Franklin Roosevelt did more than any other modern president to corrupt Americans’ understanding of freedom. This month marked the 75th anniversary of his 1944 speech calling for a second Bill of Rights to guarantee economic freedom to Americans. The Nation magazine whooped up the anniversary, proclaiming that Democrats now have a “unique—and likely fleeting—opportunity to deliver where FDR fell short” with vast new government programs.
Making up "Freedoms" While Suppressing Others
The 1944 speech, given as the tide in World War II was finally turning, was a followup to his 1941 “Four Freedoms” speech, which exploited Americans’ rising apprehensions toward far more power for the government. Roosevelt promised citizens freedom of speech and freedom of worship and then, as if he was merely enumerating other self-evident rights, declared: “The third [freedom] is freedom from want . . . everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in the world.” Proclaiming a goal of freedom from fear meant that government should fill the role in daily life previously filled by God and religion. Politicians are the biggest fearmongers, and “freedom from fear” would justify seizing new power in response to every bogus federal alarm.
