PPI - Radically Pragmatic
  • Donate
Skip to content
  • Home
  • About
    • About Us
    • Locations
    • Careers
  • People
  • Projects
  • Our Work
  • Events
  • Donate

Our Work

Marshall for The Hill: Biden and New Deal nostalgia

  • April 28, 2021

It’s been 89 years since Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in the depths of the Great Depression. But nostalgia for FDR’s New Deal dies hard.

Giddy Democrats are hailing President Biden’s ambitious plans for COVID-19 and economic relief and for rebuilding America’s physical and social infrastructure – which together are estimated to cost more than $4 trillion – as the second coming of the New Deal. The White House is tweeting out FDR quotes and photos.

Farther left along the spectrum, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) complains that Biden’s “once-in-a-lifetime investment in America” isn’t nearly enough to finance her vision for a “Green New Deal” that would re-engineer the U.S. economy from the top down.

Hardly a day goes by without some idea monger (me, for example) calling for a new New Deal to solve this or that pressing national problem. And why not? It’s hard to think of a better model than FDR for the bold and inventive leadership our country needs now.

As a universal metaphor for “going big,” the New Deal works pretty well. As a governing blueprint for today’s Democrats, it’s less useful. The real history of the New Deal was forged in a very different America, and its lessons are just as likely to challenge as reinforce contemporary progressive shibboleths.

Read the full piece in the Hill. 

Related Work

In the News  |  July 18, 2025

Marshall in The New York Times: The Seeds of Democratic Revival Have Already Been Sown

  • Will Marshall
In the News  |  July 17, 2025

Ainsley for ABC Radio National Breakfast: UK’s Labour Party suspends four MPs in rising rebellion over welfare policy

  • Claire Ainsley
Publication  |  July 14, 2025

Build Back Belief: Why Voters Around the World Lost Faith in Government and How to Win it Back

  • Deborah Mattinson Claire Ainsley Tom Brookes
Op-Ed  |  July 11, 2025

Marshall for The Hill: How Trump Can Capitalize on Autocrats’ Setbacks

  • Will Marshall
Feature  |  July 6, 2025

The People Who Brought You Bill Clinton Want to Introduce You to the ‘Colorado Way’

  • Will Marshall
Budget Breakdown  |  July 3, 2025

Passage of ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Renders Republican Deficit Hawks Extinct

  • Ben Ritz Alex Kilander
  • Never miss an update:

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
PPI Logo
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Donate
  • Careers
  • © 2025 Progressive Policy Institute. All Rights Reserved.
  • |
  • Privacy Policy
  • |
  • Privacy Settings