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# New Deal politics returning
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/new-deal-politics-returning/
- Published: 2008-07-29T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T00:24:50.000Z
- Author: David Pisarra
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Editor’s note: This is the final part of a two part series on the economy and consumerism.

THIS WEEK, THE HEADLINES ARE READING: “Depression Era Chic,” “Biggest Rescue Package since Roosevelt’s New Deal,” and “Worried banks reduce business loans.” There is a chill in the air, and it feels like a long cold winter is coming, or more appropriately, a dry hot summer.

We have many, major problems facing us as a nation.

We have a military that is overextended, exhausted, and when those men and women come home to the yellow bumper stickers reading “Support the Troops” they find a Veterans Administration that is denying their claims as fast as they can be filed.

The VA is cutting its budget and resources are being restricted to make way for the new recruits we need, so that Iraq, Afghanistan and several other hot spots around the world can be “rebuilt.”

The billions of dollars that we are sending to Iraq to fund their infrastructure rebuilding is money that we are taking from our own cash flow.

I understand the argument that by creating a stable democracy in the Middle East, we will be increasing our own stability in the long run.

I have heard that we are expecting to be repaid by these countries, once they “get on their feet” as it were.

Historically we tend to forgive the debt in exchange for some concessions later on in trade agreements. Generally that has worked out well for all concerned.

Today however, we have to start working on our own rebuilding.

As much as I feel compassion for the people of the world who have third world conditions to live in, I believe that we need to apply the Airplane Rule to America, and we need to do it right away. The Airplane Rule says that you save yourself first, and then you save others.

America needs to start putting some of the billions of dollars that we send overseas into our own society to reinvigorate not just our economy, but our spirit.

Hard as it is for me to write this, I believe that we need to have some big public works projects put in place, not only to sustain the dollar, but to bring back a sense of public-mindedness that is sorely lacking these days.

California could use many new reservoirs. These manmade sources of water provide us with needed irrigation, and since we produce a huge amount of food it would benefit the country as a whole.

The dams that create the lakes can become hydroelectric producers, and in an era when clean fuel is the buzzword on every politician’s lips this should be a dead bang winner.

The lakes themselves provide recreation opportunities which translates into tourism dollars, both locally and regionally.

One look at the lack of infrastructure in our fair burg and you can see that we need to be spending some serious money to adapt to the population explosion that has occurred in Los Angeles County.

Residential density numbers are skyrocketing, but there is neither a comprehensive plan to alleviate the traffic and congestion, nor is there an issue-based plan to deal with the upsurge in usage of public assets like sewers, or the development of the famed “Hydrogen Highway.”

The damage that we as a country are doing to the planet, by our undisciplined and unthinking usage of plastics, and our voracious need to consume and procreate is worthy of a “Manhattan Project” on the environment, in my opinion.

If we are not going to reduce our reproduction, the least we could do, would be to limit our impact.

It’s not a popular position, but given the high numbers of unemployed, and more each day, we should be putting them to work.

The effort will be good for their self-esteem, from the basics of picking up trash on highways, to building the highways, we’re subsidizing peoples lives anyway, why not have them build the society they live in?

I expect that visionary politicians will soon be calling for similar types of projects, these will go beyond the obvious pork barrel politics of the past, but hearken back to the days of the Works Progress Administration, and FDR.

If the parents of today want to leave their children a legacy, it would be better to build some lakes, develop hydrogen energy distribution facilities, and a transportation system that helps people get to work.

So now the $64,000 question, how do we pay for it? Just like we are with the billions of dollars that we are sending to Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries. By creating a country that has its priorities in order, we will be able to provide for our people, all of our people, the vets, the undereducated and the illiterate.

DAVID PISARRA is a Family Law attorney specializing in Father’s Rights and Men’s Issues in the Santa Monica firm of Pisarra & Grist. He welcomes your questions and comments. He or 310/664-9969.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 29, 2008.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/072908.pdf?ref=smdp.com)