Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of the most successful presidents in our history. This is unfortunate.
His vision of a government that could provide bounty to all is fanciful. Far worse, it is malignant. And it lives on today as strong as ever.
One may assume FDR had good intentions. But we all know what paves the road to hell, or, in our case, the road to serfdom.
FDR’s version of utopia was laid out in his State of the Union address on January 11, 1944.
In this speech, he lays out a “Second Bill of Rights,” which include:
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, no matter how well-intentioned, have disastrous results.
Let us look at just one: “The right of every family to a decent home.”
If such a right were to exist, then every family would have the right to demand it.
If they have the right to demand it, then someone has the obligation to provide it.
If someone has the obligation to provide it, that person MUST provide it. What if they don’t? Then the government must use force to make the person provide it.
The result is not freedom. It is the opposite.
And this is perfectly acceptable to FDR and the “progressives” he has spawned.
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Willie Nelson cancelled a concert in Kenansville, North Carolina, Thursday night after six of his band and crew members were cited for possessing moonshine and marijuana the day of the show. If the government has enough money to pay law enforcement officers to keep 60 year old men from drinking and smoking prior to going to work on a Willie Nelson show, then the government has too damned much money.
Just talk priorities, people. Where else could the money for enforcing these infractions be spent?
I have no doubt that statists could compile a list as long as Pinocchio’s nose after an audit. Each item on that list would be a better use of tax money.
But how about this crazy idea? Let individual taxpayers keep that money and spend it however the hell they want.
Even on moonshine and reefer if they are so inclined.
Freedom just scares the hell out of so many people.
Yes, individual freedom is dangerous. It can be deadly.
But until we realize that state power is far, far more dangerous, and far, far more deadly, then we just keep paving the road to our own serfdom.
And once we reach our destination? We will be less safe, less free, and less prosperous.
And yet we speed down that road like Thelma and Louise … knowing the result. And doing it anyway.
Let freedom ring.
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