On January 6, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his State of the Union speech to Congress. It has become known as the four freedoms speech for this reason.
“In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression—everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium.
It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
World War II put the implementation of Roosevelt’s vision on hold, where it seems to be stuck today.
Dr. King gave his most famous speech on August 28, 1963. Here are some of his opening remarks.
“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Thirty years after Dr. King delivered his “Dream” speech Ruth Bader Ginsberg was nominated to serve on the United States Supreme Court. Her Senate hearing took place in July of 1993. Even then she had a long history of championing women’s rights and fighting gender discrimination, so this was a particular topic of interest for her old white male inquisitors. When asked about discrimination in general and women’s rights in particular here is part of her initial response.
“The American project started with white men’s freedom and equality, and has been, for more than two centuries, all about expanding the circle to include more and more people in that blessed plot.”
How did we get from the expression of these high ideals; the vision of a more inclusive world and a realization of the dreams of our founders to a place where we can’t any longer seem to agree on even the most basic idea of what it means to be an American. In an attempt to understand how men like James Dobson (see previous post) could apparently abandon their principles hold their noses and support a morally deficient person like 45, we need to examine the contribution made by expressions like those above.
While it is comfortably easy for those of us that lean to the left to snugly pronounce that the right is mean, bigoted and backward, we also have to realize that 45 could not have happened if not for the left and the current state of the Democratic Party. In my last post I declared my intention of ticking off my conservative friends and sure enough I was successful in spades.
Please allow me now to make my liberal friends angry. Especially my wife. she is not going to like this!
The only thing more messed up, more dysfunctional and out of touch with average Americans than the Republican Party is the Democratic Party!
The Democratic Party has become the supreme purveyor of identity politics and its primary platform now seems to be to segregate Americans into groups with the view to determine which group is the most oppressed. Every person that is not a white guy can find a group of folks that have been oppressed by the white ruling men throughout American history.
It is indeed a noble undertaking to stand up for, to fight for, and protect those that have experienced discrimination, bigotry and devaluation for whatever reason. It is position my wife and I take on most issues and one we have tried to instill in our children. At the risk of throwing flowers at myself, I think we have succeed on that point very well.
Those individuals that have suffered, have over the course of the last half-century or so aligned themselves into politically active groups with most finding a welcoming home in the Democratic Party. The way the party has responded to this phenomenon is what gives me pause.
For most of the last century the two political parties were fairly straightforward in their popular appeal. The Democrats were the party of the workingman, the union member, the mortgage holder and those for which a strong and growing economy meant security for the future as well as the present. The Republicans appealed to the country-club set, those that believed that free markets, banks and corporations would insure that growing economy and that a rising tide lifts all boats.
It was the balance of these two ideologies after World War II that enabled the United States to become the most prosperous and powerful country the world has ever known. Free markets could co-exist with safer and better working conditions. Society could help those that could not help themselves (think Social Security) and capitalism could be a force for a more inclusive and tolerant America.
What the hell happened?
In fighting injustice, oppression and discrimination, the Democratic Party has seemingly turned its back completely on support for fundamental free market concepts. We just experienced a Presidential campaign in which Bernie Sanders touted universal health care and free college for all. Elizabeth Warren proclaims that “Wall Street” and the big banks are the spawn of Satan and must be regulated with extreme diligence lest they strike like the rattlesnakes they are.
Please allow me to postulate that for the average white working guy, these extreme positions are contrary to their view of what America is or should be. The average white working guy believes that nothing in life is free and that HE will be the one paying for free college and universal health care. He views it as just another entitlement program for everybody except himself.
The unintended consequence of the Democratic Party’s embrace of identity politics and its newfound adversarial relationship with capitalism has been the creation of a new and powerful identity politic group; white middle class working guys. And they have flocked to the Republican Party in droves. Their support for 45 is deep and unshakable and they vote in numbers large enough to decide any election anywhere in the country.
They support him and his party not because of his personality, but in spite of it. The Republican Party finds itself (perhaps accidentally) in the position of protecting not only the economic stability of the white working guy, but also his cultural beliefs; beliefs that are deeply held and in his thinking have served this country well.
As one of the last dinosaurs, a liberal white working guy that typically votes Democratic, drives a pickup and likes to fish, I think I understand this phenomenon at a personal level. A few years ago, I sat in a room with two women, who told me my services were no longer needed, they were going in a different direction, but they wished me well in my future endeavors.
Don’t tell me women don’t have any power. Those two had the power to change my life in very lasting, negative and fundamental ways.
White working guys are not interested in oppressing anybody, they understand the American pie is big enough for all to enjoy and they stand ready and willing to help anybody ready to put forth the same level of effort required of them.
White working guys are tired of hearing that they are the worst thing in the world and the genius of 45 is that he gets it in a way few modern politicians do. Especially the Democrats.
Happy Father’s Day!
Loved the article and I think white man could be changed for working person because the money has to come from somewhere