> September 3 / 4, 2005
>
> The U.S. Needs to Start Over:
> Failing at War, Peace and Dignity
>
> By DAN LA BOTZ
>
> Hurricane Katrina's blow to New Orleans and the failure of the government to
> respond have shown the United States to be a failed state.
>
> [snip]
>
> The Democrats launched these policies with the deregulation of airlines and
> trucking, the Republicans deepened them with dramatic federal budget cuts
> for social services. Both parties carried these policies abroad with the WTO
> and the IMF, with NAFTA and CAFTA. The Republicans carried war to
> Afghanistan and Iraq, with the Democrats holding up the flag, passing the
> ammunition, and saluting.
>
> Failed parties: failed state.
>
> (Dan La Botz teaches history and Latin American studies at Miami University
> in Oxford, Ohio. He edits Mexican Labor News and Analysis, and is the author
> of several books on labor in Mexico, Indonesia, and the United States. He
> can be reached at: labotzdh at muohio.edu)
Why is he starting deregulation with Carter? Ford removed regulations on the railroads, reduced regulations on the SEC, and removed controls on energy prices. Ford used the same line in several speeches, "A government big enough to give us everything we want is a government big enough to take from us everything we have." The Democrats didn't launch these policies but they sure as hell went along with them later.
John Thornton