This is the Friends of History Debating Society. I'm Gaius. Germanicus is here. We've moved from the European map to the American map to Washington, D.C.

And every day brings another announcements of tens of thousands of layoffs. Tens of thousands of people told you're on sabbatical or go home and we'll pay you through

such and such a date. And then in the afternoon, a federal judge here, a federal judge there says

temporary restraining order, restore the jobs, or turn the planes around, or you have no right

to do that, or you've got to rehire these people because the government

can't work without them. Now, all that is melodrama, and we don't speak to it. We do speak to Main Street,

however, quite different from Washington, D.C. And Germanicus, in the 21st century, whatever has happened in the previous 250 years,

the Americans on Main Street

evidenced no sympathy whatsoever for the federal government.

How did this happen?

It happened over a long period of time.

Americans supported the new government bureaucracies that were created by the FDR administration

because they were directly supporting Americans.

In fact, the Works Progress Administration and others. they were directly supporting Americans.

In fact, the Works Progress Administration and others actually gave employment to hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work.

It was critical to the cohesion of American society during the Depression.

And then, of course, with the advent of World War II,

the mobilization and rearmament allowed the economy to take off.

And the victorious war sort of was a great capstone

to the revival of America.

And so the government coming out of World War II trusted the government.

The government had created a kind of Soviet state in World War II.

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