There was a wonderful Glenn Beck segment about the Leftward

It was purely a chalk talk beginning with a small circle on the extreme Right of the board which represented the concept of the small early government of the US, and how it grew and grew, and with each iteration of "grew" he drew a larger oval moving leftward along the time line until he reached Teddy Roosevelt at the mid point of his time-line. He also put pictures up on the board as he progressed. I haven't seen the second half of his presentation.

There are inaccuracies of time in his 4 part presentation.

With regard to the second lecture using "historians" who are better known for their writings within the Conservative Institutions than in the halls of Universities. Beck is correct that the US went through multiple bank crises and failures in the late 19th Century ending with the disaster of the 1907 Banking disaster. None of these crashes were comparable with either 1929 or 2008-09, mostly they were about undercapitalization and liquidity. He is correct that it was introduced by Woodrow Wilson, but it was at the request of the business community in order to make banking more secure for their purposes. It wasn't a Progressive idea, it was a Business Community idea.

Progressivism in historical terms is quite firmly defined. It is the Democratic Party of William Jennings Bryan, a prairie Populist and virtual Demagogue. He was never elected President despite 3 shots at it. Mr Beck uses Progressivism as a stick to beat anyone he doesn't like and applies it indiscriminately.

Yes, FDR after nearly 4 years of Republican rule tried many desperate measures to kick-start the economy, but without the infusion of capital through the use of massive deficit financing, which wasn't available at the time. It is generally accepted that the Smoot Hawley Protective Tariff Bill caused the spread of the Depression to European economies. Certainly that's what you'll find in all the reputable histories of the period.

While trying to draw parallels with Hitler, Beck tries to compare the election of FDR and his 100 Days with Hitler and Kristallnacht 5 years later. If you read the books Hitler very quietly and craftily built up his base over a couple of years before beginning to reveal himself. The Nuremburg Laws which struck so heavily at the Jewish population were introduced in 1936, three years after his accession, the march into the Rhineland was the same year. Somehow, I don't recall any of the behaviour of the Nazi Party, or the Communist Party on the part of FDR and the Democrats. They were struggling to legally vote in measures not to target populations, but to help individual people through make work projects. This wasn't oppression it was an attempted rescue.

I could go on at length but the odds are that few have read this far.

Rob

but caught James' link. I actually thought he did a nice job. I'm not one to hang on Beck's every word but will give him credit doing thoughtful presentations unlike Rush and some others.

My link is to the Jon Stewart show in Canada, and not available in the US.

original, but thanks JP.

Rob

But thanks anyway.

There were 3 separate Central Banks periodically during the 19th Century, including one introduced in 1791 to 1811. Both Jefferson and Madison were opposed, and it was allowed to lapse during Madison's Presidency.

If something keeps getting voted in, it seems likely that it is a necessity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System

Rob

...for extreme Beck viewers. Need a subscription for that one.