Thursday, January 13, 2005

Shortcut to Utopia

I have a special Guest Blogger today. Ladies and Gentlemen, May I present,

(Former) President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt.



"Security was attained in the earlier days through the interdependence of members of families upon each other and of the families within a small community upon each other. The complexities of great communities and of organized industry make less real these simple means of security. Therefore, we are compelled to employ the active interest of the Nation as a whole through government in order to encourage a greater security for each individual who composes it . . . This seeking for a greater measure of welfare and happiness does not indicate a change in values. It is rather a return to values lost in the course of our economic development and expansion . . ." Message of the President to Congress, June 8, 1934.


"We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age."--upon signing Social Security Act

"Long before the economic blight of the depression descended on the Nation, millions of our people were living in wastelands of want and fear. Men and women too old and infirm to work either depended on those who had but little to share, or spent their remaining years within the walls of a poorhouse . . .The Social Security Act offers to all our citizens a workable and working method of meeting urgent present needs and of forestalling future need . . .

One word of warning, however.

In our efforts to provide security for all of the American people, let us not allow ourselves to be misled by those who advocate short cuts to Utopia or fantastic financial schemes.

We have come a long way. But we still have a long way to go. There is still today a frontier that remains unconquered--an America unclaimed. This is the great, the nationwide frontier of insecurity, of human want and fear. This is the frontier--the America--we have set ourselves to reclaim."

-- President Franklin Roosevelt August 14, 1938, Radio address on the third anniversary of the Social Security Act




We would like to thank President Roosevelt for coming back from the dead to remind us why Social Security is one of the kindest and most Christian acts in American history. His call for a "Return to Values Lost" is inspiring, to say the least, as is his warning to beware those who would mislead us with "fantastic financial schemes!"




All of this and much more is worthy reading.This is a brief history of Social Security and what America looked like before we, as a country decided to help the most vulnerable of our citizens.


The History of Social Security



Odd, isn't it?... No WMD's...

"How could we all have been so wrong?" the president's sycophants are saying now on National TV.

"Everybody thought Saddam had WMD's" they say...

Well, No, actually. Lots of people pointed out that the evidence the Bushies were throwing at us was goofy:

The aluminum tubes for nukular processing...bogus...And the Union of Concerned Scientists and several others said so at the time.

The Niger Yellowcake for nukular material...bogus and, Are you listening, Dan Rather?

Based on Fabricated Memos!...and the French and the Czechs said so at the time.

Mobile Biological warfare trailers? Bogus...and the Brits said so at the time.

A freeway Blogger says it best:

"Name one thing he's done right?......One?

There's so much more:

freewayblogger


Ok, The General is way over the top here. His Manliness is too much for mere mortals, sometimes.

And...Never read the General without reading the comments. They may be the best part.


Jesus' General

Peace,

WhitesCreek

1 comment:

  1. I don't know if Roosevelt wrote those words himself, but in any case, they carry a lot of wisdom. Thanks for posting that excerpt...I had not read that before.

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