[wplug] Taxes

[terry mcintyre]

Regarding the federal highway system, the wikipedia
article at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal-Aid_Highway_Act_of_1956
makes a real interesting observation.

Eisenhower compared the federal highway system,
started in 1956, with the state of the roads way back
in 1919.

Is there any evidence that highways in 1954, before 
Eisenhower began promoting federalization, were really
no better than in 1919? If so, what of the much-fabled
work of the federal WPA? What was it doing all that
time?

Federal myth-building is always a fascinating topic.

In 1919, the automobile had hardly been invented; it
was not a mass-market item; Ford had only introduced
the Model T in 1908. As for subsequent roadbuilding
efforts, something called the Great Depression may
have hindered matters somewhat. Previous depressions
were so short that they were named after the year of
occurrence; only one was called the Great Depression,
which lasted over ten years. That was a great triumph
of government propaganda over reality; people somehow
came to believe that a physician who managed to
transform the typical duration of a malady from less
than one year to over a decade was actually doing the
patient a great favor, a belief which persists to this
day. In no small measure, this is due to the
propagation by the great myth factories of our day,
which had a much smaller influence prior to the 1920s
- the government schools.



Terry McIntyre <terrymcintyre at yahoo.com>

“Wherever is found what is called a paternal government, there is found state education. It has been discovered that the best way to insure implicit obedience is to commence tyranny in the nursery.”

Benjamin Disraeli, Speech in the House of Commons [June 15, 1874]


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