71 Years Ago FDR Dropped a Truthbomb That Still Resonates Today

[Judi Lynn]

Kevin Drum

71 Years Ago FDR Dropped a Truthbomb That Still Resonates Today

—By Marianne Szegedy-Maszak
| Sun Apr. 12, 2015 6:00 AM EDT

When was the last time you heard an American politician invoke Franklin Delano Roosevelt's policies as models to be emulated? Democrats avoid him because his New Deal policies seem to embody the tax-and-spend, overbearing, and intrusive central government that always puts them on the defensive. And why would a Republican bother with Roosevelt when they believe that Obama is so much worse?

Sunday is the seventieth anniversary of FDR's death on April 12, 1945. Since anniversaries are always good opportunities to reflect on the past, I reread one of Roosevelt's speeches that I somehow still remember studying in college. It was his penultimate State of the Union Address, which he delivered on January 11, 1944, and the one in which he outlined a "second Bill of Rights"—a list of what should constitute basic economic security for Americans.

The world was still at war. Roosevelt had returned in December from meeting Stalin and Churchill at the Tehran Conference where the three leaders discussed not only the final phase of the war, but also how Europe would be divided after the conflict was over. The worst of the Great Depression was over, remedied in large part by the wartime economy. Roosevelt, who was starting his fourth term and was sick with the flu, decided not to go before Congress. Instead, he delivered the address from the White House. Across the country, people could tune in on their radios and hear their president speak.

Looking at his speech again, I was struck by how he grapples with so many of the same issues that we do now. Here he is on the domination of special interests:

While the majority goes on about its great work without complaint, a noisy minority maintains an uproar of demands for special favors for special groups. There are pests who swarm through the lobbies of the Congress and the cocktail bars of Washington, representing these special groups as opposed to the basic interests of the Nation as a whole. They have come to look upon the war primarily as a chance to make profits for themselves at the expense of their neighbors—profits in money or in terms of political or social preferment.

More:
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/04/fdr-roosevelt-economic-rights-national-security

[lastlib]

1. This is a DEMOCRAT! We should be reciting this daily to the GOPosaurs.

Thank you for posting it!

[Enthusiast]

3. +1 an entire shit load.

[calimary]

4. YES we should let those words roar through the ears of the Dark Side.

Deafen them with those words.

[840high]

2. Wise words.

[marym625]

5. K&R

We need an FDR today. Desperately

[dflprincess]

6. What a pity today's Democrats aren't listening to his words

[Kablooie]

7. Trouble is they aren't pests anymore. They are the constituency for Dems as well as Reps.

[Jackpine Radical]

18. The parasites overtook the host.

My prediction is that this whole trajectory will not end well.

[WillyT]

8. K & R !!!

[SleeplessinSoCal]

9. if the 2012 election taught Dems anything, it should be to embrace

... your strong points, especially when they are under attack. Which they always are.

[4_TN_TITANS]

10. Stop and think where we would be

if not for Democrats like this. Then consider where we could go if another Dem of this caliber led the country.

The only person I've heard come close to tackling goals like this is Bernie.

[Wilms]

11. k&r n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. '...overbearing, and intrusive central government ....?'

Under FDR? What a nerve! Shrewd, as ever, Chesterton remarked:

“The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.”

― G.K. Chesterton

[KoKo]

15. ...!

“The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.”

― G.K. Chesterton

[Jackpine Radical]

19. Ditto, KoKo.

I have not paid enough attention to Chesterton. I'm gonna put him on my list of stuff I really want to read and maybe will someday.

[rainmaker21]

13. He was a true Democrat.

[niyad]

14. welcome to du

[yurbud]

16. "special interests" is kind of a weasel word

Just say "some of the rich, who don't want to expand their wealth through hard work, creativity, or earning the trust of their customers. No, they don't want to gamble on those, but prefer the sure profits that bribery can bring, and those investments in corrupt politicians give a thousand-fold return."

[bvar22]

17. Hey! I just posted the 2nd Bill of Rights to another thread.

There is something else very special about this.
As far as I have been able to determine,
the first time the Democratic Party made Racial Equality
a value and goal of the Democratic Party.

Here is the text:

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be[font size=3] established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.[/font]

Among these are:

*The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

*The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

*The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

*The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

*The right of every family to a decent home;

*The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

*The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

*The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

[font size=3]America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens.[/font]

Please note that the above are stipulated as Basic Human RIGHTS to be protected by our government,
and NOT as COMMODITIES to be SOLD to Americans by For Profit Corporations.

There was a time, in my living memory, when voting FOR the Democrat
was voting FOR the above values.
Sadly, this is no longer true.