To The Reader’s Forum:

Voices from the past are urgently needed for a new U.S. policy. When FDR took office in 1933 the U.S. faced an unprecedented economic crisis. If it had not been for FDR and his team of advisors who knows where our country would be today.

One member of his Brains Trust was born in Sinclairville, NY. His name was Rexford Tugwell. Tugwell was instrumental in designing the agricultural policies and public works (i.e. infrastructure) for what became known as the New Deal. One of his most notable contributions was the belief in the “concert of interests.” There must be a collaboration between industry, agriculture and labor, if the nation’s economic problems were to be solved.

Let’s ensure that this next election leads to a government that is committed to the interests of all the American people and not just one political party, or one specific class. Not only do we need a new administration, we need a new policy. There is presently a bill in the U.S. Congress, H.R. 6422, calling for a type of FDR New Deal, which could rally people of all persuasions.

This bill creates a National Infrastructure Bank, which could invest $4 trillion to rebuild our current infrastructure and build new projects, like high speed rail. It would require no new federal spending! Rexford Tugwell was a strong believer in national banks of this type, and helped promote FDR’s Reconstruction Finance Corporation, as a national bank, to build the country. We can learn from the past to help shape our future. Passage of HR 6422 would be a good place to start.

Angela Vullo,

Leesburg, Va.

Formerly of Jamestown