Greatness of FDR

                    I am not a fan of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (also known as FDR), but I have to admit that he was a great leader.  FDR served as the 32nd President of the United States (1933-1945) and became the only President to serve more than two terms.  He presided over our nation during the worldwide Great Depression and World War II and was at the center of many great events.

                    The main reason why I dislike FDR is because he instituted the New Deal - "a variety of programs designed to produce relief (government jobs for the unemployed), recovery (economic growth), and reform (through regulation of Wall Street, banks and transportation)."  Even though conservatives were able to abolish many of the relief programs instituted by FDR, he "dominated the American political scene, not only during the twelve years of his presidency, but for decades afterward.  He orchestrated the realignment of voters that created the Fifth Party System.  FDR's New Deal Coalition united labor unions, big city machines, white ethnics, African Americans and rural white Southerners. Roosevelt's diplomatic impact also resonated on the world stage long after his death, with the United Nations … as [one example] of his administration's wide-ranging impact.  Roosevelt is consistently rated by scholars as one of the top three U.S. Presidents."   

                    Roosevelt was a liberal Democrat who "defined his ideological position as `a little left of center' and also called his cabinet `slightly to the left of center.'"  Liberals and progressives tout Roosevelt's greatness because he moved our nation to the left.  Since America is a center-right nation, conservatives are justified in disliking FDR policies.  Even though he was brazen enough to be the first President to serve more than two terms, actions were taken soon after his death to insure that no future President would serve more than two terms in office.

                    FDR is best known for his Day of Infamy speech on December 8, 1941, the day after Japanese airplanes and ships attacked Pearl Harbor.  "Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan….  Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us, No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory…."

                    Other quotes show just how far left FDR was.  

                  "A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward."  (He was a progressive who wanted to move away from traditional American values.  He even tried to "stack" the Supreme Court with more justices in order to get his progressive policies past the Court.)

                    "I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm."

                    "If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world of peace."

                    "If I went to work in a factory, the first thing I'd do is join a union."

                    "If you treat people right, they will treat you right … ninety percent of the time."

                    "In our personal ambitions we are individualists.  But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people." 

                    "In politics, nothing happens by accident.  If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."

                    "Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us.  The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country."

                    "Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men."

                    "One thing is sure.  We have to do something.  We have to do the best we know how at the moment….  If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along."  (Is this the idea behind Obamacare?

                    "Our national determination to keep free of foreign wars and foreign entanglements cannot prevent us from feeling deep concern when ideals and principles that we have cherished are challenged."  (Leftists operate on feelings!)

                    "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little."

                    "The United States Constitution has proved itself the most marvelously elastic compilation of rules of government ever written."  (This idea stretched into the idea that the Constitution is a "living and breathing" document that changes according to what people think it means.)

                    "There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still."

                    "There is a mysterious cycle in human events.  To some generations much is given.  Of other generations much is expected.  This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."