Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Posted by Kimball White
“The one supreme objective for the future, which we discussed for each nation individually, and for all the United Nations, can be summed up in one word: Security. And that means not only physical security which provides safety from attacks by aggressors. It means also economic security, social security, moral security — in a family of nations. “
These remarks were made by FDR in his fourth inaugural address, delivered to the American public by radio, on January 11, 1944.
Although these comments were made more than a half-century ago, the necessity of security remains a vital element in today’s society. Security, in its broadest sense, means that we as American and people of the Free World can go about our every day lives without threats to our safety and well-being.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Posted by Kimball White
It is important to recognized that while we seek to outlaw specific abuses, the American objective of today has an infinitely deeper, finer, and more lasting purpose than mere repression. Thinking people in almost every country of the world have come to realize certain fundamental difficulties with which civilization must reckon. Rapid changes - the machine age, the advent of universal and rapid communication, and many other new factors - have brought new problems. Succeeding generations have attempted to keep pace by reforming in piecemeal fashion this or that attendant abuse. As a result evils overlap and reform becomes confused and frustrated. We lose sight, from time to time, of our ultimate human objectives.
Let us for a moment strip form our simple purpose the confusion that results form a multiplicity of detail and from millions of written and spoken words.
FDR made these remarks in his second State of the Union Address in 1935.
With the advent of the Internet, terrorism, and a growing budget deficit in this country, America is faced with too many challenges to ignore. Should we attempt to solve them in a piece-meal fashion or tackle them at one time?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Posted by Kimball White
“Instead of the give and take of free individual contract, the tremendous power of organization has combined great aggregations of capital in enormous industrial establishments working through vast agencies of commerce and employing great masses of men in movements of production and transportation and trade, so great in the mass that each individual concerned in them is quite helpless by himself. The relations between the employer and the employed, between the owners of aggregated capital and the units of organized labor, between the small producer, the small trader, the consumer, and the great transporting and manufacturing and distributing agencies, all present new questions for the solution of which the old reliance upon the free action of individual wills appear quite inadequate. And in many directions, the intervention of that organized control which we call government seems necessary to produce the same result of justice and right conduct which obtained through the attrition of individuals before the new conditions arose.”
These remarks were made by FDR, quoting Elihu Root, in his sixth fireside chat on September 30, 1934. Elihu Root was an American lawyer and statesman who served as Presidents McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt’s secretary of war and later as Theodore Roosevelt’s secretay of state.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Posted by Kimball White
Democracy is not dying. We know it because we have seen it revive—and grow. We know it cannot die—because it is built on the unhampered initiative of individual men and women joined together in a common enterprise—an enterprise undertaken and carried through by the free expression of a free majority. We know it because democracy alone, of all forms of government, enlists the full force of men’s enlightened will. We know it because democracy alone has constructed an unlimited civilization capable of infinite progress in the improvement of human life.
These remarks were made by FDR in his third inaugural address on January 20, 1941.
Is democracy dying? Not according to FDR, or many of the present-day leaders. Many references have been made to democracy throughout the years…some good and some bad…but it far outshines the other alternative forms of government.
Posted by Kimball White
To us there has come a time, in the midst of swift happenings, to pause for a moment and take stock—to recall what our place in history has been, and to rediscover what we are and what we may be. If we do not, we risk the real peril of inaction.
These remarks were made by FDR in his third inaugural address on January 20,1941.
There comes a time when we as a nation must sit back and take a look at the accomplishments/failures of our society and develop a strategy for the future.
Posted by Kimball White
Overwhelmingly, we of the Republic are men and women of good will; men and women who have more than warm hearts of dedication; men and women who have cool heads and willing hands of practical purpose as well. They will insist that every agency of popular government use effective instruments to carry out their will.
These remarks were made by FDR in his second inaugural address in January, 1937.
Do you think a society is better run by leaders who are impractical and hard-hearted?
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Posted by Kimball White
I see a great nation, upon a great continent, blessed with a great wealth of natural resources. Its hundred and thirty million people are at peace among themselves; they are making their country a good neighbor among the nations. I see a United States which can demonstrate that, under democratic methods of government, national wealth can be translated into a spreading volume of human comforts hitherto unknown, and the lowest standard of living can be raised far above the level of mere subsistence.
FDR made these remarks on his second inaugural address on January 20. 1937.
Have we indeed achieved these goals? Our nation has become one of the most prosperous nations in the world. At the same time, we struggle with domestic and international affairs such as the war in Iraq and health insurance issues here at home. However, a truly successful society is changing constantly.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Posted by Kimball White
Civilization cannot go back; civilization must not stand still. We have undertaken new methods. It is our task to perfect, to improve, to alter when necessary, but in all cases to go forward. To consolidate what we are doing, to make our economic and social structure capable of dealing with modern life, is the joint task of the legislative, the judicial, and the executive branches of the National Government.
These remarks were made in FDRs State of the Union address in 1934. It is the main essence of civilization to perfect, improve, and alter any adverse conditions. Indeed, what would civilization be like if it reversed its course?
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Posted by Kimball White
Recently, Franklin D. Roosevelt was recognized by Atlantic Monthly magazine as the fourth most influential person in the history of the United States, behind George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. To see the most influential Americans, go to www.theatlantic.com.
Monday, November 20, 2006
Posted by Kimball White
“They have no vision and where there is no vision, the people perish.”
FDR, in his first inaugural address, was speaking about the American people. In order to undertake any project, it is necessary first to have a reasonable vision of the outcome of that project. Take, for instance, the war in Iraq. If our current president hadn’t envisioned a successful outcome of the war, I doubt very seriously if he would have sent American troops to fight a losing battle. We, the American public, need to support his vision. Indeed, we need to incorporate that vision into our own.