SOCIAL CONTRACT ENDS

The truth is something we shall seldom know, but never stop seeking.

PHOTOS, PAGE 1


	Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in Washington, DC, (details below)

We live in a time of radical challenge to what had been considered fundamentals of American life. Social Security, Medicare and every other so called “entitlement” program is under challenge, not just because they are growing too large to be sustained in the same manner, but also because some Republicans and tea potters believe we shouldn’t have such programs in the first place. If only, we are told, we could take these restraints off, capitalism would make us all rich and happy. What if it didn’t work out? Well, Social Security would be gone or ravaged, so we’d have to find another way of coping with old age.

There is a terrific opinion (7.20.11) column in the WashPost about the tea party Republican attack on the rights and protections of ordinary Americans. The column, written by a history professor, goes into details about how we have had a kind of grand bargain, a cultural contract, over almost the last 100 years or so that has allowed capitalism, democracy and citizen’s rights to exist in relative peacefulness. The essence of the column is that the unstated social contract is breaking down and under attack, specifically by Republicans.

The TerryReport has been vigorous in detailing the anti-democracy campaign in the US. The column in the Post lends some historical perspective.

FROM THE WASH POST: The terms (for the nation) were straightforward if not systematically articulated. Capitalism would endure, as would almost all large corporations. Huge railroads, banks and other enterprises “with a few exceptions” would cease to be threatened with nationalization or breakup. Moreover, the state would service and promote private business.

In exchange, the federal government adopted a series of far-reaching reforms to shield and empower citizens, safeguarding society’s democratic character.(The link to the Post article is in the left column.)


	THE LINK TO THE WASH POST COLUMN


	http://tinyurl.com/3ighc9f


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