Letters: ‘Gangsters of capitalism’; ‘Party-centric approach’ hurts government

‘Gangsters of capitalism’

Donald Trump is the only president who ever plotted to overthrow an election to stay in power. But in 1933-34 a Wall Street group was seriously thinking about insurrection to remove a president from power. They hated the Franklin Roosevelt New Deal regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Their agent, a bond salesman, repeatedly tried to recruit a celebrated retired Marine general who, they believed, could rouse a half million veterans impoverished by the Depression to march against FDR.

Smedley Butler had won the Medal of Honor twice in roles leading Marine interventions to acquire or secure American banking and commercial interests from the Philippines to the Caribbean. Later in retirement he wrote that he had been “a high-class muscle man for Big Business ... I was a racketeer for capitalism.”

Instead of becoming a plotter, Butler testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee. The bond salesman’s pitch sounded much like the paranoia evident in recently released emails by Ginni Thomas, the wife of the GOP’s vital token Black, Justice Clarence Thomas. The committee was told the salesman, an admirer of Mussolini, insisted: “We need a Fascist Government in this country, to save the nation from the Communists who want to tear it down and wreck all that we have built in America.”

In his new “Gangsters of Capitalism — Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire,” Jonathan M. Katz writes that denials flew from Wall Street. The committee investigated no further.

Luckily, on January 6 television cameras were rolling. Tweeters twittering.

‘Party-centric approach’ hurts government

We’re a nation historically united on many values. Yet the old-fashioned virtue of bipartisanship when it seems reasonable has faded from view and eludes most elected officials.

In Pennsylvania’s campaign for U.S. Senator and Governor, we see an abundance of negative advertising — and what candidates think is objectionable about their opponents — but virtually nothing about what they themselves stand for.

Politicians such as Republican Glenn Thompson send weekly newsletters to constituents blaming anything he can think of on President Biden, stretching the limits of logic.

At the national level, we recently witnessed insulting and irrelevant questioning of a Supreme Court nominee on entirely partisan lines, so much so that comedians are having a field day with this nonsense, illustrated, for example, by the rhetoric of Republican Missouri Senator Roy Blunt.

Blunt says of Ketanji Brown Jackson, “She is certainly qualified. She has a great personality. I think she’ll be a good colleague on the court.” And then, “I won’t be supporting her.”

He adds, “She’s certainly going to be confirmed. I think it will be a high point for the country to see her go on the court and take her unique perspective to the court. I won’t be supporting her but I’ll be joining others in understanding the importance of this moment.”

This knee-jerk, party-centric approach to governing should make everyone demand politicians who are brave enough to do what’s fair. Is it too much to ask our leaders to occasionally get off the bandwagon of hatred, negativism, and party dogma?

Reelect incumbent alumni trustees

Penn State’s future is bright, with the arrival of incoming President Neeli Bendapudi. Please join me in supporting the reelection of incumbent trustees Ted Brown, Barbara Doran and Bill Oldsey. The continuity of experienced and effective trustees will be valuable for Penn State’s leadership as we enter a new era where the world of higher education is rapidly evolving.

In their nine years on the board, trustees Brown, Doran and Oldsey have been hardworking and engaged stewards. They have supported cost savings and affordability; accountability and transparency; positive town-gown relationships; a healthy Greek system; and our longstanding culture of Success with Honor.

For more details about the accomplishments of these Trustees, along with information about how to get a ballot for the alumni trustee election, please visit my Facebook page: Alice Pope – Penn State Trustee.