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. . . with just a few small changes to bring it up to date:
"For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor -- other people's lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness.
"Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could appeal only to the organized power of Government. We will remember that the collapse of 1929 showed up the despotism for what it was. The election of 1932 was the people's mandate to end it."
(From Franklin D. Roosevelt's acceptance speech for nomination to the Presidency, 27 June 1936; Audio and transcript at http://millercenter.virginia.edu/scripps/digitalarchive/speechDetail/24)
Of course when anyone on the left talks like this today the cry goes up: "Class warfare!" But I can't be the first to notice that an unholy alliance of preachers and plutocrats, centered on the once-noble GOP, has been waging class warfare since the mid-1970s.
"For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor -- other people's lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness.
"Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could appeal only to the organized power of Government. We will remember that the collapse of 1929 showed up the despotism for what it was. The election of 1932 was the people's mandate to end it."
(From Franklin D. Roosevelt's acceptance speech for nomination to the Presidency, 27 June 1936; Audio and transcript at http://millercenter.virginia.edu/scripps/digitalarchive/speechDetail/24)
Of course when anyone on the left talks like this today the cry goes up: "Class warfare!" But I can't be the first to notice that an unholy alliance of preachers and plutocrats, centered on the once-noble GOP, has been waging class warfare since the mid-1970s.
