humor_impaired (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} humor_impaired) wrote,@ 2005-05-18 18:17:00 |
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Community Support
This past weekend we took the Cub Scouts camping at a local National Park. This particular park was created by the Civilian Conservation Corps, on land managed by the United States Resettlement Agency, one of the New Deal programs. The land in question, within 50 miles of Washington, D.C. had been so over farmed by the 1930's that it was unproductive. Or as the literature stated, it had degraded to "barely subsistence" level. So the government bought it, and set it aside for reclamation, to be used as park land. Then the government created a program where volunteers and unemployed could work to plant trees, build cabins, roads, bridges dams and trails.
Now, it is wooded wilderness, with creeks, dams and trails.
As I read over the history of the park, I was struck by where we must have been as a country then. The banking system had nearly collapsed, one out of every four white workers was unemployed (we weren't accurately counting employment of African Americans then), and countless numbers were underemployed or underpaid. Many families were wandering around the country as migrant workers; living in ditches, abandoned farms, buildings and fields. The top-soil of most of the midwest was blowing away in great dust storms, leaving unproductive hard-pack behind. Many east coast and southern farms had depleted soil as well, unable to grow any more crops than to keep a family alive. The amount of real money the country had was half of what it had been five years earlier. Imagine.
What struck me was how FDR was able to try something, to get people working, and to keep the basic structure of the United States from collapsing. Many of FDR's programs were shut down for various reasons. When this would happen, he started another program. If one of these programs failed, then he tried another, and another. He refused to give up, and refused to pander only to his social class, determined to provide opportunity for ALL Americans.
And then I wondered what mettle we have in our current leaders. Could our current politicians handle a crisis as profound as the Great Depression? Or would they simply devolve into fight? Would they let 25% of the country just stay unemployed, because "that is capitalism"?
Do we, as Americans, still possess the ability to rise up and lift our neighbors out of poverty, to help out in a time of extreme crisis? or has this too been lost in our consumption of cell phones, lattes and TiVOs while we drive our SUVs?
I see every day little yellow ribbon magnets stating "We support our troops". But how do we support them? By buying yellow ribbon magnets? or taking action to get them home quicker? Or by helping support the soldiers families while the soldier is away? I see a lot of talk and bravado, but precious little action.
This past weekend we took the Cub Scouts camping at a local National Park. This particular park was created by the Civilian Conservation Corps, on land managed by the United States Resettlement Agency, one of the New Deal programs. The land in question, within 50 miles of Washington, D.C. had been so over farmed by the 1930's that it was unproductive. Or as the literature stated, it had degraded to "barely subsistence" level. So the government bought it, and set it aside for reclamation, to be used as park land. Then the government created a program where volunteers and unemployed could work to plant trees, build cabins, roads, bridges dams and trails.
Now, it is wooded wilderness, with creeks, dams and trails.
As I read over the history of the park, I was struck by where we must have been as a country then. The banking system had nearly collapsed, one out of every four white workers was unemployed (we weren't accurately counting employment of African Americans then), and countless numbers were underemployed or underpaid. Many families were wandering around the country as migrant workers; living in ditches, abandoned farms, buildings and fields. The top-soil of most of the midwest was blowing away in great dust storms, leaving unproductive hard-pack behind. Many east coast and southern farms had depleted soil as well, unable to grow any more crops than to keep a family alive. The amount of real money the country had was half of what it had been five years earlier. Imagine.
What struck me was how FDR was able to try something, to get people working, and to keep the basic structure of the United States from collapsing. Many of FDR's programs were shut down for various reasons. When this would happen, he started another program. If one of these programs failed, then he tried another, and another. He refused to give up, and refused to pander only to his social class, determined to provide opportunity for ALL Americans.
And then I wondered what mettle we have in our current leaders. Could our current politicians handle a crisis as profound as the Great Depression? Or would they simply devolve into fight? Would they let 25% of the country just stay unemployed, because "that is capitalism"?
Do we, as Americans, still possess the ability to rise up and lift our neighbors out of poverty, to help out in a time of extreme crisis? or has this too been lost in our consumption of cell phones, lattes and TiVOs while we drive our SUVs?
I see every day little yellow ribbon magnets stating "We support our troops". But how do we support them? By buying yellow ribbon magnets? or taking action to get them home quicker? Or by helping support the soldiers families while the soldier is away? I see a lot of talk and bravado, but precious little action.
