Eighty years ago on New Year’s Day, the country was anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop. A crushing economic depression showed no sign of abating. Americans had elected a new president in November but had to wait until early March of 1933 to see what he would, or could, do about it. When Inauguration Day finally came, the new chief got quickly to the point. He proclaimed his “firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
The words are old now, somewhat tired from repetition, and they weren’t entirely true when spoken. There was a lot more to be feared than fear itself: drought, disease, hunger, economic failure, Hitler. But Franklin D. Roosevelt, in addition to lifting the country’s spirits, had hit on an important point about the American character in that inaugural address, one that was essential to recovery. It was the idea that fear, the sort of paralytic, debilitating fear he had in mind, discourages people from action and dims their hopes. It strikes not only at the economy but at America’s most essential quality: its basic and enduring optimism.
If there is truly an American “exceptionalism,” it’s less likely to be found in concepts of limited government and divided powers than in the belief of the people, from the very first days, that things can always be made better. It was the refusal to acquiesce in fatalism and resign oneself to acceptance that created the New World and that has kept this republic going for well over two centuries.
Today FDR’s words may be more true than they were 80 years ago, when the country did face truly catastrophic conditions. Our problems as the new year begins are not insuperable; they are manageable but greatly exacerbated by fear, much of it created and nurtured by people who make a good living off it. Whether it is the fear that one’s pension will be cut, guns restricted, income taxed too heavily or medical care infringed, it is often exaggerated and dishonest. There are difficult questions to be dealt with in every matter involving economic progress and the best distribution of public resources, but they can be answered by rational and well-informed discussion. Fear, unreasoning, unjustified fear, has no useful place in it, then or now.
The Washington Post (Jan. 2)
My favorite quote is from another Roosevelt, Teddy. ” America can only be a great place to live if it is a little great for everyone.”
My favorite quote is from John Wayne: “Life’s tough pilgrim, and it’s even tougher if you’re stupid”.
Yes, that is a classic too! When asked about the passing of an old enemy Mark Twain once said, ” I did not attend his funeral, but I sent a letter saying that I approved of it.”
Is this a joke? The Washington post? You ARE the fear porn industry! have you no shame!
All the media does is sell fear! There is no journalism left! when something happens, like the sandy hook tragedy, where is the actual reporting? The investigative journalism? All the press does is rehash stories anymore. And they are all lies!
Which one of the six corporations that own the media owns the Washington Post?
The media is an extension of what Ike warned against, the military industrial complex. Example: GE, biggest military contractor, owns NBC. Kinda makes anything that fool Brain Williams say moot.