This video was filmed on January 15th, 2021. It comes nine days after fascists, domestic terrorists, and conservatives attempted an insurrection at the US Capitol to install a dictatorship. In this time, I find the words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech to Congress in 1938 particularly resonate.
The January 6th insurrection came on the 80th anniversary of President Roosevelt's Four Freedoms State of the Union address. On January 6th, 1941, the President underscored the unprecedented risk to American security when he told the US Congress, "I find it, unhappily, necessary to report that the future and the safety of our country and of our democracy are overwhelmingly involved in events far beyond our borders."
While the symbolic nature of using the Four Freedoms speech is tempting, I believe you will understand after listening to this video why the President's April 1938 speech articulates to challenges we have now and will continue to face. Roosevelt discusses the strengths and weaknesses of Democracy. He tells America how to maintain the vitality of the democratic process. He also warns how we could lose our Democracy if we forget to responsibilities of maintenance. The final line provides the most stirring advice.
"Self-restraint implies restraint by articulate public opinion, trained to distinguish fact from falsehood, trained to believe that bitterness is never a useful instrument in public affairs. There can be no dictatorship by an individual or by a group in this Nation, save through division fostered by hate. Such division there must never be."
Credits
Speech: President Franklin D. Roosevelt speech to Congress on stimulating the recovery from the Great Depression April 14, 1938
Music: On The Road, Left Alone Nam Hye Seung, Park Sang Hee
Video: Santa Cruz Shoreline
