Copyright 2020 by Gene P. Abel.
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ISBN-13: | Softcover | 978-1-64961-900-6 |
eBook | 978-1-64961-000-3 |
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020911003
To our Founding Fathers and the VOTE
they gave us to protect our Republic.
Every American should use it on November 3, 2020.
T his book was written to inform the reader about two crucial issues affecting us today. First is the failure of the Conservative Agenda to keep the promises made to help improve the lives of low and middle income Americans. The facts documenting this failure were taken from non-political sources that clearly show the results of what happened since 1981 when Ronald Reagan convinced the American People to adopt the Conservative Agenda. Cutting taxes that almost totally go to the wealthy, creating a huge National Debt and ending regulations that endanger our economic system.
The second issue is the CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER to our Democracy and Republic from Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party supporting his actions.
The most important part of my book is Section 7- Summary . If you choose to skim over some of the many Facts and Historical details contained in my book, PLEASE read and reread Section 7! Time is running out to protect the United States of America from the dangers of Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party.
I n a nutshell, conservatism is the idea that government should be minimal with the maximum flexibility for the individual and business to operate without interference. This concept limits regulation, control, oversight and taxation.
Some of these concepts embodied in the conservative agenda can be seen in the golden age of the 19 th century when a hand full of wealthy financiers and businesspersons all but controlled the economy of the United States. An almost total lack of regulation and control enabled a handful of men such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould, Pierpont Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller to control the United States.
It was at that point that the term Robber Barons or the Captains of Industry came into vogue. It became clear to President Teddy Roosevelt that the consequences of allowing this small group of powerful and wealthy individuals to do as they pleased would have an adverse impact on the country at large and control the lives of the vast majority of Americans.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jdr-king.JPG
Opulence in the Gilded Age, 1890, Eyewitness to History (2008).
What the robber barons effectively did was purchase power and directed untold amounts of wealth into their pockets by funding friendly politicians to enact legislation that would lower taxes, provide special tax exemptions, prevent anti-trust regulation and establish tax loopholes that enabled them to accumulate even more wealth. The impact of this was to enhance the wealth of the few at the expense of the many. Teddy Roosevelt came into a conflict with the very wealthy Republicans who supported William Taft. Although Roosevelt was able to limit many of the abuses that were taking place at the turn- of-the-century Republicans continued to solidify their connections with large corporations during the presidencies of Coolidge and Hoover. It would be difficult to identify a conservative Republican who embraces Terry Roosevelt as a Republican. He was more like a progressive and was willing to stand up and confront the impending danger rather than simply allow these wealthy individuals to operate as they pleased.
The Political Janus. Offset photomechanical print by Frank A. Nankivell, November 9, 1910
http://www.loc.gov/
pictures/resource/ppmsca.27682/
Although much of the danger that was seen by Teddy Roosevelt with the Captains of Industry was real, it should also be understood that these individuals did produce basic services and industries upon which the economy of the United States was depended for development up until this day. There is no question that these men were ruthless. They drove many into bankruptcy by their misuse of power. Labor was treated like slaves during the construction of the transcontinental railroad. In that respect, some of the negative impacts of the robber barons were similar to the Robber Barons in the 1500s, which is where this term originated. However, because of the lasting impact on the development of our economy and industrial base, they are not all negative by any means.
In addition, at the end of their lives these so-called robber barons used their enormous wealth to fund some of the largest examples of philanthropy the world has ever seen such as The Carnegie Institute and the Rockefeller Foundation. Asa Packer who was a coal magnet did much to help found Lehigh University. Therefore, to be fair to these robber barons yes, they were ruthless and they did cause a lot of harm to many people as they moved forward to develop their enormous power and wealth. However, what they created was of significant benefit to our country as a whole and to our population both during and after their lives. Their enormous contribution to the development and welfare of our country should not be ignored while understanding the dangers posed by their concentration of wealth and power.
Compare and contrast these robber barons with their counterparts today who are using the same tactics to accumulate huge wealth but are not creating anything like the substantive worth that we saw from Carnegie, Packer, and Rockefeller etc. Today we have these conservative billionaires manipulating markets creating unsound mortgages to feather their nests. We see the Hunt brothers manipulating the silver industry not to build or create anything of value except to them. One of the most egregious misuses of power coupled with political intervention was a Credit Default Swap in the mortgage collapse that came to a head September 2008.
