Letter to the Editor: We would have been speaking German
I was just watching the start up of a Wright R3350 Duplex Cyclone (3700 hp) engine on a B 29 during WWII on YouTube when I realized the United States was great. In 1941 we were just clawing our way out of a kick ass depression caused by a conservative policy that said corporatists could do anything they wanted. Like now. That R3350 was pretty impressive. Designed (extremely complex and without computers, just slide rules) in this period and installed on thousands of airplanes, this thing was a combination of intellect and brute strength. Of course, at the same time many young men were soldiers which left much of the war supply up to women, older men, black and Hispanic people, Asians, etc. But Americans all pulled together in a collective and stopped the Axis leaders in their tracks. It did take 3 ½ years but we did it with Canadians, French, English, Scandinavians, Russians, the 332 fighter group (black guys),442 Infantry Groupe (Japanese), oh and the Jewish scientists that figured out the A bomb. Yup, white folks played a massive role in this effort also.
Despite the tragic racism and Jim Crow laws in the south during that time, by using Socialist economics the US was able to do a rapid and massive build up to war production that is unprecedented to this day. Marginal tax rates where 91%, Harry Truman lead the war profiteering commission in the Senate, and there were wage and price controls as well as rationing of food, gasoline, etc. Can you imagine the anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers screaming bloody murder as their “freedom” was being taken away by a 1st Lieutenant? Talk about freedom to a Marine storming the beach on Iwo that was shot in the head by a Japanese soldier suckered into the fight by his fascist government. No freedom for that Marine and his band of brothers. Many are in a grave. America will never be great again until we can overcome our stooopid, racist and selfish nature that has somehow infected us today.
OH, by the way congress was controlled by Democrats and FDR had just won his FOURTH election when WWII was winding down. Today’s corporate Democrats have forgotten FDR. If republicans had been in control, we would all be speaking a combination of Japanese and German.
Respectfully
Don McKechnie
Sierraville