When I’m filling in an opinion poll, I am usually asked which party I support. And when I choose Democrat, the next question is “Do you consider yourself a strong Democrat or a weak Democrat?” I always choose Strong, because #reasons, but what I want to say is, “I’m a Roosevelt Democrat, because of fundamental principles.”
So here they are, straight from FDR. (Yes, I’ve verified every quotation.) True last century, maybe even more so today.
“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”
“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”
“Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept there can be no end save victory.”
“We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering. They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.”
“We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of nations far away. We have learned that we must live as men, and not as ostriches nor as dogs in the manger. We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.”
