Everything I wrote...

... and you focus on the fact that I DIDN'T denounce New Deal as a crime against humanity? You're killing me... I swear.

Why is my position on that effort so impossible for you to grasp? The actual "depression" was over by '35, with only 9 months of recession in '37 to counter five years (plus the war years) of solid, measurable economic growth and expansion that won't be matched again until 1987, and the undeniable FACT that there has been no "depression" since 1935 in the US, and no recession that lasted longer than 21 months. All "alphabet soup" work programs are ended by 1942, and only the "institutionalized" leviathans of FDIC, SSI, and SEC are left to clutter up our deduction schedules on our paychecks today. I've given up trying to show you why I'm right... now I'd just like you to at least understand what I'm defending even if you'll never get why I'm defending it.

If an Administration can be blamed for expanding the powers of the Executive Branch... or the Federal Government as a whole... then why leave FDR alone on that list (prior to 2008)? Shouldn't Lincoln have just as high a billing? Must we also revisit the Jackson Era and re-read what was said when the President was quoted as saying that "Chief Justice Marshall has made his decision... now let's see him enforce it." and ordered the forced removal of 65,000 Native Americans from Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama?

My support of fiscal responsibility in government is far less enigmatic when it is understood that I think some degree of Federal regulation of the economy CAN be a good thing, when accomplished in moderation and on a temporary basis. I'm no fan of spending money for spending's sake... but if something good can come from money spent that can benefit the country and the economy long-term... then hell YES I think its a good idea. So did Ronald Reagan, as I recall... or am I mistaken in remembering that, while Reagan initiated policies that increased national revenue by 8.2% on average, he also increased spending at a rate of 7.1% annually, which still managed to grow the deficit at a rate of 1.2% over the course of 8 years? He lowered taxes to keep money in people's pockets while the economy was soft, knowing it would have to go back up and THEN we could raise taxes or reduce spending until the budgt was balanced again... Keynesian economics at its best. Even Reagan never got close to FDR's rate of GDP growth average... which for the first two terms was more than 8.5% ANNUALLY. How can you deny that THIS shows real recovery AND growth... when it hasn't been matched at any point in our history, before or since?

Still... you're right. We've been over this time and time again, and nothing I say matters at all. You simply refuse to consider anything I might present as "evidence" as anything other than youthful indoctrination from liberal-democratic heritage (even though my father's parents hated the very name of Roosevelt) or a wild-eyed nostalgia for childhood utopian dreams. When there is no consideration for the opposing viewpoint, then there is no discourse.

I'm scheduled to work the next 24 out of 48 hours at the casino... so I certainly am not going to have the energy or time to rehash that which has already been said a dozen times by both sides.