Here’s what Moonshadow has to say — “I’m attaching the article I spoke of. I’d like someone that has more knowledge of our political/economic history to comment on it. I can see a lot that sounds just like the tea partiers. Saying that, how did things progress then and wouldn’t the same approach garner a similar outcome? Let me know what you think and turn it over to whoever can speak to this.”
Know who I think can speak to this? YOU!
fnord
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
The Commun-Nazis?
Is that Commun as in short for Communist or is it more like Common?
And how UNoriginal of the current crop of naysayers.
I am sorry to doubt the sincerity or veracity of Moonshadow, but I have doubts about just how old this article really is.
Can you tell us how you came by this-the wheres, whens, hows, etc? Can you authenticate the article?
Sorry to be so suspicious. It sounds far too much like the Beckites I have spoken with recently.
40 years and 7 months since the New Deal–what year would that be? What WAS the National Debt at that time? Who was complaining about it then? What was the tax rate at the time and who was complaining about it then? And how many people viewed regulation as a boogie man at that time?
fnord asked that I give a little background to my possession of this article. V.A. Kear was a cousin on my mother’s side of the family. He had a strong Kansas patriotism. He also founded and ran a Sod House museum, so far I have found no trace of any reference to it online. I have a postcard that pictures the museum with it’s surrounding exhibits, but I’m not sure where it’s at right at the moment. I appears that V.A. Kear wrote a book about soddies though, and it IS online…
Click to access Kear1971.pdf
I came into possession of the article at a recent family reunion. It was in with old pictures from a family members estate that were laid out to be claimed by whoever wanted them.
As a side note: Chase Kear, the Miracle Man, (http://abcnews.go.com/2020/miracle-faith-chase-kear-recovers-fatal-accident-prayers/story?id=10239513) is related to V.A. Kear.
I enjoyed the pictures in the book. My great-great-grandparents lived in a dugout when they first came to Kansas from Bavaria, Germany, in 1886.
Wow, I had a sorority sister from Goodland named Judy Kear. I wonder if she’s any relation?
Mom grew up in and around Goodland. Her line married into the Kear line just a few generations back, so I don’t have a lot of that information. But mom says that your Judy was probably related because she doesn’t know of any other Kears in the area. The name doesn’t ring a bell with her though.
Oh, Paula. I about bust a gut. Sorry.
“It sounds far too much like the Beckites I have spoken with recently.”
This was the point, precisely.
How can I prove to you the authenticity of this article? My husbands says, well, it’s on paper. Actually, I think if you check my first link in the previous post that should give enough background for the time that V.A. Kear lived.
You have made a mistake about the 4 score and 7 though. That would be 4 x 20 + 7 months. Or 87 months prior to the writing of the article.
Yeah, sorry for being cynical, but I have been fooled one too many times by something that was supposed to have been printed in a newspaper in the 50’s and wasn’t. (or the like)
I didn’t actually mean you had to provide proof–more that I was just looking for some background about how you came up with it. I have a tendency to sound much more confrontational than I mean to at times.
Thanks for the help on the math–not my strong suit at all!
Oh, and, by the way, I did click your links and found the articles to be very interesting indeed. Thanks!
No kidding, Paula. There was a picture making the rounds here via email that was supposedly taken in downtown WaKeeney in 1950.
Ahem. It was CLEARLY Photoshopped, down to the same model of cars, same year, parked up and down the street. And a closed store that didnt close until the 60’s. And… the movie theater building had nothing but blue skies behind the windows. Just like it does today, because they TORE DOWN the freakin’ building and just left the facade. TODAY the blue skies are behind the windows.
Oh, but people here would argue to the death that it was a real photo….
More specific to the time period…
KEAR, VERNEY 21 Aug 1897- Jan 1975, 77
67701 (Colby, Thomas, KS)
Kansas 513-38-9351
Yes, it would be 87 months and not 40 years + 7 months.
I’ll say this about the authenticity; I’ve seen a broadside identical to the posting among my late paternal grandparents’ possessions. Now, I cannot post a picture of it (unless she has thrown it out, my aunt is in possession of the same), but I have seen such a thing. My paternal grandfather and I talked about it once when I was in the 8th grade (I was taking U.S. History then, and he thought I’d be interested). I recall little of the particulars of that conversation, but I do recall in general his saying that this showed the unpopularity of the New Deal in Kansas leading up to the 1940 election. Oh, he also mentioned the beginnings of WWII in Europe, and the common belief that FDR was going to involve the U.S. in it, even though Hitler was viewed as “Europe’s problem” in those days.
Take it for what you will.
I posted a “More Things Change” post on my blog in January of this year. The vintage homemade Christmas card spoke of the 1968 elections…
http://ksborn.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-things-change.html
(click on the pictures to enlarge)
WOW! Indeed those words could be written today by those who still believe and fear the same as then.
Amazing.
Here we thought we were living in modern times. Think about all those who are screaming to take our country back. Back to now?
Where did the beliefs that people want the government to give them everything originate? I don’t know a single person who doesn’t want work to do, challenges to strive toward, something to accomplish. And, you all know, my most favorite people are all fairly to completely liberal — the ones accused of wanting to be taken care of.
I need to specify what ‘liberal’ is to me today. That would be the person who thinks helping those in need isn’t such a bad idea. It would be the person who sees the need for regulations because they’ve also acknowledged the greed of lack of same. It would be the person who knows they can’t make decisions for others and don’t want government stickin’ their nose in either. We are people who see all other people as equal to us no matter what color, religion or lack thereof, sex, sexual persuasion, ethnicity, social status or income.
Now, we may also be conservative in matters of money and think the only way that makes sense is to save a little, and live within your means. Credit isn’t free, loans always come due… We expect our government to conduct their business in a similar manner.
I don’t see being fiscally conservative as exclusive to a political party. But I do see being socially liberal to be exclusive to only one political party.
Cool blog, Moonshadow. And cool homestead. Yer a heck of a gardener. And looks like you have a really fun and and sweet life.
Good on ya, as Molly Ivins would say!
Thanks to my passion for cable channels like, the History channel, the Military channel and Discovery.
I have learned more about different periods of history and to that point about FDR and his time frame.
Much like today in fact it is almost a rerun of then, the Republicans were totally against anything that FDR did. And express that nothing should be done to let the free market straighten itself out.
NO, NO, NO, taxes, regulations or interference of any kind!
Again it seems that history is circular, repeating itself and the actions concerning the same circumstances.
The Republicans are always considering arm revolt when ever a Democratic President is in office.
Yes, they aren’t what anyone could accurately call ‘good losers.’ They had a taste of majorities in Congress after a very long 40 years of being in the minority and now it’s even more difficult for them. But when they were in the majority they handled it very poorly, and deserved to lose it quickly. I haven’t seen any evidence they would handle it differently now.
Nor have I.
You know the most important thing I learned from bush the lesser? America survived him, and 6 years of him with Republican majorities in both houses. I know, I know, we barely survived, but survive we did. If we can survive that, I feel more confidence about America’s resilience.
The thing that has and continue to give me hope about this country is it’s people. Every time we seem to swing too far to the left or right the great people of America always seem to bring us back to somewhat of a center,although for some it may be too left or right of center for their tastes. I see no indication that this will change anytime in the near future,if it does this country will be finished.
Bird, with all due respect, the mind-numbing attention to the labels–instead of judging ideas on their individual worth–is really the problem.
There’s nothing particular “left” about the current administration–to the extent extraordinary measures have been taken, it’s due to extraordinary circumstances: the all-too-predictable collapse of the banking system (Tom Tomorrow–the notoriously liberal cartoonist–predicted the same long ago), living in the carnage wreaked by ill-considered legislation under the previous 4 administrations, going back to Reagan. It’s not as simple as people try to make it.
And, unfortunately, leaving aside some of the nuttier ideas (I really despise “truthers”), the liberals who built a middle class in this country have been pretty much dead-on proven correct.
And I can’t see how any reasonable person viewing the current electoral developments–the full-on insanity of the what’s left of the Republican party and their extreme echo, the Tea Party–as anything but alarming.
My belated (as usual) comment on Moonshadow’s clip: That much was said about Roosevelt, and worse. There was a fair amount of anti-Semitism or other ugliness, too, then.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&tbs=nws%3A1%2Car%3A1&q=Commu-nazi&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
P.S. I suspect “commu-nazi” came about after the Non-Aggression Pact between Hitler and Stalin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact
Hitler, of course, later invaded anyway (so much for “commu-Nazis”).