Global Marshall Plan

Gary Scott Smith did justice to President Roosevelt’s “New Deal” (Sunday, may 11, 2008, “Revisiting the New Deal”) by detailing Roosevelt’s “religious convictions” and the “spiritual” foundation of Americans “significantly increasing the size, spending and scope of the federal government” and the “tremendous impact” it had on American lives and “the foundation” of our nation’s current welfare system.

Mr. Smith unfortunately left out an important motivation for Roosevelt’s transformation of our nation’s welfare system – security. President Roosevelt was well aware of the difficulties that might threaten our great nation’s stability and security if the disparity of wealth between rich and poor American’s was allowed to continue.

In that context the next US President should consider another transformation of our nation’s government that occurred almost immediately after President Roosevelt’s death -- the Marshall Plan. That post war effort was essentially a new ‘federal welfare system’ that our nation applied to devastated Europe at the end of World War II. It also was in line with our moral interests and our nation’s Judeo-Christian faith -- as well as our future security -- because it greatly reduced Europe’s susceptibility to the spread of communism.

With the growing threats we face today from pandemics, terrorism, climate change and economic instability our next U.S. President must be as bold and as generous. He or she could provide no better national spiritual legacy to the world while also protecting our homeland security than launching a new Global Marshall Plan. General recommendations for such a plan are listed in House Resolution 1078 recently introduced into Congress by Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota.

Our new generosity will be as Roosevelt said “wholly in accord with the social teachings of Christianity” and it will also provide our most cost effective investment in protecting our cherished freedoms, valued security and our future blessings of prosperity. Paying for it will not be easy but it won’t cost us any more relative to the original Marshall Plan. And considering the price of failing to improve the living conditions of all people in this increasingly interdependent world – we can’t afford not to.

Details of this proposal and its rationale can be found http://www.spiritualprogressives.org where individuals and organizations can also endorse the plan. And, anyone agreeing with the wisdom and blessed value of this new “Plan” can contact their U.S. Representative and ask that they become a cosponsor of H. Res. 1078.

As Roosevelt proclaimed “The thing we are seeking is justice.” There can be nothing more just than all of God’s people having affordable access to adequate food, clean water, sanitation, primary health care and basic education. The moral, spiritual and security returns on such targeted generosity will be worth every penny.