The Underdogs
By Lorraine Evanoff, March 17, 2024 – 462 Words
Below is my latest unpublished Palmer Report piece. It’s not often that my piece goes unpublished and I’m never sure why. But I thought it was pretty good.
Let me know your thoughts everyone!
When I lived in Paris and economic policy came up in conversation, the word “Gaullism” was uttered with disdain. Back in the 1960s, when six European nations were negotiating a unified economic and defense strategy, then Right-wing French President Charles de Gaulle proposed a doomed plan.
To this day, “The Fouchet Plan” is considered one of the greatest disasters of diplomacy in history. De Gaulle’s proposal included protectionist measures, such as tariffs on foreign goods in favor of French manufacturers. Basically, de Gaulle was only open to a unified Europe if France, “Could exercise leadership of other nations.”
That 1960s six-nation effort was a pre-cursor to today’s successful European Union. The Fouchet Plan was a portent of the economically disastrous Brexit. Contrary to Trump’s 2018 claim, “Trade Wars” are NOT easy to win. Even Mike Pence showed a basic understanding of capitalist economics, telling Treasury Secretary Bessent, “Free trade lowers the costs of goods.” On CNBC, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, “Even the Republicans I speak to are saying, ‘This is crazy, what's he doing?’ CEOs of the largest Fortune 500 companies are telling him, ‘Protectionism doesn't work.’”
The media downplayed how Biden defied warnings of recession by implementing Keynesian bottom-up economics. The U.S. economy became the envy of the world, disproving once again that “Trickle-down economics” is nothing but a wealth-concentration scam. In less than two months under Trump, investors are bailing on U.S. stocks for stocks abroad.
Yet, last week, Trump had the gall to claim Biden favoring the working and middle classes over the top 1% a “fake economy.” The only fake is the 34-time convicted felon installed in the White House. Uncertainty is fatal to the economy. But one thing is certain, Republicans are economy killers and Democrats are economy saviors.
Protectionist policies are just another form of weaponized hate-driven xenophobic propaganda that the Right uses to convince its base to vote against its own best interests, in favor of the mega wealthy. Lies, hatred, and fear are the only GOP platform. Once Republican voters wake up and realize that they are being indoctrinated through misinformation, they will be as bitter as I was after realizing I was tricked into voting for Reagan.
My gravest concern is that this amoral onslaught, orchestrated by one of the most ruthless tyrants in history, Vladimir Putin, could break America’s spirit. Ruth Ben-Ghiat calls is Moral Deregulation. Russians cow to authoritarians, albeit occasionally rising up in short-lived revolts. But being in a constant state of anxiety wears one down. Hence the high alcohol consumption in Russia. But Americans must remain strong to fight against the Republican destruction of democracy. Democrats are now the underdog with nothing left to lose. That makes us powerful.
TIMELINE CLEANSE
Namaste 🙏🏻💙
A very good read. You write extremely well. Keep it up!
Notice that older readers know Exactly to whom one is referring, but you’re right—the young pups don’t know the names of history that they should. DeGaulle is still within living memory, after all!
Here is the source of the problem of the ignorance in Americans‘ education. When I was teaching, I was asked to review some history textbooks, one of which was edited by professors from Harvard and Yale. It was glossy, lots of color pictures, and big print, but using World War II as an example, the D-Day Invasion and the Battle of the Bulge got one-line mentions each, neither of which mentioned that bullets happened to exchanged in anger. World War II was being taught only as “ social history!”
There were other key mistakes, including: the location of the city of Nineveh; the use of the “th”designation for the various centuries; the fact that Edward Gibbon finished writing his magnum opus_The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire_, in the summer of 1776, not while “writing at the beginning of the 20th century,” as the book stated.
So we can’t even blame students, when publishers’ factcheckers are missing such obvious errors.
Another problem is the fact that the state of Texas has a unified curriculum, which means if publishers can appeal to that big market, they have guaranteed sales of a substantial nature—and money is the bottom line, as always.
We’ve got to raise and uphold educational standards and respect the intelligentsia again, lest America continues to embarrass itself with the willful ignorance of so many groundlings. The world has had to move on and away from us since 20 January’s event. Good luck winning back that trust we once held. That is a sad thing for America and the nations that once relied upon us.