Franklin Delano Roosevelt had his “New Deal.” Now Democrats have unveiled their “Better Deal.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Shumer, appearing with other Congressional Democrats, repeatedly used that phrase in announcing his party’s new policies.
The Better Deal aims to accomplish three things, in Shumer’s words: “First, we’re going to increase people’s pay. Second, we’re going to reduce their everyday expenses. And third, we’re going to provide workers the tools they need for the 21st century economy.”
He then laid out several government initiatives that Democrats want to undertake to achieve those goals.
It doesn’t seem to measure up to the ambition of the New Deal or Lyndon Baines Johnson’s The Great Society. Nothing trulyk ambitious or big-scale, like adopting a single payer health care plan like Great Britain’s or building a Welfare State like Sweden’s. Increase people’s pay and make things cost less? That sounds rather anti-climactic for the rhetorical build-up.
Is this a winning slogan? A winning set of policies?
From Bridget Johnson, Schumer: ‘Old-Fashioned Capitalism Has Broken Down’, PJ Media:
Declaring “old-fashioned capitalism has broken down to the detriment of consumers” and “Adam Smith has lost his way amidst these big corporations,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other congressional Democrats traveled to a red pocket of purple Virginia today to spell out their new agenda.
Schumer, who was joined by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at Rose Hill Park in Berryville, Va., remarked that the town near the West Virginia border “looks like parts of New York state.”
“Too many families in America feel like the rules of the economy are rigged against them. They feel like they’re getting a raw deal, and they’re right. They’re almost powerless to change them. We are here today to tell the people of Berryville and the working people of America: someone has your back,” he said.
“American families deserve a better deal so this country works for everyone again, not just the elites, not just the special interests. Today, Democrats start presenting that better deal to the American people.”
Photo of FDR’s fireside chat by Unknown or not provided (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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