Answering a question

One of my close friends, who knows me well enough to know party means nothing to me...I hate both parties equally...I do not believe either party even attempts to represent people. Politics in the U.S. has degenerated into who can get what for themselves. I believe the day of the altruistic yet effective politician died with...oh, I don't know...Washington? Lincoln? There were not many in between and perhaps none since. Teddy Roosevelt had some good inklings...he did, after all, start the whole National Parks thing. Of course, he ripped land from Native Americans to create those parks...and why not, they weren't using it.
For those unaware of the land grabs from Native Americans, that has often been the justification. "They aren't using it" because instead of farming or strip mining or ranching or building parking lots and shopping centers they often let the land exist. "They aren't using it" because they save it for fishing or hunting or relaxing when there are perfectly serviceable minerals under the ground. "They aren't using it" because, after all, they are only Indians and not white men. No, I believe none of that trash, but those are some of the justifications for some of the land thefts of the past.
Anyway, back to my initial point, my friend knows I care not at all what party someone is from. If they do good things, I talk about that. If they do horrid things, I crack on them.
And it is a fair question. Most historians rank FDR, for instance, among the 5 greatest presidents ever. Yet I rank him in the bottom 3. Huh? Am I just stupid? After all, FDR was in charge of the country through dark times and a horrid war. Under him the Depression ended.
Yet I believe my analysis is correct. When you look at his record several things stand out.
Let's start with the Depression. To be sure, he at least made an effort. And that is commendable. Some of the things he did in his attempt to create jobs were ahead of their time. That is good.
Unfortunately, they were ineffective and caused long term, possibly irreparable harm. They were ineffective in that they did nothing to end the Depression. In fact, it was only the advent of war and the creation of wartime jobs and economy that ended the Depression and brought about the boom of the 40s and beyond. So his New Deal proved woefully ineffective.
Unlike the wartime boom, however, his projects had long-lasting, negative impacts. You see, it was FDR who introduced deficit spending to the U.S. I assume most people know what deficit spending is...spending money you do not have.
Even worse, he made the Federal government a part of private lives. I wish Social Security and Welfare had never started. I hate those programs with every fiber of my being. Not what they try to do...just who is doing it and what that means.
When the Federal Government removed the responsibility for caring for the aged from the family the family structure was permanently and irrevocably altered. Furthermore, with the responsibility of caring for the elders, the time spent with them declined and the perception of their value was destroyed. Additionally, caring for one another was destroyed.
Replacing the neighborhood watching over its own with food stamps and so forth furthered the destruction of community. Neighbors helping neighbors because they cared became government taking from neighbors to help strangers living next door and then needing to help the first neighbor because he no longer could afford to live without help.
The programs had good intentions. They simply had devastating results. Who knows or can define a family now? I find it horrible that puppy mills...err, single mothers with multiple children get more money for having more kids when they cannot even care for the kids they have.
There is no sense of community anymore. I am just as guilty of this as anyone else. I live in an apartment complex with probably 2 or 3 hundred other people. I know not one name. Not one. I did say hello to the lady that lives downstairs when we almost bumped into each other because we were both intent on what we were doing.
Was all this the natural and unstoppable result of FDR's programs? No, people made further choices. But it was him who made this mess possible.
I already mentioned his moral terpitude in openly committing felonies.
But perhaps the second blackest mark against him was what he allowed to be done to the people of Japanese ancestry during the war. This malicious destructiveness was well known world wide. The Germans taunted U.S. soldiers with it, along with our treatment of blacks and Native Americans. That was the policy of FDR. Just as was the blackest of black marks against him; I really don't have the heart to go into this, but find out how many Jews he allowed into the U.S. when it was known Germany was expelling them.
So on the good side, he did act as a rock in staying the course and winning World War II. His courage in leading the nation cannot and should not be denied.
But against that positive was what I personally believe to be the roots of the devastation of any semblance of a neighborly, caring society, the introduction of crippling debt for programs the Feds should have nothing to do with, his policies towards foreigners, his personal moral terpitude, and you have the sketchy outline of someone I am ashamed to call a former 4 time President. And while he might, by virtue of his death, have escaped most of the culpability for dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he has the responsibility for what happened at Hamburg and also for proceeding with the development of the nuclear bombs.
My personal standards for Presidents include their upholding of their oaths to defend and protect the Constitution, their effectiveness in watching out for their people, their policies, and a few other things. FDR, in my personal opinion, failed every one of them.
I am fully aware most people disagree with me. And certainly most Presidents have made many decisions I disagree with. Nor do I have much patience for the murders correctly ascribed to many modern administrations. But hopefully this at least presents something to think about. I know it is something I think about too much. And write about too much. So I will shut up now.