Opus 2020-060: Immortal Quotes: “...Fear Itself”

I have been hearing FDR quoted a lot recently.  The way I keep hearing it is “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”  I heard it Sunday and the pastor talked about how this was offered to the country during the dark days of World War II.  I have others say the same thing.  With respect to the pastor and others it was not offered during the war.  The quote comes from his first inaugural address, March 4, 1933.  That is eight years before Pearl Harbor.

The situation he was addressing was what we have come to call The Great Depression.  He was wrong.  The greatest thing we had to fear was not fear but the fear mongers and control freaks of the Democrat party.  It has been argued that if Roosevelt and his do-good friends had stopped trying to use the coercive power of the federal government to fix the economy things would have gotten better a lot sooner.  In fact the economy was already on its way to recovery when Roosevelt took office.  He did everything he could to stop the recovery. 

I am willing to consider that he thought he was helping.  Millions of people have been taught that he saw us through this rough time.  He was one of the primary examples of the Reagan quote about the scariest words in our culture, “I’m from the government and I am here to help you.”  People need to talk to someone from Alcoholics Anonymous and the people they label “enablers.”  These are the people who put a protective cocoon around the alcoholic so that he never has to face his problem.  They do it to help and they perpetuate the destructive behavior.

We are in another one of those times.  We do not need the government stepping in with its thug boots and trying to fix something that really isn’t broken.  I am watching our economy be shut down because a bunch of old people in power realize they are threatened and don’t care how many people at low level jobs they destroy in order to feel safe and virtuous.  Keep in mind that if Starbuck’s closes down the executives that made the decision will be able to keep living high but the baristas who worked the counters will be going hungry, literally.  Sure a few will work the drive thru window but that won’t make up for the loss. 

We need to bite the bullet and get back to regular living.  I say that as one who is in the middle of the most endangered demographic.  So far it has not influences my life a lot.  One up side is that my wife can’t go out to eat as much.  I am retired and have few demands I can’t put off.  If I am one of the few that get sick I expect I will be back on task in a few days.  The people who keep the economy moving are not in that position.  I am not sure the country can be so optimistic about all the businesses that will close down because of this panic.   The Progressives* would love the shut the country down and see martial law in place. 

*(Liberals, educators, socialists, communists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, etc)

Wash your hands and watch out for unicorns.

homo unius libri