A Farewell to Republicanism
“We are taking leave not merely of a single Administration. For eight years the Republican Party has been in power. For twelve of the last sixteen years it controlled the legislative branch of the government. When, a few years hence, an attempt is made to minimize the disaster of this last quadrennium, and to point to a preceding eight year period of material development and growth, let it be noted that in a purely material sense the American people are much worse off today than they were eight years ago. Far more than was gained has been swept away. Savings have been dissipated, lives have been blasted, families disintegrated. Misery and insecurity exist to a degree unprecedented in most living memory. And spiritually the American people have been debauched by the materialism which made dollar-chasing the accepted way of life and accumulation of riches the goal of earthly existence.
The record of Republicanism must be judged as a whole, although, in fairness, the consequences of the Iraq War and the complicity of the Democrats for putting the United States into it must not be forgotten. The Republicans were eager to make war—and both parties continued, even after the crash. Moreover, economic disaster has been only a part of this sterile decade’s legacy, the burdens of which will descend to unborn generations.
Our worthiest traditions have been impaired; vital tenets of American life have been destroyed. What has become of that fundamental American axiom “salvation by work”? In all our previous history it has been taken for granted that ours was a land of opportunity, and that rewards bore some relation to initiative, effort, and ability. Granting the large mythical content of these beliefs, they were more nearly valid in America in the first century and a half of our national existence than anywhere else on earth. They are no longer true today. The promise of American life has been shattered—possibly beyond repair.”
…
“Have these captains and kings departed—not to return? The epoch of their wanton and repulsive leadership is ending. Their incompetence and their betrayal are manifest. But much of the evil they have done lives after them. The coming years will see the struggle to purge America, to reassert the promise of American life, to validate, in consonance with the changed times and conditions, the high aspirations of the founders of the nation. Mr. Obama has the opportunity to be the leader of this renaissance, but he will have to forge as his instrument a wholly different Democratic Party from that which so long has been indistinguishable from the Republican.”
Some things never change. This is not an actual quote. It is an excerpt that has been altered in a few obvious ways, to disguise the timing of the Republican departure that it celebrates. It is from the March 8, 1932 issue of The Nation. Full text at the link below. Lest we forget, it should be required reading before every presidential election.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/19330308/editors?rel=hp_currently
