How much is too much?

How much is too much?

The founders of our country were all successful individuals who believed in the rights of an individual to succeed or fail on his own. Their experience with the British government convinced them that the less involvement by the government in economic affairs the better. These beliefs were central to the idea of liberal capitalism: that in a capitalist society, in order for everyone to enjoy economic opportunity, it was necessary for the government not to meddle in the nation's economy.

As Americans we cling to a belief that if we just work a little harder, that if we sacrifice a little today, then tomorrow we will reap the benefits of our labors. Of course, history tells us that when big business and special interest groups dominate an economy by political influence, individual effort may not always equate to equal opportunity. There may be times when government intervention is necessary - but how much intervention by the government is necessary has always posed a problem.

As American business became increasingly industrialized, living conditions for workers became worse and eventually a consensus developed under the "progressives," an umbrella term for different groups who saw the application of efficient business practices as a way to cure societal problems. Key to this belief was the idea that only government had the recourses to accomplish this. This steadily growing belief throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s would finally be put to the test 1929.

After World War I, government non-intervention in the economy led to rampant speculation and borrowing. Many people borrowed money to invest in a stock market that only seemed to know how to go up. Unbeknownst to most Americans, bad economic decisions were being made by both businesses and the government's own economists. Decisions that would have terrible consequences on October 29, 1929, when the stock markets collapsed.

President Herbert Hoover, a staunch believer in the Liberal conservative principle of non-government interference refused to intervene. Like most business-oriented people of the time, he believed that economies went through cycles of expansion and recession. He felt that this period of recession should be allowed to take its course Norton 473).

As the economy continued to worsen, Americans elected into office a new President who offered to use the power of the government to do something about the economy. As the Progressives believed earlier, Franklin Roosevelt felt that only the federal government had the ability to marshal resources on a national level to stimulate the economy.