Roosevelt's New Deal?

Question

Why were the republicans so against Roosevelt's New Deal? What are specific reasons besides it was unconstitutional.

Answer 1

My biggest problem with the New Deal was that it made people think that it's the government's job to take care of us. 180 years of self reliance were destroyed in a generation. It took a revolution for us to win the right to run our own lives, and I expect it'll take another one to get that right back.

Answer 2

It is an inefficient use of money. The whole goal was to create jobs. However, to fund the program the government had to raise taxes. These taxes were paid primarily by business owners. In other words, people that could create new jobs.

So the "New Deal" took money away from most communities and businesses that could create jobs. The government used these taxes to fund public works projects that created jobs in very localized areas. Hoover dam is a great example. It created a lot of jobs in 1 very tiny area of the country. The downside is that the taxes used to fund it took jobs away from the entire rest of the country.

It's a shell game. It looks good that 10,000 jobs were created in the middle of the dessert, but they don't tell you that it destroyed tens of thousands of jobs all over the rest of the country. And of course the politicians and bureaucracy don't work for free, they have to take their cut, so only a fraction of the money collected actually went to creating jobs.

This is why the Great Depression lasted 8 years under FDR (1933-1941). If FDR had been a Republican he would be called the worst president in history for this travesty.

Answer 3

Check out these websites, they will help you:
http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/history/chapter17section2.rhtml

http://wps.ablongman.com/long_divine_app_7/0,9093,1329838-,00.html

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USARnewdeal.htm


Hope this helps!