As I sit and listen to the rhetoric coming out of Washington these days, I ask myself: “John, where did it all start?”
How did the once great nation of the United States of America, the land of freedom, opportunity, hard work, and reliance on self, become a nation where the only solution to our problems is a government bailout? A nation where everyone, Democrat and Republican, believes the government must save us from our problems?
The answer, of course, is that the direct dependence on government can be traced to March 4, 1933 in the Inaugural Address or Franklin D. Roosevelt. That speech started the trend in motion that resulted in the government bailouts of 2008, and is not done yet.
In my not-so-humble opinion, that speech was the start of today’s problems. FDR decided that the public could not solve it’s problems without government intervention. The government had no choice but to redistribute the wealth of the rich to the common man to create jobs.
Yes, that’s right, a President of the United States actually believed that a government could create jobs, which is of course ridiculous. Wealth is created by inventing something, designing, producing, marketing, and selling. Wealth is created by hard work, not by government order.
He believed that economic problems can be solved:
…in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources.
In other words, it was up to the government, not the free market, to decide how resources should be used. Scary stuff. He also believed that government intervention could reduce:
the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms.
Yes, people were over extended back then as well, and tragically were losing their homes. As we now know, the “New Deal” merely served to prolong the Great Depression, which did not end until the start of WWII.
He did say some good things, including:
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
I agree. Unfortunately, he had other tragic ideas.
Here are some other things he believed:
Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.
In other words, yes, perhaps we have borrowed money from foreigners, but when push comes to shove, we will default and depreciate our currency, and put up trade barriers if needed. Yup, that’s a great long term strategy.
The scariest part, though, was FDR’s belief that “broad executive powers” outside of the Constitution were necessary to deal with the crisis:
Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form. ….
I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.
But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.
Scary stuff indeed. Sort of sounds like George Bush justifying the war in Iraq, and the spying, and the lack of Congressional oversight, doesn’t it? Now you know where he got the idea, and why I believe this speech was the start of many of today’s problems.
Lest you think that I have taken these quotes out of context, I have added a page to this site with FDR’s Fear Itself speech so that you can read the entire speech and judge for yourself.
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