Marshalling Forces

A small article, hidden in the back pages of the Times this morning, accidentally supports my position on labor, business, and the nature of the beast. On page 20 of the front section, under the headline, "JFK was overrated, Carter was a 'disaster', and oh, Reagan ..." late President Gerald R. Ford gave his frank opinion of past presidents, with the understanding that the interviews, conducted over a 25 year period, would only be published posthumously. He reveals himself to be a pretty keen judge of character and ability.

Most interesting to me was Ford's opinion that Regan had less to to with the collapse of the Soviet Union than the Marshall Plan, the post-WWII reconstruction and aid plan that rebuilt Europe. Hello! That has a familiar ring to it, don't you think? To quote from my last blog, "People who are fed, clothed, housed, employed, and occupied are less likely to go to war, with America or anyone else."

That was the whole point of the Marshall Plan. People can only be led toward radical change if their lives are dysfunctional. But if they are getting up and going to work every morning, feeding their families, going to the movies, watching their children grow in safety, they are more inclined to sign up for dance lessons than for the revolution. Offering aid to developing countries, whether we happen to like them or not, is a cheaper, more dependable, more ethical way to extend the stay of the human race on the planet. Anyway, that's what I think.

And by the way, a second article, this one on the front page of the California section, lauds the Marshall Plan as a paradigm for dealing with gang infestation in Los Angeles. 470 gangs, with approx. 39,000 members, rule large portions of the city. God forbid these guys ever put their differences aside and join forces, that's all she wrote for L. A. You'd see a whole new brand of free market capitalism.

a foot on either side

Bartley B