An optimistic view of human nature, there. What did work, somewhat, was affirmative action: getting blacks into universities, and into positions of political and economic power, even if it meant ramming it down the throats of the racist yokels. It's hard to sit in a boardroom and propose redlining a neighborhood when there's a black person sitting at the table. Openly racist shit doesn't go far in state legislatures today, for the same reason. There's been a bit of backsliding thanks to the current Dipshit-in-Chief, but in the long run, that arc does keep bending.
It it all does fall down, there won't be industrial plants polluting the planet with gigatons of waste. It's gonna be hot and humid, like when the Arctic was rainforest, but mammals like us will get by -- just not in the style to which we've become accustomed.
The more important question is whether all that we've learned so far will be lost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
We'll see if you're optimistic or wildly optimistic soon enough. Me, I'm not optimistic, at all. We're an amazingly adaptable animal, thanks to our big brains, but we're also extraordinarily self-destructive. I'm putting the odds of our living through this great extinction at less than 50:50. Maybe way less, depending on just how awful it gets - "hot and humid" is really understating the devastation which is already underway. I'm not just talking about the climate, by the way, but about the living communities which are already in the process of collapsing - especially the marine communities. The big problem with that sort of collapse is just how quickly it goes from "marginal" to "dominos falling down". We'll probably have some time to get a bit used to eating squids and jellyfish instead of fish, but I expect even that to run low soon enough. Of course, the Earth will be fine, and there will be life that survives and repopulates. Maybe not including us, though. Of course, maybe we'll somehow manage to pull a 'big brain' rabbit our of our hat and stop the onrushing train inches from our nose, but I have to say I'm not hopeful, given humanity's history.
I have long noted that Hooverism seems to be the only idea the GOP ever had to sell. Every other advance in American life has come from the other side.
Sarafina, I am all in favor of farm loans and farmers. My comment was in regard to the political opinions of Rose Wilder Lane and Laura Ingalls Wilder about accepting government assistance for farms while decrying government help for others.
Grandpa worked in the WPA, helping to build Allegany State Park in western New York. He and a bunch of other young men would get on a truck in Salamanca, go up over the mountain and work all day, with a break for lunch, and be dropped off in town in the evening. He bitched about Republicans all the time.
Harry Truman appointed Hoover to lead the effort. Hoover was a professional engineer, Had worked on European relief projects after WWI, and was a logical choice for similar work in the wake of WWII. He did far more good for Europe than he ever did for the United States.
From what I'm reading in the book, Hoover had fiercely loyal aides, and his team had some degree of skill in the game of politics.FDR spoke in broad terms and was wishy-washy about a specific decision or course of action until it was time to decide/act, while Hoover was clear about what he did or didn't think was the right thing. Even though he was a huge dickface, long-term marching orders were clear.
The WPA did an amazing job creating the state park system in New York and the ghosts of all that incredible stone work can still be found in the parks. It's especially fascinating to find trails long since abandoned that remain paved in field stone. The Allegany Park might be a bit more contentious since it involved yet another land grab reducing the size of the Seneca Nation property holdings. Something that happened again and again.
I'd agree with that characterization. After the corruption of the Harding Administration and the hands off approach of Coolidge, Hoover looked like a technocrat who could run the country much one might run a factory or a mine. Technocrats as leaders was a popular notion in many western democracies. His staunch isolationist views in the run up to WWII might be more disturbing than anything he did or didn't do while in the White House.
An optimistic view of human nature, there. What did work, somewhat, was affirmative action: getting blacks into universities, and into positions of political and economic power, even if it meant ramming it down the throats of the racist yokels. It's hard to sit in a boardroom and propose redlining a neighborhood when there's a black person sitting at the table. Openly racist shit doesn't go far in state legislatures today, for the same reason. There's been a bit of backsliding thanks to the current Dipshit-in-Chief, but in the long run, that arc does keep bending.
Oh, I think that's settled beyond debate. Hoover was a statesman for the ages, compared to Il Douche.
It it all does fall down, there won't be industrial plants polluting the planet with gigatons of waste. It's gonna be hot and humid, like when the Arctic was rainforest, but mammals like us will get by -- just not in the style to which we've become accustomed.
The more important question is whether all that we've learned so far will be lost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...
Reading comprehension much?
We'll see if you're optimistic or wildly optimistic soon enough. Me, I'm not optimistic, at all. We're an amazingly adaptable animal, thanks to our big brains, but we're also extraordinarily self-destructive. I'm putting the odds of our living through this great extinction at less than 50:50. Maybe way less, depending on just how awful it gets - "hot and humid" is really understating the devastation which is already underway. I'm not just talking about the climate, by the way, but about the living communities which are already in the process of collapsing - especially the marine communities. The big problem with that sort of collapse is just how quickly it goes from "marginal" to "dominos falling down". We'll probably have some time to get a bit used to eating squids and jellyfish instead of fish, but I expect even that to run low soon enough. Of course, the Earth will be fine, and there will be life that survives and repopulates. Maybe not including us, though. Of course, maybe we'll somehow manage to pull a 'big brain' rabbit our of our hat and stop the onrushing train inches from our nose, but I have to say I'm not hopeful, given humanity's history.
*cough*
I have long noted that Hooverism seems to be the only idea the GOP ever had to sell. Every other advance in American life has come from the other side.
https://twitter.com/NewYork...
https://twitter.com/karlath...
Sarafina, I am all in favor of farm loans and farmers. My comment was in regard to the political opinions of Rose Wilder Lane and Laura Ingalls Wilder about accepting government assistance for farms while decrying government help for others.
Pretty much.
https://www.amazon.com/Invi...
Grandpa worked in the WPA, helping to build Allegany State Park in western New York. He and a bunch of other young men would get on a truck in Salamanca, go up over the mountain and work all day, with a break for lunch, and be dropped off in town in the evening. He bitched about Republicans all the time.
Harry Truman appointed Hoover to lead the effort. Hoover was a professional engineer, Had worked on European relief projects after WWI, and was a logical choice for similar work in the wake of WWII. He did far more good for Europe than he ever did for the United States.
From what I'm reading in the book, Hoover had fiercely loyal aides, and his team had some degree of skill in the game of politics.FDR spoke in broad terms and was wishy-washy about a specific decision or course of action until it was time to decide/act, while Hoover was clear about what he did or didn't think was the right thing. Even though he was a huge dickface, long-term marching orders were clear.
The WPA did an amazing job creating the state park system in New York and the ghosts of all that incredible stone work can still be found in the parks. It's especially fascinating to find trails long since abandoned that remain paved in field stone. The Allegany Park might be a bit more contentious since it involved yet another land grab reducing the size of the Seneca Nation property holdings. Something that happened again and again.
I'd agree with that characterization. After the corruption of the Harding Administration and the hands off approach of Coolidge, Hoover looked like a technocrat who could run the country much one might run a factory or a mine. Technocrats as leaders was a popular notion in many western democracies. His staunch isolationist views in the run up to WWII might be more disturbing than anything he did or didn't do while in the White House.