Nothing I Learned Was Learned In School

Jim Powell has a, frankly, surprising history lesson about America's greatest depression fighter. No, it's not you-know-who. It's Warren G. Harding. Really? I thought all you needed to know about Harding was the Teapot Dome Scandal, the Red Scare, the adultery, and the rumors that he was black (a persistent rumor spread by the always sensitive Democrats Party). Well read it and weep while you ponder all of the other bogus knowledge that you picked up in school.

"Harding inherited Wilson’s mess — in particular, a post–World War I depression that was almost as severe, from peak to trough, as the Great Contraction from 1929 to 1933 that FDR would later inherit. The estimated gross national product plunged 24 percent from $91.5 billion in 1920 to $69.6 billion in 1921. The number of unemployed people jumped from 2.1 million to 4.9 million."

Harding's response? He cut corporate taxes (but not personal income tax, thus leaving a top rate of 8%(!) for incomes over $4,000). He also cut federal spending nearly in half (!!), and told the states to pick up the tab for relief efforts for those who were struggling economically. He also vetoes pork barrel spending, including a politically popular (indeed, a political no brainer) veterans bonus bill. He paid down the public debt. That's just the Big Picture stuff. 

Most important, Harding did not give into the voices calling for stronger action by the federal government. I think we can assume that most of these calls came from the Socialists, Progressives, and Democrats who would later vilify Harding. However, some of these voices came from within Harding's administration, including his Commerce Secretary, (imagine a Paul Harvey voice) a brilliant organization man named ... Herbert Hoover. Harding would have none of it and said "government ought to 'strike the shackles from industry...We need vastly more freedom than we do regulation.'" Folks, that's how the true philosophy of limited government looks and sounds. Rebuffed, Hoover went back to lick his wounds and bided his time until he had a chance to implement his preferred policy prescriptions to disastrous result. 

The gulf between real history, and what the average person learns in school, seems almost immeasureable. You almost need to do one of those "all the school buses in the U.S. laid end-to-end" style analogies. I mean, forget Harding, did you know that Woodrow Wilson's administration ended with an economic depression? I will admit that I did not. Conservatives have a lot going against them these days. That many of us don't even know our own history is surely one of them.