The Groton influence of Endicott Peabody showed in a speech Roosevelt gave at the People's Forum in Troy, NY in 1912. There he declared that western Europeans and Americans had achieved victory in the struggle for "the liberty of the individual," and that the new agenda should be a "struggle for the liberty of the community." The wrong ethos for a new age was, "every man does as he sees fit, even with a due regard to law and order." The new order should be, "march on with civilization in a way satisfactory to the well-being of the great majority of us."
In that speech Roosevelt outlined the philosophical base of what would eventually become the New Deal. He also forecast the rhetorical mode by which "community" could loom over individual liberty. "If we call the method regulation, people hold up their hands in horror and say ‘un-American,' or ‘dangerous,'" Roosevelt pointed out. "But if we call the same identical process co-operation, these same old fogeys will cry out ‘well done'.... cooperation is as good a word for the new theory as any other."
If we're going to reject it, we ought to be getting started.
"If we're going to reject it, we ought to be getting started."
In the post-Depression era, the widespread change that Roosevelt's policies brought about was needed. Welfare, his five-year plan, New Deal, the TVA and other governmental "get to work" projects, etc. were much-needed shots in the arm in order for our Nation to recover.
None were actually intended to become permanent, however.
We haven't needed those kinds of sweeping and over-reaching programs in decades. We have risen to our position in the World via individual initiative and the spirit of capitalism - which drives people to make their own improvements in their own lives.
Dependence is a self-perpetuating cycle because it easily quenches thirst for quick comfort.
The hard right course is best for long-term progress: self-reliance.