On August 13, 2024, Heather Cox Richrdson - an historian who teaches at Boston College - wrote something pretty important in her "Letters from an American." "Letters from an American" is Richardson's blog, to which she makes daily postings. If you aren't already signed up to receive her daily observations, I hope you will get on her list. She would be happy to have you become a paid subscriber, but there is a "no cost" option, too.
At any rate, consider the following excerpt from Richardson's blog posting on August 13, 2024:
The Social Security Act established a federal system of old-age benefits; unemployment insurance; aid to homeless, dependent, and neglected children; funds to promote maternal and child welfare; and public health services. It was a sweeping reworking of the relationship of the government to its citizens, using the power of taxation to pool funds to provide a basic social safety net (emphasis added).
Let's focus for just a minute on the following phrase: "the relationship of the government to its citizens."
The Social Security Act is premised on the idea that we are "all in this together," and that we all have an interest in making sure that nobody is left homeless, or unable to provide for their children, or without health care when they are sick, or without the funds they need to survive when they get old or lose their job.
In other words, during the Great Depression, when multiple millions of people lost everything, the federal government (representing us all) did "rework" the relationship between the government and its citizens, so as to benefit us all. That reworked relationship insists that WE (collectively) will do what is necessary to make sure that basic human needs are met for ALL OF US. During the "New Deal," the wealth available within the nation as a whole was mobilized to insure that this would be true.
Now, consider the following graphic, which I first saw on a Facebook post, also back in August:
This Facebook item tells me that the relationship between the government and the people needs to be reworked, restored, and refurbished. We really ARE "in this together," and our nation is "strong" only to the degree that we, collectively, are insuring that the incredible wealth that has been collectively generated is mobilized to provide basic protections for us all.
Yesterday, we had an election that will put in place new leadership (in Congress, and in the presidency) starting next January. Let's urge our newly-elected representatives to address themselves to the same issues that President Roosevelt and the Congress addressed, back in the 1930s.
That "reworking" of the relationship between the people and the government that Heather Cox Richardson identified as so critically important needs to be reviewed.
And renewed!
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