Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race, and Democracy by Richard D. Kahlenberg

Author:Richard D. Kahlenberg [Kahlenberg, Richard D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography, United States, Personal Memoirs, Biography & Autobiography, History, Politics, General
ISBN: 9780231134972
Google: dxsFuYUCKcoC
Goodreads: 7161684
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2007-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Defense Spending

Shanker’s hard line on Communists also led him to support Ronald Reagan’s defense buildup in the 1980s. Many liberals opposed the spending, in part because they thought that the Soviet threat was overblown and in part because they thought defense spending would squeeze out spending on social programs. In December 1982, in a speech to the Social Democrats USA, Shanker noted that every year, the AFT debated a transfer amendment, proposing that defense cuts pay for increases in food stamps and other social programs. Shanker’s response was that “you won’t have very much education if you don’t have a free country.”55

In October 1984, Shanker argued that the country needed guns and butter. “Our position was that our country need not choose between the two—that we can do both. Our Constitution says that we shall ‘provide for the common defense’ and ‘promote the general welfare’—not either/ or.” But Shanker differed from Reagan in saying the programs should be paid for by everyone, including the wealthiest, who were receiving large tax breaks from Reagan.56

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