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| John J Barret and Anne in Venice |
Seems mighty current!!
The following is from the Jeffersonian Democrats of Northern
California. Publish date fall 1936. This would have been the 1936 election.
American Institutions
The following radio
address was delivered by John J. Barrett, noted California
attorney and life-long Democrat as his reasons for voting for Alf. M. Landon as
President.
“…A serious fault in the American people is their
complacency. We have a sense of
superiority over other nations. We
have a sense of immunity from their perils. We have abiding conviction that no tidal wave can engulf
this land even though it submerge the Continent. We are certain that we are
safe against all the malign agencies that assail the rest of the race. “It
can’t happen here.” That makes these times doubly dangerous for us. Because
here and now the life-and-death struggle is under way. And to us primarily, at
this very moment, applies the ancient admonition that “eternal vigilance is the
price of liberty.”
What is the particular threat against us in conditions at home and
abroad? It is a threat against our democratic institutions. That is the
fundamental threat; all the others are dependant on it. What are these
democratic institutions? They are certain safeguards of individual freedom and
individual opportunity. Where are they lodged? In the foundation of the
government, in its framework and constitution. What is their idea? To divide
the power of government. But why divide the powers of government? To prevent
their concentration in an individual or group. Why prevent the concentration of
all the powers of government in an individual or group? Because that is the definition of a
dictator, and, since time began it means the death of individual freedom and
individual opportunity. Even if the dictator is sincere and well disposed? Yes. All dictators are sincere and well
disposed to begin with. There are
no sincerer men on earth today than Mussolini, than Hitler, than even
Stalin. Somebody said that virtue
is more dangerous than vice, because it knows no limitations. There is a grain of truth in that. The criminal knows he is wrong and will
go only as far as he has to. The
good fanatic knows he is right, and will stop at nothing. That very sincerity of the dictator,
his consciousness of the purity of his intentions and the benevolence of his
purpose, becomes the mainstream of his regimentation of the lives and
activities of his subjects. That
is the uniform history of unbridled political authority. That is the devouring
and insatiable appetite of power…”
Any thoughts on the relevancy of these comments today?
Advocacy for Those Seeking a Voice
"... Tiocfaidh ár lá..."
