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Another ‘Great Recant’ cuts social theory

December 10, 1975

In our Continuous Series of Great Rents, the one recently uttered by former Ohio Governor John J. Gilligan has to be near the top.

The once-champion of liberal labor causes stunned his fellow Democrats at a recent National Affairs Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, by blowing up a trio of popular programs: a national health bill, federal involvement in environmental protection, and federal housing and community development. .



“As heretical as it may seem to some, I am very reluctant to have the federal government launch a nationwide health insurance program simply because in the decade since Medicare and Medicaid appeared, we have invested millions in providing health services. system without materially improving either the level of health or its availability for the majority of American families “,
Gilligan said.

He went on to suggest that most of these federal programs could be better managed at the state or regional level. Given that this position is exactly that of presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, the convention delegates were dumbfounded.

“I suppose it is a departure from some of my previous ideas”, Gilligan said: “But there are many things that I believed ten years ago when I was in Congress that have now proven not to work.”

The poise with which dogmatic opinion leaders turn 180 degrees when their claims fail never fails to amaze me.

However, we must recognize the intellectual courage that such changes require.

If only the clearest thinkers who say so were given the same consideration as self-proclaimed oracles!

We delay or destroy good causes at great cost and we work simply because those who advocate for caution are vilified.

We are justified in questioning the remaining pie-in-the-sky proposals that are still being criticized by activists with a lot of rhetoric and little logic.

Regular readers of this column will remember some of the other Great Rents from the past few years:

  1. On School Transportation, by Dr. James Coleman, a sociologist at the University of Chicago who launched the integration tool with a federal report in 1964. He now says, “Only in certain specific circumstances does integration improve classroom performance for students. blacks, when the number of blacks introduced is not large enough to alter the middle-class spirit of the classroom.
  2. On Deficit Spending: By New York Mayor Abraham Beame, When America’s Largest City Was On The Brink of Bankruptcy. Now he says: “The very practices that I defended 10 and 20 years ago are responsible for our current difficulty. Borrowing money to pay the debt was a mistake. It is a bitter lesson.”
  3. On Federal Control: By UN Ambassador Daniel P. Moynihan, then Undersecretary of Labor during President John F. Kennedy’s tenure. Now he says, “American liberals are guilty of overprotecting the good name of the poor, overselling underfunded programs, and avoiding evidence of poor performance. In particular (we liberals) have paid very little attention to the limited capabilities of the poor. government office for social change. “
  4. In New Math – by the California State Board of Education, which started the educational craze a decade ago. The board now says, “Not everyone needs conceptual theory. The ability to balance a checkbook or add a shopping list is basic.”
  5. On Permissive Behavior – By Dr. Benjamin Spock, baby care specialist and Vietnam War objector. Now she says: “We have raised a generation of brats. Parents are not firm enough with their children for fear of losing their love or incurring their resentment. This is a cruel deprivation that we professionals have imposed on mothers and fathers. Of course, we did it with the best of intentions. It wasn’t until it was too late that we realized how our know-it-all attitude was undermining the parents’ self-confidence. “

Let us grant that those who defend hard work, self-reliance, thrift, simple skills, craftsmanship, and all the other old-fashioned virtues may know what they are talking about.

As we search through the list of beautiful social theories of the last decades, what has been successful?

Not the New Deal, not the Square Deal, not the New Frontier, not the Great Society.

No public housing, rent subsidies, campus riots, black power, isolationism, foreign aid, sexual freedom, affirmative action, welfare, hiring fees, free tuition.

Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment compensation survive at a high cost but are in jeopardy.

In view of the long and regrettable history of mistakes by yesterday’s theorists, we would be better served by a new generation of pragmatists.

Better to count the little blessings than to retract the big mistakes.

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