Another nice article, Chris. One of the things that bugs me about the way our Country is going is something we’ve come to share with socialist countries - centralization. Government, economic planning, banks, the media, corporations, even our food production have all been consolidated into the hands of a very few people or organizations. It’s what Hamilton wanted, but on steroids. Unfortunately, centralization brings mediocrity everywhere it’s been tried.
Power in this Country used to be more diffusely held. It promoted innovation and distributed risk. If one bank failed, for example, it may have affected a limited region but not the entire Country. Having smaller corporations promoted competition and innovation. Again if one failed, the impact was limited. Smaller government meant citizens had more say in how they were governed, promoted accountability, and protected individual liberty.
The Civil War brought on the explosive growth of a federal bureaucracy to manage the war and cemented the superiority of the federal government in DC over state governments. Taking the selection of Senators out of the hands of state legislatures further weakened the states which increased the federal government’s power, and instituting a federal income tax gave the centralized federal government the means to sustain its continued growth and expansion of power. Instead of governments at all levels heeding George Washington’s toast proclaiming “Sufficient power for limited purposes” we now have “Overwhelming power for any purpose”.
We’re suffering from over consolidation and over centralization. The result is sclerotic decision making, lack of accountability, and the loss of our individual agency to make decisions for ourselves to live our lives freely.
This Country is like the movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”. We look like the old Constitutional Republic but that’s not what we really are anymore.
Once great American cities, New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, St. Louis, Altanta... all shadows of their previous selves. Historical data demonstrates a carving out of small businesses and therefore the narrowing of the middle class. America's greatest achievement was proving nations could have a robust middle class - not this division of Haves and Haves Not. Socialism for all its claims kills the Golden Goose.
Reagan and the US Department of Agriculture selected a few facts, extracting them from a larger context. In spite of Reagan’s claims to the contrary, they were driven by ideological assumptions.
Today’s conservative discourse is on the mark with respect to the problems and conflicts of the United States, but it is the victim of Cold War distortions in relation to the nations constructing socialism in the Global South.
I wrote in 2018:
The period of 1970-85 was a time of substantial improvements in the protection of the social and economic rights of the people as well as consolidation of the revolutionary process (Arboleya, 2008, 177, 181-84; Hamilton, 2002, 21). Bell Lara writes: “In thirty years, from 1959 to 1989, Cuba achieved levels in the principal life standards and life quality indicators superior to those of Latin American and underdeveloped countries as a whole. The level of indicators that measure results in this terrain were similar to those of the most industrialized countries of the capitalist system” (2008).
There were important gains in nutrition. A rationing program guaranteed to every Cuban family at least a minimal diet, and malnutrition was eliminated. By the early 1980s, the Cuban daily per capita calorie intake was 2,705, above the generally accepted minimum daily requirement of 2,500 calories. And there were dramatic gains in health care. The doctor/population ratio declined from one doctor per 1000 people prior to the revolution to one doctor per 490 people by 1984. The infant mortality rate declined from 32.3 in 1953 to 16 in 1984. And having eliminated many communicable diseases that afflict underdeveloped countries, the leading causes of death in Cuba became heart disease, cancer and stroke, as in the developed countries (Pérez, 2006, 275-78).
There were important achievements with respect to illiteracy. At the time of the triumph of the revolution, the illiteracy rate in Cuba was 24%. In 1961, the revolution launched a literacy campaign, in which 271,000 people, including many student volunteers and professional teachers, were organized into instructional brigades. Some were dispatched to live for a time in rural areas. Others worked part time in urban areas. By 1962, the illiteracy rate had been reduced to 4%; by the end of the decade, illiteracy had been completely eradicated. And there were important gains in education. In 1953, some 56% of children aged six to twelve were enrolled in school; this percentage rose to 88% by 1970 and 100% by 1986. The percentage of the population completing sixth grade increased from 20% in 1953 to 32% in 1970 and to 61% in 1981. University enrollments increased tenfold. The number of university centers increased from three in 1959 to forty in the 1980s. There also were significant changes in the fields of study of university students. Enrollments in the humanities, social sciences and law declined, while enrollments in education, natural sciences, medicine, engineering and architecture, and agricultural sciences increased (Pérez, 2006, 273-75).
Prior to 1989, the Cuban economy had an average annual growth rate of 4.3%, which was higher than the Latin American average. Between 1971 and 1985, the Cuban economy grew at an annual rate of 6%, while the Latin American index during these years was -1%. In addition, the Cuban system had invested in industrial development and in human resources. In 1989, Cuba had the highest number per capita of scientists and engineers among Third World nations, double the level of Chile and Brazil, and comparable to South Korea and Taiwan, which had the highest level among historically underdeveloped countries. The Cuban socialist system had been able to provide for the basic needs of the population and to improve the quality of life in a variety of ways as well as to promote the economic and scientific development of the country (Arboleya, 2008, 198-99).
See my most recent book on Cuba, which addresses Cuba’s most important achievement, the development of a political system of people’s democracy. This explains Cuba’s political stability, in spite of its constrained economic development, as a result of the US blockade.
People’s Democracy in Cuba: A vanguard political-economic system
Another nice article, Chris. One of the things that bugs me about the way our Country is going is something we’ve come to share with socialist countries - centralization. Government, economic planning, banks, the media, corporations, even our food production have all been consolidated into the hands of a very few people or organizations. It’s what Hamilton wanted, but on steroids. Unfortunately, centralization brings mediocrity everywhere it’s been tried.
Power in this Country used to be more diffusely held. It promoted innovation and distributed risk. If one bank failed, for example, it may have affected a limited region but not the entire Country. Having smaller corporations promoted competition and innovation. Again if one failed, the impact was limited. Smaller government meant citizens had more say in how they were governed, promoted accountability, and protected individual liberty.
The Civil War brought on the explosive growth of a federal bureaucracy to manage the war and cemented the superiority of the federal government in DC over state governments. Taking the selection of Senators out of the hands of state legislatures further weakened the states which increased the federal government’s power, and instituting a federal income tax gave the centralized federal government the means to sustain its continued growth and expansion of power. Instead of governments at all levels heeding George Washington’s toast proclaiming “Sufficient power for limited purposes” we now have “Overwhelming power for any purpose”.
We’re suffering from over consolidation and over centralization. The result is sclerotic decision making, lack of accountability, and the loss of our individual agency to make decisions for ourselves to live our lives freely.
This Country is like the movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”. We look like the old Constitutional Republic but that’s not what we really are anymore.
Once great American cities, New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, St. Louis, Altanta... all shadows of their previous selves. Historical data demonstrates a carving out of small businesses and therefore the narrowing of the middle class. America's greatest achievement was proving nations could have a robust middle class - not this division of Haves and Haves Not. Socialism for all its claims kills the Golden Goose.
Reagan and the US Department of Agriculture selected a few facts, extracting them from a larger context. In spite of Reagan’s claims to the contrary, they were driven by ideological assumptions.
Today’s conservative discourse is on the mark with respect to the problems and conflicts of the United States, but it is the victim of Cold War distortions in relation to the nations constructing socialism in the Global South.
I wrote in 2018:
The period of 1970-85 was a time of substantial improvements in the protection of the social and economic rights of the people as well as consolidation of the revolutionary process (Arboleya, 2008, 177, 181-84; Hamilton, 2002, 21). Bell Lara writes: “In thirty years, from 1959 to 1989, Cuba achieved levels in the principal life standards and life quality indicators superior to those of Latin American and underdeveloped countries as a whole. The level of indicators that measure results in this terrain were similar to those of the most industrialized countries of the capitalist system” (2008).
There were important gains in nutrition. A rationing program guaranteed to every Cuban family at least a minimal diet, and malnutrition was eliminated. By the early 1980s, the Cuban daily per capita calorie intake was 2,705, above the generally accepted minimum daily requirement of 2,500 calories. And there were dramatic gains in health care. The doctor/population ratio declined from one doctor per 1000 people prior to the revolution to one doctor per 490 people by 1984. The infant mortality rate declined from 32.3 in 1953 to 16 in 1984. And having eliminated many communicable diseases that afflict underdeveloped countries, the leading causes of death in Cuba became heart disease, cancer and stroke, as in the developed countries (Pérez, 2006, 275-78).
There were important achievements with respect to illiteracy. At the time of the triumph of the revolution, the illiteracy rate in Cuba was 24%. In 1961, the revolution launched a literacy campaign, in which 271,000 people, including many student volunteers and professional teachers, were organized into instructional brigades. Some were dispatched to live for a time in rural areas. Others worked part time in urban areas. By 1962, the illiteracy rate had been reduced to 4%; by the end of the decade, illiteracy had been completely eradicated. And there were important gains in education. In 1953, some 56% of children aged six to twelve were enrolled in school; this percentage rose to 88% by 1970 and 100% by 1986. The percentage of the population completing sixth grade increased from 20% in 1953 to 32% in 1970 and to 61% in 1981. University enrollments increased tenfold. The number of university centers increased from three in 1959 to forty in the 1980s. There also were significant changes in the fields of study of university students. Enrollments in the humanities, social sciences and law declined, while enrollments in education, natural sciences, medicine, engineering and architecture, and agricultural sciences increased (Pérez, 2006, 273-75).
Prior to 1989, the Cuban economy had an average annual growth rate of 4.3%, which was higher than the Latin American average. Between 1971 and 1985, the Cuban economy grew at an annual rate of 6%, while the Latin American index during these years was -1%. In addition, the Cuban system had invested in industrial development and in human resources. In 1989, Cuba had the highest number per capita of scientists and engineers among Third World nations, double the level of Chile and Brazil, and comparable to South Korea and Taiwan, which had the highest level among historically underdeveloped countries. The Cuban socialist system had been able to provide for the basic needs of the population and to improve the quality of life in a variety of ways as well as to promote the economic and scientific development of the country (Arboleya, 2008, 198-99).
See my most recent book on Cuba, which addresses Cuba’s most important achievement, the development of a political system of people’s democracy. This explains Cuba’s political stability, in spite of its constrained economic development, as a result of the US blockade.
People’s Democracy in Cuba: A vanguard political-economic system
https://globallearning-vanguardpress.com/peoples-democracy-in-cuba/