This
contains a speech that was delivered addressing the state of affairs in the USA
in 1941 and addressing the rise of militaristic totalitarian states in Europe.
The main points are crucial to our society and our future, right here and now.
"A PLAN FOR THE FUTURE OF MAN."
As men do not live by bread alone,
they do not fight by armaments alone. Those who man our defenses and those
behind them who build our defenses must have the stamina and the courage which
come from unashakeable belief in the manner of life which they are defending.
The mighty action that we are calling for (he's referring to the past World War)
cannot be based on a disregard of all the things worth fighting for.
The
nation takes great satisfaction and much strength from the things which have been
done to make its people conscious of their individual stake in the preservation
of democratic life in America. Those things have toughened the fiber of
our people, have renewed their faith and strengthened their devotion to the institutions
we make ready to protect. Certainly this is no time for any of us to stop thinking
about the social and economic problems which are the root cause of the social
revolution (abroad) which is today a supreme factor in the world. For there
is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy.
A
PLAN FOR THE FUTURE OF MAN
The basic things expected by our people of their
political and economic systems are simple.
They are :
Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.
Jobs for those who can
work.
Security for those who need it.
The ending of special privilege
for the few.
The preservation of civil liberties for all.
The enjoyment
of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard
of living.
These are the simple, the basic things that must never
be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern
world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems
is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations.
Many
subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement.
As
examples :
We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age
pensions and unemployment insurance.
We should widen the opportunities for
adequate medical care.
We should plan a better system by which persons deserving
or needing gainful employment may obtain it.
I have called for personal
sacrifice, and I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond
to that call. A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in
taxes. In my budget message I will recommend that a greater portion of this
great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying for today.
No person should try, or be allowed to get rich out of the program, and the principle
of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before
our eyes to guide our legislation.
If the congress maintains these principles
the voters, putting patriotism ahead pocketbooks, will give you their applause.
In
the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded
upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and
expression --everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every
person to worship God in his own way-- everywhere in the world.
The
third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic
understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for
its inhabitants --everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom
from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of
armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be
in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor --anywhere
in the wold.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is
a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation.
That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called "new order"
of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
To
that new order we oppose the greater conception --the moral order. A good
society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike
without fear. Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged
in change, in a perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which goes on steadily,
quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp
or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation
of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.
This
nation has placed its destiny in the hands, heads and hearts of its millions of
free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God.
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.
Government
officials would to well to understand these things right now!
