Why Things Are the Way They Are

I just finished reading a book called the Defining Moment:The Great Depression and the American Economy in the 20th Century, by Micheal D. Bordo, Claudia Goldin and Eugene N. White. It is a interesting theory that they put forward, that the changes that were brought about by the Great Depression would have happened with or with out it. The Depression just spend things up a little bit. The government prior to the Depression was small and did not have things like social security and never considered things like standardized health care. But people were growing to the idea that it is the governments job to look out for the welfare of it's people. While at this time that would have simply meant that the government should be able to help keep unemployment rates down, help stop price hikes and unfair labor practices. All of those things were not even expected of the government it was just something it would be nice if they could do. Then the Great Depression came. People who had worked and saved their whole lives, who had never gotten into debt or risked their money in investments, suddenly found themselves with out a job and their savings gone. Who could they turn to for help? No one. So they turned to the government and said "if you had been doing your job none of this would have happened" not realizing that they had voted Coolidge and Harding and Hoover into office because they had promised a small government that would run on the basis of laissez-faire. When the crash hit, Hoover's policies were that through volunteer efforts the people should be able to pull themselves out of this mess. He believed that getting the government involved was a bad idea and would only make the people dependent upon the government every time there was a need. In many ways he was right. When FDR took office he immediately began pushing new acts and committees to take care of those acts. For every problem that a American group faced FDR had another committee to help that group out. Also he believed that by giving the business's money it would help to employ those off the streets hence putting money in their pockets to go spend. That did not work (funny how history repeats itself). However out of all of FDR's committees, only one is still active and that is Social Security, but the idea that it is the governments responsibility to be taking an active part in the lives of all its citizens is still planted and growing steadily. The problem is that to go back to the days of small government, where the government only intervened after it was clear that the people could not fix it themselves, we would have to have a candidate that would say to the people "We are going to take away..." and as soon as people hear that they turn to the other guy, the guy who is offering more money for school, free health care (nothing is free), better living quality.  And nobody stops to think about the consequences of these decisions, all that they see is what is in it for them.