FDR and the modern state
Franklin Roosevelt is considered by the “mainstream” and many academics to be among the best presidents in our history. I have always felt otherwise and believe that he is actually among the 10 worst.
I was pleasantly surprised, then, that George Will will offered such a strong condemnation of the Roosevelt record on the pages of the liberal establishment Washington Post.
Among Roosevelt’s many sins was, “Furiously using legislation and regulations to multiply federally favored groups, and by rhetorically pitting those favored by government against the unfavored, he could create a permanent majority coalition.” This certainly sounds like the model used by the modern Democratic Party.
Roosevelt summed up his big-government philosophy in his second inaugural address by saying that he wanted “To enforce the ‘proper subordination’ of private power to public power.” That is nothing more or less than removing power from the individual and giving it to the government. It is the ultimate goal of the Rio Grande Foundation to reverse that troubling trend here in New Mexico.