FDR--A Four Term Progressive Part 1

Handsome fellow isn't he? This is the young Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the two terms of President Woodrow Wilson, our first aggressive Progressive.

His long and distinguished political career started in 1910 when he was elected to the New York Senate. Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913. In 1920 he ran with James Cox on the Democrat ticket as the Vice Presidential candidate. In 1921 he was diagnosed with polio, a disease that would see him tied to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Despite his illness he ran for Governor of NY in 1928 and entered the governor's mansion on January 1, 1929 with a full blown depression starting that year. FDR's next stop was the White House with his victory over Herbert Hoover in November of 1932. He went on to win the presidency three additional times to become the only four term president in the history of the country.

FDR is a man whose name causes emotions to be put into churn mode. As a young lad growing up in rural Pennsylvania farm country I was surrounded by Roosevelt Democrats. Indeed, like my entire family, I to looked upon myself as a Roosevelt Democrat and did so into the late 1960s when, in 1968, I voted for Richard Nixon and did so again in 1972. Obviously my views of FDR changed. I came to believe, and still do, that FDR is the man who placed us on the road to fascism the road we are currently traveling. This series will look at his life, his record and legislation during the depression and war time periods.

FDR came into the world on January 10, 1882. He was an only child born to James Roosevelt and Sara Delano, both from wealthy families with long pedigrees. His father was of Dutch heritage with lines that ran to Elizabeth Monroe, the President Monroe's wife, Benedict Arnold, and Joseph Smith, Jr the founder of the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter Day Saints. On his mother's side he was related to Laura Ingalls Wilder, and to four travelers on the Mayflower, Richard Warren, Isaac Allerton, Degory Priest, and Francis Cooke. One thing to keep in mind; he was, during her lifetime, completely devoted to his very possessive mother.

A graduate of Groton School, an Episcopalian prep and boarding school, FDR studied under the tutelage of Endicott Peabody, the headmaster at Groton. It was Peabody who taught young Roosevelt that public service should be his great calling, a fine idea as long as one leads with one's brain instead of one's heart. In assisting the unfortunates teach them to fish instead of giving them fish because the former will insure the continued dignity of man.

After his graduation from Groton, FDR entered Harvard. Harvard was the school attended by cousin Teddy and he became president while FDR was at Harvard. Teddy's use of the bully pulpit would serve as the model for FDR. Keep in mind that cousin Teddy was the Republican who took that party into the Progressive era and began the centralization of the federal government.

The next few years were busy for Roosevelt. He met his future wife in 1902, Anna Eleanore Roosevelt, the niece of Theodore Roosevelt. Franklin married his fifth cousin in March of 1905. Franklin married Eleanore despite the protestations and resistance of his mother who opposed the marriage. Even after moving to their home in Springwood, part of his family's holding, Sara made a point of frequent visits to the young couple much to the chagrin of Eleanore.

In 1905, FDR also entered Columbia Law school but dropped out in 1907 wen he took and passed the New York Bar. Roosevelt never did graduate from Columbia. He practiced law as a member of a Wall Street firm, Carter Ledyrd and Milburn concentrating on corporate law from 1908-1910.

It was in 1910 that Roosevelt entered the political arena. Young, handsome, and articulate, he ran for a seat in the state assembly representing the wealthy area around Hyde Park, home to many wealthy people. Roosevelt won that election and was now launched into his political career, a career he would continue for a life time.

Oil And The Environmentalists

Contrary to propaganda from the environmentalist community, we are not running out of oil. We are suffering from the lack of drilling and exploring because we are under a moratorium until 2012 that prohibits drilling in places like ANWR, the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of America. While we are sitting on our hands and seeing oil prices rocket through the atmosphere, China and now Nigeria, are acquiring leases to drill for that oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

It as been estimated that between ANWR, the Gulf of Mexico and off shore sites, we have approximately 112 billion barrels of oil. This could sustain 60 million automobiles for 60 years. The untold story is the fact that in North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado we have somewhere between 800 billion to 2 trillion barrels of oil in the oil shale fields. In addition to all of this we have coal and the ability to turn that into gas. So why are we not using our wonderful minds and technological abilities to do something with all these possibilities? Why do we fail to realize that our path to energy independence involves short, medium and long term solutions that will be costly to both the producers and the consumers?

The reason for this lack of planning and development is the alliance between the environmentalist and their Progressive partners in government. Take a look at an observation made by Glenn Johnson of the AP Online, "McCain has long expressed a belief in global warming, arguing that even if he is wrong, acting as if the planet's temperature were increasing would only benefit the environment if scientists subsequently proved he was mistaken." How many gazillion dollars will he have spent on this asinine project? A host of scientists are already proving that not only is it possible that global warming/climate change is a hoax, but we might very well be at the beginning of a cooling period because in January of 2008, the sun went quiet and there was no sunspot activity. This is a regular occurrence on the part of the sun.

The environmentalists, supported by their terrorist friends ALF and ELF, are directly responsible for the energy problems we have. They have no proof to sustain their claims whether it be global warming, climate change or the disappearance of spotted owls. Most importantly these folks are not really concerned with the environment they are anti-capitalist and are supporters of big government. Thus they are willing to work with those politicians, including the three presidential candidates, to create a fascists nation here in America and expand said programs to globalism with the UN in charge. At least temporarily.

Now you might ask why do the Progressives ally with these folks. Your first guess might be that the Progressives are concerned with protecting the rights of the minority and based on current political polls these folks are truly a minority voice. But that is not the case. By sidling up to the environmentalists, the Progressives look to be thoughtful and concerned but more importantly it allows them to play identity politics and once again split the American people so that we fight one another and the Progressives sit back and laugh while taking the power to govern unto themselves. Oil just becomes another item of another war that America must wage and therefore we must huddle around our government and give it more power to fight yet another disaster.

The Progressives--A Long Range Plan--Summation Of The Early Era

Have you heard Americans asking how did we get into this situation and when did it begin? Gas and home heating oil prices out of control with no end in sight. Food prices, that's food prices, going through the roof here in America. Minority groups running the country and yes, I am talking about environmental groups and government control freaks.

I believe a lot of what is going on today is happening because we took a wrong turn with the ascendancy of Theodore Roosevelt to the office of the presidency and moved into high gear under Woodrow Wilson. Principally what these two men did was initiate a centralized government program that has taken the power of government out of the hands of the American people and put it into the hands of the politicians who have now made politics a profession controlled by lawyers. We have returned to the era of the monarch.

One can readily make the case that a lot of things done by the early Progressives were certainly for good causes. Lives of the poor and down- trodden were supposedly improved. But we must ask at what cost? From the moment Teddy Roosevelt began ignoring the Constitution and broke up companies to purportedly save the little guy and his family, we were on that proverbial slippery slope. We are now at the point where our elected representatives are telling us what our rights are. Didn't we fight a war in 1776 to change that?

The second impact was the cost of the nationalization of our government. While Washington, DC remained a relatively quiet community during the early Progressive period everything changed with the Depression and World War II. Buildings were built. People were hired. We were on a crisis/war time footing and the enemy had to be defeated. We had to come together to defeat these two evils and in the process government size and cost grew and we haven't seen any sign of a return to the ideas and principles of our Founding Fathers primarily that we the people are in charge. It seems that we are willing to surrender to a collective form of government. "In God We Trust" will be replaced with "Can't We All Get Along" as stated by the drunken but noble Rodney King.

After Woodrow Wilson we enjoyed a decade of prosperity under Republicans. Unfortunately that bubble of the Roaring Twenties fell on hard times. It has been reported that Calvin Coolidge did not run for office in 1928 because he did not want to be there when things fell apart. Supposedly he was asked why didn't he say something and he responded, correctly, that no one would have listened to a president calling wolf. Herbert Hoover was elected and became the fall guy for the Great Depression that in turn would re-open the door for liberal Democrats with the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Progressives--A Long Range Plan--Part 4

Wilson's first term concentrated on issues dealing with domestic policy. The Revenue Act passed in 1913 lowered tariffs and gave us the 16th Amendment imposing the Federal Income Tax. The 17th Amendment, being considered by some for repeal, gave us the direct election of senators now no longer responsible to the citizens of their home state. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913 provided a central banking system so that we had flexible currency and the rediscounting of commercial paper. We gained the Federal Farm Loan Act that provided federal assistance to farmers and established the National Park system with the National Park Service Act of 1916. And let's not forget the Clayton Antitrust Act and its impositions on big business.

Wilson's second term was taken up by World War I or "the war to end all wars." To Wilson's credit he did not rush the country into the war in Europe until certain issues forced his hand. He did offer to mediate the war and he did not move to build up the army probably something he regretted. His comment to the peace faction in the US was that an army build up would be to provocative. Indeed, Wilson got himself in trouble in Philadelphia while making a speech where he declared that "sometimes a nation can be too proud to fight."

Wilson was not inactive when it came to criticizing the warring nations. He warned Germany about her submarine warfare because the Germans made it perfectly clear they would attack those who supplied England.That came true when the Lusitania was sunk by German subs killing American passengers. One would think that the sinking of the Lusitania would be enough to cause America to go to war but that was not the case because the Germans promised to restrict submarine attacks to combatants. That did not work because Germany was losing the war.

The issues that took America into World War I were the Zimmerman note and Germany's decision to renew unrestricted submarine warfare on noncombatants. Germany made overtures to Mexico. They suggested that Mexico invade the United States and when Germany won the war Mexico would be given the land they had lost to the US. This infuriated Wilson and he asked and received a declaration of war against Germany and her allies. Wilson told the public that this was a war to make "the world safe for democracy." It was America's entrance into the war that caused the defeat of Germany and her allies Austria-Hungary and Turkey.

What we need to pay attention to is what happened at home after Wilson took us to war. The Congress passed and Wilson signed the Espionage Act in 1917. This made it illegal to pass information on to the enemy or convey false information to any branch of the United States military.

In 1918, the Sedition Act was passed. It prohibited citizens from speaking, printing, or writing anything bad about the United States government or military. Government officials such as the postmaster general had the power to stop the delivery of mail if he deemed it to come under the Sedition or Espionage Act. All foreign publications had to be translated and approved by censors. If American publications did not obey their newsprint could be shut off effectively ending their ability to publish.

Citizens were not to speak out against the government in their own homes. Jonah Goldberg points out in his work, "Liberal Fascism" that a man in Wisconsin was put in jail for two and a half years for criticizing a fund raising drive by the Red Cross. Another incident concerned a movie showing British troops committing atrocities during the American Revolution got the producer a ten year jail term. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes stated that these actions, that saw tens of thousands of Americans being arrested, were constitutional. Does any of this sound familiar?

Historically speaking, my history teachers and professors taught that this was all okay. One came away with the impression that all these policies and all the new government agencies created to implement these policies were necessary to help the downtrodden and create a safe home front. We had emergencies that we had to deal with and only the government could do that. Now an expanse of time has passed and we are able to do a critical analysis of the Progressives. Good causes or not the Progressives showed a willingness to interfere in areas not supported by the Constitution. They did this and do this because they believe that we are unable to fulfill the legacy left to us by Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers. Thus government must take over and direct us and spend our money for us. Government knows best.

With the passage of time we can see clearly the path of the new Progressives who by changing their name from liberals, what they became at the end of the Wilsonian era, are going back to their roots. They speak of unity and centralization. They believe that government knows best. They constantly speak of change something that has devastated our education system. They bring wars that seem to need fighting yet they are wars to enhance their grip on our country. In the words of the immortal Pogo, "We have met the enemy and he is us." And that "us" can show up as a Progressive liberal or a compassionate conservative Republican.

The Progressives--A Long Range Plan--Part 1

One of my major concerns and gripes about America and Americans was our inability to look into the future and make a plan for it. Other nations, most notably China, have been able to develop policies that seem to take into account what the world might be like decades out and maybe even longer. But I must admit that I have erred about this for the Progressives did develop a plan and it is being put into place.

The term Progressive Era conjures up in the mind of many people progress. Indeed progress was made. There are, however, two questions that must be asked. What type of progress was made and at what cost, if any, to the populace and our system of government as described in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

The Progressives came into being because of the turmoil in this country during the time period spanning 1890-1920. Unions were attempting to make headway on matters such as wages and benefits. Radical political elements were in place ranging from populists, to socialists and anarchists. Striking workers engaged in battles not only with management, they also rioted in the streets and fought the local and state police. The political elements wanted to overthrow the government and replace it with their own brand. Enter the Progressives.

To put it bluntly, the Progressives believed that the best way to solve the nation's problems was through centralization and government regulation. Regulate the big companies referred to as Trusts and if necessary force them to break into smaller entities. Keep in mind that the Constitution would have to be ignored and Teddy Roosevelt was willing to do just that.

Teddy was a piker when compared to Woodrow Wilson. At first glance Wilson looks like a meek, mild manner college president and indeed he was. He served as President of Princeton from 1902-1910. Wilson believed that since Congress was so cantankerous and all they did was write legislation nothing was really being accomplished. Wilson, therefore, recommended that we change our government to the parliamentary system with a concentration of power in the hands of the prime minister. That, we know, did not happen.

What did happen was World War I. It gave Wilson his opportunity to do what he believed was necessary, putting power into the hands of the government. War allows this to happen.

Wilson formed the War Industries B0ard or WIB. It was chaired by Bernard Baruch who was then charged with getting the business men to love and embrace the state. Jonah Goldberg in his book "Liberal Fascism" cites Grosvenor Clarkson the historian of the WIB,"'It was an industrial dictatorship without parallel---a dictatorship by force of necessity and common consent which step by step at last encompassed the Nation and united it into a coordinated and mobile whole.'" Now your initial reaction to that might be sure, the nation comes together to fight a the war and we cannot abide a lot of nonsense. You would be correct but what this did was teach the Progressives that war could be a good thing for their goals.

The First Progressive-Our Downfall Begins

Born on October 27, 1858, to a well to do family at 28 East 20th Street, New York City, Theodore Roosevelt at the age of 42, would go on to become the youngest president of the United State. He would also become the first Progressive President of this country.

Roosevelt was a frail child. His asthma was so bad that his father would take him outside and carry him up and down the block in front of their home until the attack was over. The senior Roosevelt would convert an area in their home into a gym for young Teddy. There Roosevelt would exercise lifting weights. He would grow in strength and he would become a member of the Harvard rowing team upon entering that institution. Along with great physical strength was his mental strength. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the honor society fraternity, and graduated magna cum laude in 1880.

Roosevelt would have an illustrious career. He would serve in the New York Assembly. He was a naturalist, historian, writer, explorer, author and cowboy. He would suffer an unbelievable tragedy with the death of his mother and wife who died on the same day in the same house. That would lead to his cowboy career in the American west and put him on the path to conservation of the nation's resources. Roosevelt, however, would also become the nation's first Progressive thus being responsible for initiating a policy of big government regulation.

Teddy became president because of the assassination of William McKinley. In 1898, McKinley took aim at the large, monopolistic companies being created in America. Carnegie, Rockefeller, Schwab and many other industrialists came under the scrutiny of the U.S. Industrial Commission of Trusts. Roosevelt would pick up on the businesses, now know as Trusts, and would set out to break them up and regulate them through the government. Indeed, Roosevelt gained quite a reputation as a "Trust Buster" breaking up 44 such industries during his time in office. Though not the biggest of the Trust Busters, that was a title won by William H. Taft with 90 Trust Bustings, Roosevelt put this nation on a path still taken by those who wish to return us to the day when the government told us what our rights were much like the King of England did prior to the Revolutionary War.

Roosevelt brought the presence of government regulation into the lives of countless Americans and American industries. Big Oil, Big Steel, Big Food, Big Drug, no one was safe from his scrutiny. He even proposed universal health care and national health insurance. Big brother and Big government had come on the scene.

As you go to the polls in this primary and general election season take a look at the beginning of the turn about for America. For the past almost 11 decades we, as a nation, have been regressing. We are losing out personal liberties while telling our government that we want health care to be a right. We can't figure out why college is so expensive while we tell our government that we want more grants and loans for college. We tell our government to give us more of the same failed policies like social security, medicare and Head Start. Khrushchev told us years ago that they would bury us. I believe that we are going to do the job for them and they will conquer us without a shot being fired only this time it will be the enemy within, those politicians who call themselves Progressive. The liberal chickens have come home to their roots.

The Second Amendment

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed". Thus says the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States.

Over the past four decades this amendment has come under tremendous attack by the Progressive left in this nation. Oh yes, we are told that our hunting rights will be protected. Ms. Hillary, recently seen tossing back a shot and beer, has now told us about her day in a duck blind where she shot a "banded" duck. Her opponent chided her on taking her "six gun" into a duck blind. Word of caution here, do not go into a duck blind with Barack Obama.

Had these two presidential candidates, and others before them , tried to convince our colonial ancestors that they some how needed the Second Amendment to protect their hunting rights, they would have been laughed off the farm. Our ancestors did not need a Constitutional guarantee to hunt. Guns were a way of life, a tool if you will, that you took with you for two reasons, to hunt animals and to protect yourself against unforeseen dangers whether man or beast.

The Progressives want to argue that the Second Amendment is not an individual right. Rather it is there for state militias. To the gun regulating Progressives, guns should be in the hands of what they perceive to be the modern militia, the National Guard and Reserves. According to my Compact Oxford Dictionary a militia is "a military force made up of civilians, used to supplement a regular army in an emergency".In short, a militia is a citizens army. During colonial times men were expected to report to the town square with weapons and ammunition that they supplied. They were, for the most part, not in uniform, and they practiced military drills on the town square in order that they could act in an effective manner during an emergency. They did not gather there to learn how to make decoys, call turkey, or stalk big game animals.

The Second Amendment is about self defense. You have the God given, not governmental given, right to protect yourself and your country. You can be called upon to this day to be a member of a citizens' militia where you would be required to bring your own gun and ammunition.

The United States Supreme Court recently heard a case involving the stringent Washington, DC gun ban. Under this ban, for all intents and purposes, citizens of the District could not own a gun. A lower court had decided that the ban was to restrictive and that the Second Amendment was an individual right. This decision was appealed to the High Court. Among the briefs and arguments was documentation that in modern times citizen militias have been created. One such example was in the state of Maryland during World War II. The governor, looking to the gun clubs on the Eastern Shore of his state, called on such clubs to serve in the capacity of militias because so many men had gone into the regular military and, along with the National Guard, had been called up for duty due to the war. The men in the gun clubs were expected to bring their own guns and ammunition and serve as the military force in the state. Some 60 plus briefs were filed on this case, a case that is going to make it clear once and for all that the Second Amendment is an individual right just like all the other rights found in the Bill of Rights and the other Amendments added to the Constitution. It's about time that this issue be put to rest so that we can rest in peace knowing that we will be able to protect ourselves from the interlopers on our rights whether they be foreign or domestic.

The Messianic Candidate

By now, thanks to the media, we know that Barack Obama is the new Messiah. He is a charismatic orator with a message of hope and change. He is promising that he is going to make government work for us, get rid of obscene pay for CEOs, provide us with a national health care program and much more. This is what we can expect from a Progressive candidate but let's take a closer look at this man of Hope and is he anything like the man from Hope.

On March 18, the Senator gave a speech wherein he tried to explain his black liberation minister, Jeremiah Wright. In his oration he told us that he had been in the room during Reverend Wright's castigation of the United States where Wright, among other things, called upon God to damn the United States for a host of perceived sins. But let us not forget that the day before this speech Senator Obama stated he had not been in the church during Wright's rants. Indeed Obama told us a few weeks later that he was able to stay in Trinity UCC because the Reverend Wright had apologized for his remarks. Really? Where and when did he do that?

Then we have the awkward situation with Mr. Rezko, the slum landlord and political contributor to the Senator. Obama was able to purchase his $1.5 million dollar home and the back lot with the assistance of Mr. Rezko. The original owner wanted to sell both so while Mr. Obama was able to purchase the home Mr. Rezko made up the difference with his purchase of the lot that some how became affixed to the Senator's home. The Senator constantly tells us how he can relate to us.

We now have his latest slur. While in California speaking to a group of donors he expounded on the communities in Pennsylvania where the residents had lost their jobs due to the current economic situation. He exclaimed the these people had turned to holding onto guns and religion during these trying times. How awful is that. I do believe he might have lost a few votes as well as a bit of luster on his halo.

Senator Obama is also running a very interesting set of ads in Pennsylvania. In these ads he talks about wanting to make "government work for us". That is not the function of government. He tells us that when he is president that he is going to do something about the overpaid CEOs and the obscene profits of Big Oil. He wants to end the Bush Tax cuts and in particular wants to raise the Capital Gains tax to 25%-30%. This combination would give us the largest tax increase in our history and you can bet the ranch it will not be a tax increase for the rich only. He wants to stop the war and spend that money at home. Where do you think that money, the next peace dividend, is going to go? Do you believe it will come back to you? Hardly.

Barack Obama is a Progressive who has been prepared by the likes of Kerry and Kennedy. Listen to the man when he speaks. He wants to unify us while continuing to adhere to identity politics wherein he brings up the issue of race telling us how we need to talk about it when in reality he is obfuscating the entire time. The race card is being played by the Senator to keep us apart that is the only way the Progressives can ever win. Their goal is the fulfillment of the 'nanny state" that will put the government in charge of everything and your rights will be gone. Accusing conservatives of coming into our bedrooms we have the state of California, probably the most Progressive state in the union, planning to come into the homes of the citizens and setting the thermostat and monitoring it. What do you suppose will happen next?

Many years ago Samuel Adams said, "The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men". I am going to listen to Sam Adams as should all fellow Americans and check out the characters.

We're Losing Our Rights

At the time that Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence most of the citizens believed that the rights they had were given to them by government. Jefferson and John Locke pointed out that the exact opposite was the case, men had natural rights and it is the people who have the ability to create and dissolve governments. The government's job is to protect our rights.

Today the Progressives, once known as Liberals, are on a mission to show all of us how wonderful it would be if this nation were led by the government. They have been very clever in promoting good causes like wear you seat belt, stop smoking and avoid fatty foods. Few of us would argue with this campaign but is it really the responsibility of the government to regulate these matters? The answer is a definitive no because we, as individuals, are in charge and are obliged to order our own lives.

Now you might ask how does this really have an adverse affect on us? Remember when wearing a seat belt was voluntary? Now it is mandatory and a punishable crime if you are caught not wearing it. Do our governmental officials really have a concern about our well being or is it simply another way to not only alter our behavior but collect money from us to fund more government programs? Are we not turning good people into criminals while ignoring serious criminal activity? Whatever happened to that new FISA law?

Is there a danger here? I believe there is. Start out with something innocuous and it's barely noticed. Pretty soon the folks are used to it. They also become accepting of the propaganda from government officials about how much good the government is doing for us when we should be asking what they are doing to us. Before we know it we will be looking at major alterations to how we live our lives. Government will tell us that we can no longer drive those big cars we like. Maybe we will be told what kind of house we can live in because our carbon footprint is to big. If we can't move to a new house the local government will be allowed to tax us to pay for all the pollution our home is emitting.

If we fail to educate ourselves on the intent of the Progressives, whose plan has been evolving since the Wilson's administration, we will find ourselves surrounded by government bureaus and their many regulations with accompanying punishments. The desire to establish a nanny state will be fulfilled

I know may you find all of this hard to believe but take a look at what happened in the past in places like Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia, Mao's China and ask yourself is it going on here. I contend that it is and keep in mind the words of Alexis de Tocqueville,"It must not be forgotten that it is especially dangerous to enslave men in the minor details of life. For my own part, I should be inclined to think freedom less necessary in great things than in little ones." Start with the innocent causes and watch the Bill of Rights disappear.