Thank A Republican

If you enjoy your electrical power from TVA, and all the other associated benefits that have come along for that ride, such as regional economic development, improved health, care & quality of life, etc., you can thank a Republican.

That man would be Nebraska Republican U.S. Senator George W. Norris (1861-1944), who served 5 terms in the House (10 years), and 5 terms in the Senate (30 years), the last term of which he became an Independent, and was defeated for re-election in 1942.

George W. Norris as a newly elected U.S. Senator, 1912.

Senator Norris was also a member of a somewhat contrarian group in the House of Representatives that, in 1910, brought reform to its practices, by reducing the autocratic control which the Speaker of the House then had.

He also authored the 20th Amendment, which abolished so-called “lame duck” Congressional sessions, fought for presidential primaries, and direct election of Senators.

He also saved TVA from being sold — more accurately, prevented Wilson Dam in the Muscle Shoals area of Northwest Alabama from being sold — to one of the wealthiest industrialists of his era, which POTUSes Coolidge and Hoover (especially), both GOPers, wanted to sell to private enterprise, bidding in which Alabama Power (part of Atlanta, GA HQ’d Southern Company) was a strong contender.

That man was Henry Ford.

In the May 22, 1920 edition of The Dearborn Independent, a Henry Ford publication also known as The Ford International Weekly, Henry authored a front-page article entitled “The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem” that was later translated into several languages and distributed widely.

Interestingly enough, Henry Ford was a rabid anti-Semite Nazi sympathizer, of whom Adolph Hitler spoke fondly in a March 1923 interview with the Chicago Tribune, who said, “I wish I could send some of my shock troops to Chicago and other big American cities to help in the elections. We look on Heinrich Ford as the leader of the growing fascist movement in America. Germans admire particularly his anti-Jewish policy which is the Bavarian fascist platform. We have just had his anti-Jewish articles translated and published. The book is being circulated to millions throughout Germany.” 

Heinrich Himmler — the primary “architect” of the Holocaust — in 1924, wrote a letter which in part stated that Henry Ford was “one of our most valuable, important, and witty fighters.”

In fact, Henry Ford was mentioned by name in Hitler’s 1925 autobiography “Mein Kampf,” and wrote “Every year makes them [American Jews] more and more the controlling masters of the producers in a nation of one hundred and twenty millions. Only a single great man, Ford, to their fury still maintains full independence.”

And in 1938, Henry Ford was awarded the Grand Cross of the German Eagle — the highest medal Nazi Germany could bestow on a foreigner, and was the only American to receive the award.

And at the Nuremburg Trials for Nazi war crimes, Robert Ley, head of the Nazi labor organization German Labor Front, wrote a letter to Henry Ford proposing that Ford take over Volkswagen and employ him as a manager.

Eerie scary, isn’t it?

Senator Norris blocked Henry Ford’s efforts to purchase Wilson Dam, thereby effectively utilizing it to form the TVA (and writing the bill to create it), which transformed the South economically, and significantly improved public health.

Not only that, but he also transformed Nebraska’s legislature to become unicameral (one legislative body) – which it did, with voter approval by amendment to the state constitution.

Senator Norris thought that having two separate bodies was an inefficient way to govern. And, it still is.

He did so after observing the Australian system, which had changed to a unicameral system a decade earlier, in 1921.

As you may know, our system is based upon the British system of a bicameral legislature – House of Lords, and House of Commons. Lords would be the aristocracy, i.e., the Senate, while Commons would be commoners, peons, like us, which in the U.S. is the House of Representatives.

Oh, yes… Republican Nebraska Senator George W. Norris was a progressive liberal.

Truth.

Not exaggeration, not hyperbole.

His 1945 autobiography is entitled “Fighting Liberal: The autobiography of George W. Norris.”