Henry Morganthau and How Liberalism Has Changed For the Worse

Henry Morganthau served Franklin Roosevelt as Secretary of the Treasury during World War II. Needless to say, as a faithful practitioner of Judaism, Secretary Morganthau shared with the majority of Americans a deep hatred and disgust for Nazi Germany. Even before the full extent of the Holocaust was revealed by Allied troops, he had devised a plan for postwar Germany.

Morganthau, a liberal in a liberal administration, advocated that Germany be completely deindustrialized. Her factories would be demolished and her economy returned to an agrarian basis. This would serve as a means to prevent any resurgence of German power while punishing her for misdeeds.

What we have seen in this country over the past few decades is a reduction in our national ability to actually do anything. How long does it take to build a power plant? How long does it take to build a road? How many manufacturers have decided to build abroad because they do not want to go through the unending process of permits, studies, public hearings, etc.? Why would they not want to avoid the Byzantine labrynth of federal, state, and local laws as well as the off chance of a ridiculous lawsuit? Once you reach a certain threshold of regulation, how possible is it to avoid committing infractions of some sort?

Liberals do not want industry, at least left wing liberals do not. They take the money and support of unions and then turn around and pass laws, taxes, and pursue policies designed to destroy traditional manufacturing. What they want is clear, an America of forests, farms, and tourist attractions that do not attract many tourists. We wouldn't want to mess up the natural wonders by having too many real people looking at them. They want jobs, but only high tech, academia, health care, and other employment they consider "clean."

In other words they want to do to America what a liberal Secretary of the Treasury once thought was fit as a punishment for one of the most evil regimes in history. So many of the extreme leftists think that we are that as it is, spreading democracy and capitalism as we have.