Found this wonderful Fire Side Chat by the 32nd President of These United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Referred to as FDR, Roosevelt was instrumental in creating the New Deal. FDR served during the Great Depression, and was considered the father of American Liberalism. He is the only U.S. President to serve more than two terms, because he believed he could single-handedly resolve the challenges of the Great Depression. Prior to the 22nd amendment, which limits a President to 2 terms, Presidents were expected to honor the precedent set forth by George Washington and willfully leave office after serving a total of two terms.
So, FDR was considered the Father of American Liberalism, but he still emphatically believed in Liberty for All! He believed, or at least led people to think that he believed, that we must stand by our principles and do all we can to halt our “gradual regimentation into the service of the privileged few”. This gives me chill bumps, listening to how our Commander-in-Chief articulates the need for vigilance in protecting our liberties and freedoms.
Here is the clip 01 Fireside Chat, Pt. 1 . Come to find out that this was actually made the night before the mid-term elections in 1934, and is regarded as a slap in the face of businesses for their lack of support for his reforms. Well that is up for discussion, but for now we will overlook his perceived intentions.
The Significance
of my pointing out this Fireside Chat is the overwhelming theme of ‘Liberty’ and ‘Free People’. Where are the references to these terms today, have we just accepted that Freedom is whatever the Government gives us? Have we accepted that we as free people are being gradually regimented into the service of the privileged few? The privileged few being the government, corporations, and the wealthy? To me, often times the meaning of freedom and liberty are lost in translation when wrapped in superficial campaign speeches, of promises of handouts.
What Does Freedom Mean
is for all Americans to be able to speak their mind, to live their own life, without coercion, without interference, without prejudice. I think this is a statement most people could agree with. What we have to be conscious of is the ‘without coercion’ part of the statement, because this is where the tentacles of interpretation vary in many different ways. Coercion is often used as a means of getting free people to surrender their liberties. A promise of a lower cost of health insurance if we just let the Federal Government coordinate the delivery of our Nation’s health coverage. The promise of improved education for disadvantaged students if we let the Federal Government dictate our educational needs, as in the case of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
So Back to the Fireside Chat…. If we place significant value in what it means to be free, which seemed to be commonly agreed upon back in 1934, then maybe we wont be so eager to trade these freedoms and liberties for another ‘eloquently presented’ government program which will be riddled with unintended consequences.
Your thoughts?
Jim, your post brought tears to my eyes as I think of all of the freedoms we are eagerly giving away in hopes of being “taken care of” by our government. If people only understood that true freedom means having the ability (financial and otherwise) to manage our own lives and make our own choices about how, when and where we prosper. So many of us have been duped into thinking that micro-management of our lives by the govt. is the better way. Isn’t that what we left England for in the first place, to get away from the over-reaching hand of government? Why are we now so eagerly begging for a king?
Laurie, that is so well said. Most people don’t know that we left the Tyranny of King George IV and had the war of independence, not the revolutionary war, to obtain our freedom! How can we not realize we are just allowing the same thing to happen on our own soil, wake up people!! Thanks for the great comment. Have you got your seeds in the ground yet, or is it a bit to early?
Still almost a foot of snow on the ground here, Jim, which is leaving us dreaming about a new home somewhere south.
. No seeds will be planted here for quite some time, although we have our stuff growing in the house in the hopes that someday spring will arrive. How’s your garden growing?
Well, hadn’t yet put my seeds in, but hope to this weekend. Going to do a few raised beds, with a mixture of veggies and fruits, hope to find the time on Saturday. I hope it thaws out up there for you, i know you must be chomping at the bit to start the garden. Head on south to Tennessee!!
I’ll tell you: it’s definitely on our radar. We’re sick and tired of the snow. In fact I just talked with both my mom and my dad last night, and they said they’d happily go south if us kids came with.
. Good luck with the planting this weekend, Jim!
I see what you’re saying, but I do believe that a huge change needs to take place in the way we handle healthcare in this country. So far, healthcare “freedom” has meant being at the mercy of for-profit companies and thousands of people being denied care, going bankrupt, and losing everything. Not to mention, things like the fact that many people are unable to retire when they really want to because they need the healthcare that is tied to their jobs. Imagine what it would do to the economy if all of the people who wanted to retire but can’t due to healthcare suddenly were able to retire.
Totally agree Holly, there is so much wrong with our healthcare that it is difficult where to start. The answer was not to have a partisan bill, a bill, which in the end, was meant only to take over the healthcare system as a means of control. They had a REAL opportunity to fix this, could have done great things for this country and instead, only made it 100X worse!
Well let me know Laurie, I would certainly try to help if I could!