Comments | talk_politics: Historic Quotations Post II:

underlankers in talk_politics

Historic Quotations Post II:

Feb 03, 2013 06:00

In terms of a defense of democracy and its virtues, I can think of no greater summation than the Four Freedoms speech made by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in January of 1941:

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quote, democracy

Comments 78

gunslnger February 3 2013, 20:10:28 UTC

In terms of a defense of democracy and its virtues

FDR wasn't defending democracy, he was defending a Republic.

underlankers February 4 2013, 02:14:15 UTC

That's a nitpick that's utterly irrelevant to modern-day realities.

gunslnger February 4 2013, 04:43:27 UTC

Actually, it's the most important distinction of all.

underlankers February 4 2013, 16:22:08 UTC

No, it's utterly meaningless. Res Publica simply means 'Common-Wealth' translated into English. The idea of a commons in the first place is what libertarianism rejects and as such it has neither the ability to tolerate democracy nor to sustain a republic in anything but name. As I've said before the only difference between the libertarian and Lavrenti Beria is that the latter got a country to ruin and the former have yet to do that.

Thread 7

sandwichwarrior February 3 2013, 20:16:16 UTC

Roosevelt's "4 freedoms" always made me uncomfortable for some reason. Something about them struck me as looking and sounding moral/correct and yet somehow profoundly wrong. An intellectual analog to "the uncanny valley" if you will.

I stumbled across this blog post durring the most recent gun control push and it perfectly articulates the objection that I have always felt, but never quite been able to put my finger on.

The only real place where Roosevelt's four freedoms are relaibly met is prison.

ddstory February 3 2013, 20:19:42 UTC

Your linked blog post leads right back to this post.

sandwichwarrior February 3 2013, 20:32:18 UTC

Opps, copy/paste clipboard fail

http://www.seraphicpress.com/welcome-to-sing-sing/

sophia_sadek February 4 2013, 20:37:04 UTC

That reminds me of the guy who committed a petty theft hoping to be incarcerated. When the cop was about to let him off with a warning, he advised the cop to arrest him before he commits a more serious crime. There are some guys in stir who fear for their lives if let out on the street. They have enemies on the outside who will rub them out. In El Salvador there is a prison full of witnesses who have testified against Mara members. There is something to be said about the limits of governance when the people on the side of the government have to be kept behind bars for fear of being killed by those who are against the government.

Thread 78

sophia_sadek February 4 2013, 20:28:02 UTC

It is too bad that some people think that denying other people health care coverage constitutes a way of worshiping the material Creator of the flat and immobile Earth God. The desire to be free of the fear of Washington's nukes, on the other hand, is a commendable ambition.

enders_shadow February 5 2013, 05:21:53 UTC

in america, you have freedom to starve