FDR on "A Decade of Debauch"
In April 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pointed out while he was dealing with the wreckage of the Great Depression:
"America a century ago was regarded as an economic unity. But as time went on the country was cut up, bit by bit, into segments. We heard about problems of particular localities, the problems of particular groups. More and more people put on blinders; they could see only their own individual interests or the single community in which their business was located. . . . Economists are still trying to find out what it was that hit us back in 1929. I am not a professional economist, but I think I know. What hit us was a decade of debauch, of group selfishness — the sole objective expressed in the thought: 'Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost.'"
[Joseph A, Polermo, "George W. Bush's Kleptonomics Led Us To Recession", Huffington Post, 18 January 2008.]
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I welcome comments -- even dissent -- but I will delete without notice irrelevant, rude, psychotic, or incomprehensible comments, particularly those that I deem homophobic, unless they are amusing. The same goes for commercial comments and trackbacks. Sorry, but it's my blog and my decisions are final.
on Saturday, 19 January 2008 at 00.20
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"Every man for himself and devil take the hindmost" is what most Republicans really mean when they talk about the virtue of being self-sufficient and not looking to government to fill every need and ease every pain. As though the U.S. government had ever attempted to do those things. As though Democrats and liberals ever actually suggested the government should do those things.
Dishonesty and irrelevance aside, it sure has made for a perennially useful GOP talking point, though.
on Saturday, 19 January 2008 at 09.18
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FDR got through just about every program he wanted. He and later Democrats raised government intercession in public and private life to the high level we see today. Still there are complaints, and the reason seems to be that Republicans have stood in the way of even more intercession by the helpful minions funded by Congress. Perish the thought that maybe the Democrats have promulgated bad policy that has left us no happier today than in 1935.
We are up against some basic human characteristics: we love to help others, and we like to complain.
on Sunday, 20 January 2008 at 23.49
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I think we could have a long discussion of disagreement over the things you say in the first paragraph, Fred, but I'll concede quickly on the point in the second paragraph. If only I had, say, a silver dollar for the number of times I've heard people say, when asked how things are, "Oh, can't complain," and I've known first-hand that it isn't true!