"Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and Senators and Congressmen and Government officials but the voters of this country." -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, speaking in Marietta, Ohio, on July 8, 1938, to mark the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Northwest Territory.
Considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest President, Roosevelt, whose birthday anniversary is today, was the champion of working families and the poor, fighting against many of the same entrenched monied interests that we see today. His "New Deal" boosted the nation in the midst of the Great Depression, brought on by greed and lax investment and banking laws favored by his predecessor Republican administrations. Social Security was perhaps his greatest domestic achievement, helping to ensure that elderly Americans would have an economic "safety net" as they grew older. His reminder in this speech that government is "not an alien power over us" stands in stark contrast to Republican conservative / right-wing orthodoxy over the past 50 years.
(photo: Roosevelt speaking in Marietta, OH. Getty Images)
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