“For many of those who voiced fear of the New Deal’s threats to liberty, including the conservative Liberty League, the concern about personal freedoms was a mere facade for greed. Not so for [Learned] Hand.” Gerald Gunther, Learned Hand 436 (1994).
I get it! When “conservatives” expressed concern about the growth of government threatening liberty, it was really a mask for greed. When a “progressive” like Hand expressed similar concerns, however, it was because of a deep and abiding regard for individual rights.
Sheesh!
Unfortunately, this sort of overt contempt for “conservatives” and their perspective is extremely common in histories of the New Deal period.
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