A large proportion of these unemployed and their dependents have been forced on the relief rolls. The burden on the Federal Government has grown with great rapidity. We have here a human as well as an economic problem. When humane considerations are concerned, Americans give them precedence. The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. It is inimical to the dictates of sound policy. It is in violation of the traditions of America. Work must be found for able-bodied but destitute workers.
The Federal Government must and shall quit this business of relief.
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1935 State of the Union)
Great post! Dependence is destructive.
The Federal Government must and shall quit this business of relief. …Please forgive me if I find this too akin to “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” . . . that seems to be the context, at my first glance. From the same address:
We have undertaken a new order of things; yet we progress to it under the framework and in the spirit and intent of the American Constitution. We have proceeded throughout the Nation a measurable distance on the road toward this new order. …See the twists in language? Also “American Constitution” versus “US Constitution”.
It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy. I love the Republic. The power you give me, I will lay down once this crisis has abated!From science fiction, but it looks too much like these false promises out of these politicians.
— Palpatine, Star Wars Episode II