Greg Hodur: Past as Prelude

To the Editor:

The morning after election day was not easy for those of us who proudly proclaim ourselves “Democrats.”  Frankly, to many of us the defeat of Congressman Earl Pomeroy and many of his Democratic colleagues around the country defies logic and tests our commitment to carry on the effort to which our Party has long been devoted.

That is, to give every citizen, not just the rich, powerful and well-connected, the freedom and opportunity to succeed and to prosper to the extent his or her individual talent allows, while acknowledging that “it takes a village”- sometimes called “government”- to adequately and efficiently address problems that appear to affect only individuals but could easily at anytime, or inevitably if we live long enough, happen to any one of us. 

So, I decided to go back and read what I believe is one of the most important but obscure speeches in American history:  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s second inaugural address.

At a time when the country faced issues very much like we face today and entrenched interests sought to protect what they had and to grab more if they could, FDR said: to our parents and grandparents:

“...here is the challenge to our democracy: In this nation I see tens of millions of its citizens - a substantial part of its whole population - who at this very moment are denied the greater part of what the very lowest standards of today call the necessities of life.

I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day.

I see millions whose daily lives in city and on farm continue under conditions labeled indecent by a so-called polite society half a century ago.

I see millions denied education, recreation and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children.

I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of farm and factory and by their poverty denying work and productiveness to many other millions.

I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.”

Maybe the proportions have changed since 1937, but his next words I think should inspire those of us who in the wake of a Tuesday’s disheartening and resounding defeat have thought about giving up:

“It is not in despair that I paint you that picture.  I paint if for you in hope - because the Nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out.  We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country’s interest and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding group within our borders as superfluous.  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 to those who have too little.”

Now is our time to be tested.  The odds are against us.  We have only two choices:  surrender or fight for what we believe is best for the country.
-Greg Hodur
Fargo