Henrietta Hay's Column

All the television news was unpleasant the other morning, except for the two fuzzy faces of Klondike and Snow who are going to Florida.

After years of being a news junkie, I still believe deeply in the American system of government, but now I am really getting scared. It's pretty discouraging when the only upbeat news concerns the antics of two polar bears splashing around in their pool.

The news that scares me is coming from Washington, as Congress follows up on its "Hundred Days." This is the second "Hundred Days" of frantic Congressional speed that I have lived through, and I haven't enjoyed either one. There is there is quite a difference, however. The first was in 1933 when Franklin Roosevelt said, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Today, as I look back at Roosevelt's "Hundred Days" of building, and compare them to Newt's "Hundred Days," of tearing down, I know why I am scared.

Roosevelt came to office in the midst of the deepest economic depression the country has known. He called Congress into special session. From March through June 1933, the "One Hundred Days," Congress created an amazing number of new agencies designed to jump-start the economy and feed hungry people - CCC, AAA, TVA, FDIC, SEC, and NRA. Some of them failed, but some exist today. In the words of my quick and dirty history book, Kenneth C. Davis' "Don't Know Much About History, "The legislative centerpiece of Roosevelt's response to the Great Depression, the 'New Deal' was a revolution in the American way of life." With no television news with dinner we were not very well informed, but when the banks all closed for four days we knew enough to be scared.

During the 62 years between the first and second "Hundred Days" the population of the United States has more than doubled and our world has changed irretrievably. The days of "rugged individualism" ended with the New Deal, although the Republicans haven't figured it out yet. On a personal note, I suspect most of my contemporaries who hated Roosevelt are loving Newt today. Go figure.

Now the Republican Congress wants to reinvent government and throw away all the social gains and safety nets that have been built up through the years. Sure, we have to do something about the sea of red ink we are drowning in. That's a given, but the Republican Congress is using the machete as the tool of choice. It is the speed, lack of planning and research, and lack of concern for human realities that scares me. Now we know why they hated Hillary's health care efforts. She did her homework.

As you watch Congress today, do you feel safer knowing that your teen-ager probably will not be able to get a college loan? Do you feel that your money is safer with the banks de-regulated like the S & L's? Do you feel safer now that the famous "middle class" has been re-defined in the tax break for parents, to include people with annual incomes up to $250,000? Do you feel safer knowing that huge cuts in Medicare will be used to offset tax cuts? Do you feel safer with nursing homes de-regulated and Medicaid payments cut, knowing that your aging parents may be returning to the dark ages? Do you feel safer with funds for medical research cut? Do you feel safer with food safety regulations eased? Do you feel safer with billion dollar bombers the Pentagon didn't ask for? Do you feel safer knowing that there will be 50 sets of welfare laws? Do you feel safer knowing that babies on welfare for whatever reasons will be at risk?

I don't. I wish Congress would call a time out, take a deep collective breath and think a little bit. Oops! An oxymoron!

Franklin Roosevelt said, "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad and ill-nourished." Wonder what he would say if he were around today.

But there's some good news. We have Klondike and Snow for another month, and Judith Albino (deposed President of the University of Colorado) got the last laugh in Boulder.