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Diane Love (St Petersburg FL)'s avatar

Thank you Heather for once again stepping back and reminding us of the arc of US economic history over the last 100 years. Eisenhower understood the world as it was. He understood service, sacrifice and purpose. And he knew how to get things done.

Ronald Reagan was an actor playing the role of gentle, good humored father while dismantling the social contract. He artfully sold trickledown theory which grew into Republican economic policy. While subsequently disproved, it continues to dominate Republican thinking. Another Big Lie.

Joe Biden appears to be taking the long view. He is listening to his better angels and using a lifetime of experience to guide him. He knows where he wants to go, but, headwinds prevent him from taking a direct course. Instead he’s tacking. While it takes longer, every sailor knows it’s the only choice until the winds change. I’m deeply grateful.

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Linda Mitchell, KCMO's avatar

I would love to hear the ghost of Ike respond to being called a "socialist" for being the most determined rebuilder of the USA after WW2 possible. My family was devoted to Adlai Stevenson--who was an amazing and humane man and a great political leader--but at the same time, after fighting the war and living in Japan for a year after it, my father came home to the GI Bill (Truman) which gave him access to universities he could have in no way afforded before the war and thence into a career that ultimately took him into the nascent space industry, designing the satellites that the world relies on for telecommunications to this day. My father, from a dirt-poor Greek immigrant family, had the kind of storied career that would have been unthinkable without the benefits of Ike's dedication to rebuilding (and building!) the USA's infrastructure. That my father then went on to champion civil rights, to fight for equity for all people, to retain his FDR-style democratic principles until he died last year was in part because he admired the determination of people like Eisenhower, whose cautionary tale about the growth of the military-industrial complex was ignored by his own party.

This is the beginning. AOC is right in that we need to invest far more in infrastructure than the 2 trillion identified in this plan, but she also knows (I hope) that the re-education of America is going to be a slow process, one that will have to drag 74 million people kicking and screaming into the 21st century. The Gormless Obstructionists will continue their campaign toward oligarchy and autocracy. What Dems need to do at this point is be like Katie Porter: whip out those white boards and be loud, clear, and specific about how they are harming the very people who vote for them in their frantic snuffle after the fundaments of the billionaires they really care about.

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