Democrats: so much of what they know isn't so
Vice President Biden, like his partner in know-nothingness, President Obama, is out on the campaign trail spewing nonsense to people who either don't know any better or don't care. (His fellow Democrats.) The latest miscarriage of knowledge is his claim that government has been at the heart of all innovation and progress throughout the history of this country.
Speaking on a campaign swing in New York on Wednesday, Biden offered this gem about the role of government: "Every single great idea that has marked the 21st century, the 20th century and the 19th century has required government vision and government incentive. In the middle of the Civil War, you had a guy named Lincoln paying people $16,000 for every 40 miles of track they laid across the continental United States. ... No private enterprise would have done that for another 35 years." Biden's words are perfectly suitable as a liberal Democrat's expression of blind faith in the good intentions of politicians and bureaucrats, but they also reflect a fantasy version of American history.
And as the article notes, government involvement in the railroad industry led to one of the greatest scandals in American history: Credit Mobilier. If you don't know what that is look it up. It's rivaled only by modern scandals such as the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac/ACORN housing disaster that helped cause the current recession.
Biden also would like you to forget that private industry had already built the entire railroad network that existed in the United States at the outbreak of the war. (D'oh!)
And of course we can't let the "middle of the Civil War" thing go untouched, either. The Civil War railroad building was of course a military endeavor. Railroads were key to moving troops and supplies. In Sherman's march to the sea, for example, he knew that he didn't have to range far and wide to destroy the southern war effort; he only had to destroy the railroad networks.
Speaking of scandals, the early history of railroads in the Civil War was also one where government influence led to profiteering and manipulation until the Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, was forced to resign because of his "investments" in railroads. Surprisingly, Biden doesn't mention that the government took control of (some of) the railroads after that as a matter of "public safety". Perhaps that hits a little too close to home with the much despised health care takeover?
As for the $16,000 figure, I'm sure he's just making that up. And why shouldn't he? No one he's speaking to will know the difference.
The November Vendetta is on Tuesday! Don't forget to vote!
Speaking on a campaign swing in New York on Wednesday, Biden offered this gem about the role of government: "Every single great idea that has marked the 21st century, the 20th century and the 19th century has required government vision and government incentive. In the middle of the Civil War, you had a guy named Lincoln paying people $16,000 for every 40 miles of track they laid across the continental United States. ... No private enterprise would have done that for another 35 years." Biden's words are perfectly suitable as a liberal Democrat's expression of blind faith in the good intentions of politicians and bureaucrats, but they also reflect a fantasy version of American history.
And as the article notes, government involvement in the railroad industry led to one of the greatest scandals in American history: Credit Mobilier. If you don't know what that is look it up. It's rivaled only by modern scandals such as the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac/ACORN housing disaster that helped cause the current recession.
Biden also would like you to forget that private industry had already built the entire railroad network that existed in the United States at the outbreak of the war. (D'oh!)
And of course we can't let the "middle of the Civil War" thing go untouched, either. The Civil War railroad building was of course a military endeavor. Railroads were key to moving troops and supplies. In Sherman's march to the sea, for example, he knew that he didn't have to range far and wide to destroy the southern war effort; he only had to destroy the railroad networks.
Speaking of scandals, the early history of railroads in the Civil War was also one where government influence led to profiteering and manipulation until the Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, was forced to resign because of his "investments" in railroads. Surprisingly, Biden doesn't mention that the government took control of (some of) the railroads after that as a matter of "public safety". Perhaps that hits a little too close to home with the much despised health care takeover?
As for the $16,000 figure, I'm sure he's just making that up. And why shouldn't he? No one he's speaking to will know the difference.
The November Vendetta is on Tuesday! Don't forget to vote!