This past weekend I had a fun gig with my 1970s cover band – “7teez” – at the Brown County Fair in New Ulm, Minnesota. I drove through about seventy miles of deep farm country on thin roads – some of which were gravel – with thick crops hugging the shoulders. There were periods where I couldn’t see any buildings of any kind – houses and barns were few and far between.
As I listened to AM950 streaming in my car, there was a riveting interview with historian Professor Harvey J. Kaye. He was talking about how the Biden Administration and Democrats need to go as robust as possible on their infrastructure bills. He pointed out that the current versions as they are would result in the biggest investments in our infrastructure since the New Deal in the 1930s under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
He spoke of the stunning ambitiousness of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. He pointed out the long forgotten reality that only 3% of farm homes had electricity before that time, and that so often people in rural towns are against the government doing anything at all.
Then I looked up toward my left and noticed the wires running alongside the road, with hundreds of poles running them for miles and miles to the next remote home. I had to slow down for an old Dodge pickup turning off into a cluster of silos and other buildings. There was a gathering with a tent and a stage with drums and guitar amps set up for perhaps a wedding reception or graduation party. I wondered if the attendees appreciated FDR and his ambitious government-provided electricity making their party possible. I wondered if these people were excited to support the Biden administration’s ambitious new infrastructure investments.
Alright, I didn’t wonder. I knew they likely knew nothing of the Rural Electrification Act, and it’s likely they don’t want Biden to use the government for anything at all. Most of the people attending this gathering are likely Trump supporters, and too ignorant to realize that the magic of their remote location having electricity was the result of the biggest government involvement in U.S. history. It’s also likely they’re frustrated that they don’t have good or any-at-all broadband service, and are simultaneously against the ambitious infrastructure bills the Democrats are trying to get passed.
Although they will feel like it’s being “rammed down their throats”, they will appreciate the ensuing changes these new infrastructure bills will provide for them. Which is precisely why Professor Kaye is correct in saying the Democrats must not compromise. They must go as big as possible so that the positive change is as noticeable as possible. That’s the best way to win elections. Republicans know this, and that’s why they want failure.
They are not for supporting the best interests of Americans; they are hoping for more calamity because that’s their only hope to stay in power. And this is not a new thing – Republicans have been sabotaging everything for decades. It’s why everything is in shambles currently. Their problem now is that we can’t really sink any further. As it is, their voters are literally dying because of their success in making their voters believe their lies.
As I witnessed the crazily huge amount of wires and poles running to the most remote places on my long drive this weekend, I felt a certain amount of awe for the Rural Electrification Act. I hope to be in awe of the updates resulting from the success of the Biden administration and the Democrats in Congress passing these new bills. And I hope more Americans will see through the republican’s lies and join me in my appreciation.
Here are some statistics from the time of FDR’s New Deal:
– U.S. population in 1933: 125 million. About 1/3 of what it is currently.
Civilian Conservation Corp
– 3 million men served between 1933 & 1943, planting 2.3 billion trees on 2.5 million acres of barren/unproductive land
– 40 million acres of fighting soil erosion farmland
– 800 new state parks
Civil Works Administration
– Employed 4.5 million people during 1933 & 1934, the harshest months of the Great Depression
– Built or improved 500,000 miles of roads
– Built 40,000 schools
– Built thousands of airports
2nd New Deal (1935-1941)
Works Progress Administration
– Employed 8.5 million people
– Upgraded 600,000 miles of rural roads
– Laid 67,000 miles of city streets
– Erected 78,000 new bridges and viaducts
– Built 40,000 public buildings and several hundred more airports
Public Works Administration
– Gave contracts to build Hoover Dam, Boulder Dam, Grand Cooley & Boniville Dams, Lincoln Tunnel and much more
Tennessee Valley Authority
– Rescued the region from devastating poverty by creating dams and a lot of employment
– Created many man-made lakes
Rural Electrification Agency (Only 3% of farmsteads had electricity in 1936)
(Energy companies determined they would make no profit delivering electricity to rural areas, so the didn’t.)
– Created 400 local power cooperatives
– Brought electricity to 500,000 farmsteads
Feared liberal president Abraham Lincoln said, “Government can do things individual people and companies can’t. It’s us on a grand scale.”
