What am I missing? I find myself listening to debates among our political leaders and our journalists regarding our national debt, and I never hear anyone suggesting that, perhaps, my fellow Americans might learn something from our former president Dwight Eisenhower.
Back in 1954, Eisenhower made a decision to work hard to repair, where necessary, and expand our aging national infrastructure of roads and bridges. Naturally, one of the main obstacles he envisioned for his idea was the cost for such an enterprise that our nation would face. His solution to the problem? Just as our fellow Americans, nearly one and all, arose to the challenge of World War II by joining the military if one was young enough and physically capable of doing this, by joining the many American volunteer associations like our Victory Garden groups that would make a difference in all of our communities throughout our country, Eisenhower called upon all Americans to increase payments into our federal tax fund based upon what they could afford.
And so it began. The wealthy, through what was known as an increase in the top tax bracket, increased their tax payments to about a total of 36 percent of their earnings. And the solution to our infrastructure problem was accomplished in more than just one way. Yes, we did significantly improve our national roads and bridges, but we also created millions of jobs for our lower- and middle-class fellow Americans, and in the end, the wealthy remained wealthy.
Compare the Eisenhower years of the 1950s with America today. The wealthy in our country are found to be paying even less than 20 percent of their earnings into our federal tax funds, less than 1 percent of our citizens are a part of our military compared to the 11 percent who fought for us in the 1940s, and we are more and more showing ourselves to be a divided states of America rather than a United States of America.
History can be an important tool for learning and for the method of seeking solutions to current problems that mirror challenges we have faced in the past. I remain hopeful that my America will learn well from our history in a way that will have us doing what is necessary to keep us on the right track.
Back in 1954, Eisenhower made a decision to work hard to repair, where necessary, and expand our aging national infrastructure of roads and bridges. Naturally, one of the main obstacles he envisioned for his idea was the cost for such an enterprise that our nation would face. His solution to the problem? Just as our fellow Americans, nearly one and all, arose to the challenge of World War II by joining the military if one was young enough and physically capable of doing this, by joining the many American volunteer associations like our Victory Garden groups that would make a difference in all of our communities throughout our country, Eisenhower called upon all Americans to increase payments into our federal tax fund based upon what they could afford.
And so it began. The wealthy, through what was known as an increase in the top tax bracket, increased their tax payments to about a total of 36 percent of their earnings. And the solution to our infrastructure problem was accomplished in more than just one way. Yes, we did significantly improve our national roads and bridges, but we also created millions of jobs for our lower- and middle-class fellow Americans, and in the end, the wealthy remained wealthy.
Compare the Eisenhower years of the 1950s with America today. The wealthy in our country are found to be paying even less than 20 percent of their earnings into our federal tax funds, less than 1 percent of our citizens are a part of our military compared to the 11 percent who fought for us in the 1940s, and we are more and more showing ourselves to be a divided states of America rather than a United States of America.
History can be an important tool for learning and for the method of seeking solutions to current problems that mirror challenges we have faced in the past. I remain hopeful that my America will learn well from our history in a way that will have us doing what is necessary to keep us on the right track.
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