Imagining Different Eras
I’m currently reading Philip Roth’s book “The Plot Against America,” which depicts a fictionalized America of the 1940s where President Charles Lindbergh makes a deal with Hitler and stays out of World War II, letting Hitler and his buddies continue their atrocities. It makes me wonder…what if George W. Bush was the leader of this country in a different era? How would things be different?
1930’s – Well, we know what Bush thinks of New Deal programs, so it’s safe to say that many American people would have been in trouble. We know what he thinks of Social Security. When the Depression hit, what would Bush have done? Tax cuts for the wealthy? He probably would have been “saved” by WWII, much as Roosevelt was. However, President Roosevelt developed the New Deal programs, with all their government intervention, in the wake of the Depression. We know that Bush and his allies despise government intervention unless it is to prevent abortion or gay rights.
1940’s – Bush would have entered WWII immediately after Pearl Harbor. No question there, and no doubt the correct decision, unless you argue that we should have entered the war earlier. Would he have used the bomb on Hiroshima? That’s a tough call, and impossible to judge.
1950’s – No change. Eisenhower had similar ideas and loved to play golf as much as Bush likes to retire to Crawford. He even had a scoundrel-type as his Vice President, and we know what great things are part of Nixon’s legacy. Some have argued that Bush wants to take the U.S. back to this era culturally, with its repression and distaste for women and minorities achieving any power.
1960’s – Cuban Missile Crisis is a very tough call, but I think Bush’s handlers would have this right. Now the tough one…Vietnam. Kennedy & Johnson were the ones complicit here, and Bush may not have made the same mistakes. Then again, the attitudes of the day were “we must stop communism” and “we do not ever lose,” so different men could well have led us down the same path. Look at modern-day Iraq. Our swagger and ideas of “we must stop terrorism” (which of course I agree with, by the way) and “we must not lose,” harken back to the earlier era. Was it absolutely necessary to send troops to Vietnam then? Was it absolutely necessary to invade Iraq when we did?
1970’s – I could see Karl Rove initiating dirty tricks, only he would be sneakier about it. In some ways, he's been using them all along. We still don’t know who outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, do we? If Bush presided over the gas shortage, what would he have done? Does he react to Roe v. Wade by calling for constitutional amendments? How would he handle the hostage crisis?
1980’s – Bush could not spell détente. I could see him being Reagan-esqe (he himself obviously does), but with higher deficits than Reagan amassed. Would he have brought down the U.S.S.R.? If Bush was president in the 1980’s (the current Bush, not the 1980’s drug-addled version), he may well have antagonized the Soviets to a very bad point. Reagan held off for a while before finally engaging in talks with them, and Bush may well have done the same. However, I don’t think Bush the diplomat would have accomplished what Reagan did. His cowboy talk would have just made the Soviets angrier. It appears they would have crumbled eventually anyway, but put Bush in the White House from 1980-88 and they don’t crumble until the mid-1990’s.
1990’s – Taxes would be so low with increased personal income that we would have very wealthy rich people, and very destitute poor people. The “internets” might not have had so much innovation, what with the government censoring ”indecency,” much as the FCC does these days. Al Qaeda would grow, just as it did in the real 1990’s, because of America being asleep at the switch. For you naysayers who say Bush wouldn’t allow that, remember that in January 2001, he cut the federal antiterrorism budget. He did nothing to combat terrorism until September 11th.
2000’s – Oh, wait. Bush IS president. Damn….we’ll be bankrupt soon and run by the Religious Right.
Except for that last part, this is all completely a mental exercise and total speculation. There never was a President Lindbergh, but Roth paints a scary picture of one. Each of our presidents was important in his own time, but would they be as important if you moved them to a different time?
1930’s – Well, we know what Bush thinks of New Deal programs, so it’s safe to say that many American people would have been in trouble. We know what he thinks of Social Security. When the Depression hit, what would Bush have done? Tax cuts for the wealthy? He probably would have been “saved” by WWII, much as Roosevelt was. However, President Roosevelt developed the New Deal programs, with all their government intervention, in the wake of the Depression. We know that Bush and his allies despise government intervention unless it is to prevent abortion or gay rights.
1940’s – Bush would have entered WWII immediately after Pearl Harbor. No question there, and no doubt the correct decision, unless you argue that we should have entered the war earlier. Would he have used the bomb on Hiroshima? That’s a tough call, and impossible to judge.
1950’s – No change. Eisenhower had similar ideas and loved to play golf as much as Bush likes to retire to Crawford. He even had a scoundrel-type as his Vice President, and we know what great things are part of Nixon’s legacy. Some have argued that Bush wants to take the U.S. back to this era culturally, with its repression and distaste for women and minorities achieving any power.
1960’s – Cuban Missile Crisis is a very tough call, but I think Bush’s handlers would have this right. Now the tough one…Vietnam. Kennedy & Johnson were the ones complicit here, and Bush may not have made the same mistakes. Then again, the attitudes of the day were “we must stop communism” and “we do not ever lose,” so different men could well have led us down the same path. Look at modern-day Iraq. Our swagger and ideas of “we must stop terrorism” (which of course I agree with, by the way) and “we must not lose,” harken back to the earlier era. Was it absolutely necessary to send troops to Vietnam then? Was it absolutely necessary to invade Iraq when we did?
1970’s – I could see Karl Rove initiating dirty tricks, only he would be sneakier about it. In some ways, he's been using them all along. We still don’t know who outed CIA agent Valerie Plame, do we? If Bush presided over the gas shortage, what would he have done? Does he react to Roe v. Wade by calling for constitutional amendments? How would he handle the hostage crisis?
1980’s – Bush could not spell détente. I could see him being Reagan-esqe (he himself obviously does), but with higher deficits than Reagan amassed. Would he have brought down the U.S.S.R.? If Bush was president in the 1980’s (the current Bush, not the 1980’s drug-addled version), he may well have antagonized the Soviets to a very bad point. Reagan held off for a while before finally engaging in talks with them, and Bush may well have done the same. However, I don’t think Bush the diplomat would have accomplished what Reagan did. His cowboy talk would have just made the Soviets angrier. It appears they would have crumbled eventually anyway, but put Bush in the White House from 1980-88 and they don’t crumble until the mid-1990’s.
1990’s – Taxes would be so low with increased personal income that we would have very wealthy rich people, and very destitute poor people. The “internets” might not have had so much innovation, what with the government censoring ”indecency,” much as the FCC does these days. Al Qaeda would grow, just as it did in the real 1990’s, because of America being asleep at the switch. For you naysayers who say Bush wouldn’t allow that, remember that in January 2001, he cut the federal antiterrorism budget. He did nothing to combat terrorism until September 11th.
2000’s – Oh, wait. Bush IS president. Damn….we’ll be bankrupt soon and run by the Religious Right.
Except for that last part, this is all completely a mental exercise and total speculation. There never was a President Lindbergh, but Roth paints a scary picture of one. Each of our presidents was important in his own time, but would they be as important if you moved them to a different time?
posted by Wounded Liberal at 6:53 PM
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