New Deal, Old Right
Sir: It is apparent that Peregrine Worsthorne's (27 March) apprec- iation of twentieth century Amer- ican history is as abysmal as his understanding of economics and his evaluation of contemporary political trends.
Mr Worsthorne suffers from a number of illusions which call for correction. He implies: 1. The existence of a pre- capitalist Arcadia—`the material independence of the American masses'!
2. Capitalism immediately prior to the New Deal was largely un- regulated laissez-faire.
3. Hoover was a last exponent of laissez-faire.
4. The New Deal was essentially antipathetic to big business.
5. The New Deal. raised the standard of life for most Americans =Nobody can question that the great mass of the population are better off as a result of "new dealism" in the twentieth century'.
Contrary to Mr Worsthorne's facile understanding there are those who seriously argue 'that the New Peal and its postwar con- tinuation was simply a vast feather- bedding operation' though as much for the old elite as for a new elite. Certain business interests unable to maintain privileged positions on the free market were instrumental in the instigation of government regulation both before and during the New Deal — and Herbert Hoover was, prior to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the most ardent champ- ion of cartelisation under the aegis of the state. And it is ironic that laissez-faire should be blamed for the Great Depression which was the result of government inter- vention throughout the economy, especially in banking.
Neither was the New Deal successful in its supposed aim of higher living standards. Indeed, the increased material abundance of the last thirty-five years came about in spite of government reg- ulation and time and again inter- vention can be shown to have had opposite effects to its declared objectives.
Moreover, on what grounds does Peregrine Worsthorne argue that Richard Nixon is a represen- tative of the Old Right? Nixon's advocacy of deficit finance and welfarism and his use of free enterprise rhetoric was constantly employed by Kennedy and John- son. Big business certainly has not screamed 'howls of disappointment ... because of the Administration's conversion to Keynesian econom- ics' and, indeed, openly welcomed the fiscal policies of the Democrats in the 'sixties while rejecting Gold- water's election pledge to balance the budget. Mr Worsthorne's exhil- aration at Nixon's most recent gimmick for Federal revenue shar- ing may perhaps be best crit- icised by quoting from a further issue of the New York Review of Books (25 March): . . at the centre of the revenue sharing pro- posal is an elaborate mechanism to disguise categorical grants in aid and make it look like the people down below want the money spent the same old way of their free will and choice.'
The Old Right, manifest in the emerging Libertarian movement, is indeed allying itself with the more libertarian elements in the New Left—both are equally op- posed to Nixon's brand of Old Statism.
Chris R. Tame Mark Brady The University, Hull
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