Thursday, July 18, 2013

"AND ...."

But if Eleanor galvanized Republicans, she did the same thing for Democrats. Her husband's nomination had led to some dissension on the convention floor in Chicago; FDR's insistence on Henry Wallace had soured some delegates even more. The president, still in Washington, asked the first lady to make the trip to Chicago. She agreed, and gave a political speech that unified her party, and which reverberates through the decades.

"You must know that this is the time when all good men and women give every bit of service and strength to their country that they have to give," she said. "This is the time when it is the United States that we fight for, the domestic policies that we have established as a party that we must believe in, that we must carry forward, and in the world we have a position of great responsibility."

Speaking from only a single page of notes, Eleanor Roosevelt continued:

"We cannot tell from day to day what may come. This is no ordinary time. No time for weighing anything except what we can do best for the country as a whole, and that responsibility rests on each and every one of us as individuals."

Carl M. Cannon
Washington Editor
RealClearPolitics
Twitter: @CarlCannon <https://twitter.com/CarlCannon>

What the author kindly omitted, and what Eleanor would not have said, is the "and" part of her formula. "except what we can do best for the country as a whole" is only a partial sentence, the remainder of which is "and let me make you and others do those things which I (speaking on behalf of the President) deem best for the country." The tyrant's intent and actions are clear. A president's job is defined by the need to request consent of the 50% in order to take action backed by the government's monopoly on coercive force.

A paraphrase of Eleanor - "Please let us force you to do what we think is best for all." But do they really know what is best for all?

If they did, they wouldn't have crippled the economy of the US for the last 15 years of the depression. They wouldn't have made the nation appear so weak that it would look vulnerable to the Emperor. If they really knew what was best for all, WWII would not have happened, or we would not have been a part of it. If they really knew what was best, we at least would not have started the war with obsolescent weapons which resulted in the unnecessary death of many.

They don't know what is best for us. But because of their fatal conceit they believe otherwise.

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