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Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Growth of private power could lead to fascism"

  2. CarolynGillis
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Franklin D. Roosevelt in an April 29, 1938 message to Congress warned that the growth of private power could lead to fascism.

"Liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power

We can use a New Deal like Roosevelt provided for Americans.
A Green Collar New Deal
cg
CarolynGillis

17 responses // Franklin D. Roosevelt: "Growth of private power could lead to fascism"

  • This coming from the mouth of the man who in 1933 STOLE all Americans privately owned gold.
    Then instituted the use of "fiat" money.

    What irony.....
    1percent
  • "FDR's personal letters reveal that he was impressed by what Mussolini was doing and said that he kept in close touch with that 'admirable gentleman.'[8] Mussolini himself praised the New Deal as following his own corporate state, as quoted in a July 1933 article in the New York Times, "Your plan for coordination of industry follows precisely our lines of cooperation.[9]"

    --That's also from wikipedia.

    The NRA actually established cartel style monopolies in industry in America. The AAA did the same for farms heralding the beginning of corporate agri-business.

    Modern neo-cons actually owe more to FDR than any republican in history. Do some research.

    Mancur Olson's The Logic of Collective Action
    is a good place to start.
    petervan
  • 1percent... you are dead on...

    maybe this is his conscious attacking him and compelling him to back track on his actions..

    cause it seems to me that he's talking about everything he was involved in...

    *pulls out a dollar bill and looks at the all seeing eye* THANKS ROOSEVELT!

    my god, we live in a country of hypocrites, cheaters, liars and thieves.
    djaudible27
  • The American Dream... :(
    Tomcatt
  • djaudible-

    An attack of conscious I'd doubt.... throughout history corrupt despotical rulers use the private sector as a scape goat, to enrage the public and consolidate power.

    Diolcetian at the end of the roman empire,
    Robes Pierre during the F revolution,
    Weimar Germany.... and then Hitler...

    It's easier to say that people can't afford bread because evil merchants keep increasing the prices, than it is to say people can't afford bread because the government has destroyed the purchasing power of legal tender.

    Why are gas prices really so high????????...

    Worth some thought.
    petervan
  • boo, hoo.every empire is built on the backs of slaves.
    kingtsohg
  • strange. this story's comments all run completely against it's original intent (yay internet!)

    anybody care to defend good ol' FDR?
    petervan
  • We now see the conversion of the people of this nation into the serfs that the Bushs and the oil company CEO's want. With every law that says that corperations can take what they want from the people in the name of profit it converts more of us into slaves. Actualy we are cheaper than slaves. If you take into account the initial cost and upkeep of a very good slave it would cost far more than most hourly workers.
    Toughth
  • Without FDR you narrowminded cynics along with the rest of us would be speaking Deutch and paying tribute and high taxes to Der Fuehrer or required to speak Japanese and pay the taxes to the Emperor while droning domo origato... It's very easy to cherry pick the ideas of any person to make them look good or bad. It's much more difficult to acknowledge their positive contributions to society...ie. FDR in the early stages of WWII came up with creative means by which to contribute to the fight against tyranny without actually sending troops to fight (land lease)... In the end, though, sending the troops ended the reign of the despots... However, the Right Wing brought back several Nazis and assimilated them into our society and their methods into the Right Wing agenda, hence we have our own Despot now...ssooo, maybe we do need someone with a strong moral character, like FDR, to give this country a boost...the last almost eight years haven't been so good to us in the middle class...
    PlatoTacius
  • If only the Democratic party could find a FDR today. The two jokes we have campaigning now aren't fit to shine his shoes.
    JohnA
  • Everyone participating in the thread is raising valid points. Yes, FDR stole Americans gold illegally! Yes, FDR was a good wartime leader. However, I wouldn't be too hasty to give him all of that credit and overlook the tenacity of the American people at that time.

    Corporate welfare by our central planners is a scary thing. But it is a mistake to think that the private sector is the enemy. The government is stripping us of our freedom and needs to be put in check, scaled back and not allowed to bestow windfall contracts or subsidize its selected corporate interests.

    Petervan brings up a great point. Consider Dioclecian's time during the Roman Empire, 18th century France, the Weimar Republic of Germany, Argentina in 2001 and present day Zimbabwe. The common denominator is they all experienced or are experiencing the disastrous effects of devaluing their currencies. The Federal Reserve system is a bigger plague than many know.

    Furthermore, the chart on the right illustrates quite clearly how large our state is becoming. Where are we headed? If you are truly interested in this (read scared about this) then "The Road to Serfdom" by F.A. Hayak, "The Dollar Crisis" by Richard Duncan, "The Collapse of the Dollar and How To Profit From It" by James Turk & John Rubino and "Crashproof" by Peter Schiff are excellent places to find more information.

    "We were the first to assert that the more complicated the forms assumed by civilization, the more restricted the freedom of the individual must become." -Benito Mussolini

    "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume

    "I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but in the time in which we live I am ready to worship it." -A. de Tocqueville

    "There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million can diagnose." -John Maynard Keynes
    Hawkmang
  • Thanks Petervan, lucky you. You seem to be a knowlegable historian! I will look at Mancur Olson's The Logic of Collective Action I'm sorry but i only have spotty knowledge of history....always learning.

    I don't like much of what FDR did but I wanted to bring this thought to the forum. The direction of our country in in peril because of Corporatism and that hopefully with strong..... and hopefully moral ...leadership we can pull out of this mess with similar strategies with a green collar work force a new green energy and transportation plan. Glad to hear the arguments. Some of the results sounded good to me even FDR didn't always act with integrity.
    CarolynGillis
  • Carolyn: "Collective Action..." is a bit involved, being as it's full-on economic theory. "The Road to Serfdom" by F.A. Hayek, as Hawkmang suggested, is probably the best place to start.

    Hawkmang: Nice! quoting Keynes back when he was still sane. Too bad he had to go off and become an embodiment of stupidity on the issue of government manipulation of the economy.

    You an econ student?
    petervan
  • During the Great Depression, when Americans were starving, FDR burned crops and slaughtered livestock in the name of stabilizing food prices. How's that for logic? Forgive me if I don't put too much stock into any of his economic theories.
    thefutureofamerica
  • FDR, who never met a communist he didn't like (referred to Stalin as "Uncle Joe") has it completely backward. The people control of the government is exactly what this couontry is SUPPOSED to be about. Facism is control by the government. This guy declared war on the private ownership of gold, helped the establishment of socialism and, in general, continued the disaster that began under Lincoln and continues, even to this day.
    Paratus
  • Wonderful how we can continue our discussion through different education levels and points of view on Current.com and not insult each other or feel like either is totally wrong. This method of communication is vital to getting to the truth..and it's not so difficult to do if we are given the medium to use, like this.

    The stagnant and soon obsolete Murdoch type media favors Corporate Conglomerates over its viewers and wants us to stay Fox Viewer stupid.

    Thank you for your suggestions for book to read I will look into them. Since our world has been turned upside down by this administration I have been unable to read fiction for enjoyment and only read nonfiction that can help get us out of this distress.
    CarolynGillis
  • Petervan, thanks! Yeah, Keynes really went off the deep end with the government manipulation and unfortunately many people bought his central planning nonsense. I am an economics student as a matter of fact. :-) That and PolySci. Sounds like you are as well.

    Carolyn, yes this really is a nice place to share ideas and opinions. A real escape from the sound bites and drivel of the mainstream media.
    Hawkmang

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