Leadership

Pictured is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, presidents of the United States: Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

President Roosevelt's record is hard to match: He led the USA out of the Great Depression and was a principal architect of the allied victory in the Second World War. Those two achievements alone tower far above anything American citizens have seen since 1945.

But FDR, in the eyes of the rich elite, committed a cardinal sin: he made the rich of the land share their wealth with those who were less privileged. For this sin, FDR's acts had to be undone, his legacy largely forgotten.

Since the 1980's, Americans have been bombarded with a particularly obnoxious and volatile form of propaganda that is an admixture of ultra-conservative politics and religious fundamentalism. The first well-known cheerleader for this witch's brew of irrationalism was none other than the failed Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan. He led the charge against FDR's legacy and has been followed by other, less talented men of like political persuasion, whose chief goal has been the re-establishment of a tremendous economic gulf between the rich and the poor in the USA. Sadly, these lesser men, with the connivance of a bought-out mass media, succeeded in selling the USA on the idea that the rule of market forces was a boon for all. Daily, the bitter fruit of this short-sighted harvest becomes ever more apparent.

It has only been some 61 years since Victory in Europe Day. President Roosevelt was already dead on that date, but his leadership had brought the United States through the greatest challenge that ever confronted it. Faced in 1941 by two apparently undefeatable empires, President Roosevelt's confident leadership mobilized the resources of the land and tapped a will to victory in the American people of a magnitude never seen since. In the time of his presidency, the country went from a severe economic state to being the powerhouse of the world. If anyone today wants to see what real leadership is all about, as compared to the contemptible posturing that passes for leadership today, they are commended to study FDR's record.

Those running the USA today would do very well to take FDR's advice to heart:

. . . the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.

And they would do very well to rectify the grave social injustices that plague America. President Roosevelt, himself wealthy, had no qualms about sharing wealth with a people in dire need of assistance. This outlook alone sets him apart, or rather, places him on a pedestal far above those who have since labored in his far-reaching shadow. For this, other wealthy men continue to hate him and strive to undo every aspect of his awesome legacy.

We miss you, President Roosevelt. Our fatigued and wary nation casts its troubled eyes about, wondering what has become of men of your caliber.