Your Opinion: Don't repeat past mistakes

Dear Editor:

Those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. Many people believe that laws enacted in the past were either good or necessary.

How many of you have heard your father or grandfather talk about how "Mr. Roosevelt is gonna save us all." That did not happen. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs neither brought an end to the Great Depression nor brought prosperity again to the United States. Yes, those programs did bring "employment with dignity," but only for a short period of time, then leaving us with a $48 billion debt. That is $48 billion in 1940 dollars.

Many of the jobs created were make-work projects. Many of the projects completed catered to the desires of the elite. Some of the New Deal programs were even declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Prosperity returned to the U.S. after World War II as a result of manufacturing. That's right, making things that we sold worldwide. If you recall, the United States ramped up manufacturing to the extreme to be able to win the war. And, of course, that manufacturing environment remained in place after the war. The American people used that manufacturing capability to make things people wanted thus giving the U.S. a huge gross national product.

Some are saying these days that we as a country should be borrowing money right now to spend on infrastructure for the purpose of bringing us out of this recession. Wrong. Bad idea. That did not work during the Great Depression and it will only leave us deeper in debt now. If the United States government has the money beforehand then yes, fine.

The federal government is supposed to spend money building roads and bridges, providing for our defense, and securing our borders. If the government does not have the money beforehand then it should stop spending money of other things until it has the money in hand to pay for the things mandated for it to do in our Constitution.

There are three things I am looking for in a 2012 presidential candidate: A balanced budget amendment to the Constitution; Term limits on Congress; Pass the Fair Tax.

Passing the Fair Tax will bring manufacturing back to America. That means jobs and prosperity. Check it out.