectations of the Blue Model have been exposed. The cleavage between the Blue Model and our nation’s needs today proves that the Blue Model fueled federal dependency.
Progressives believe that the Blue Model is the only way to organize a modern society and want to shore it up and defend it no matter the cost. Those on the other side of reality conclude that the Blue Model, whatever benefits it had in the past, is no longer sustainable in today’s real world.
The Blue Model has been in decay for decades. Just as the 1960s forgot the failures of the 1930s, today we forget the failures of the 1960s and the failures of the 2020s. It is time we bury the Blue Model before it buries us.
“Status quo, you know, is Latin for the mess we’re in.” – Ronald Reagan
About the Author: William Haupt III is a retired professional journalist, author, and citizen legislator in California for over 40 years. He got his start working to approve California Proposition 13. His work also appears in The Center Square, The Western Journal, Neighbor Newspapers, KPXJ 21 (Shreveport, LA), Killeen Daily Herald, Aberdeen American News, InsideNova, Kankakee Daily Journal, Monterey County Weekly, Olean Times Herald, The Greeneville Sun and more. Follow William on Twitter @iii_haupt.
