Reject The Voices That Warn Of Big Gov’t And Tyranny?

On May 5, 2013, at Ohio State University, in Columbus, Ohio, President Barack Obama gave the commencement speech to the graduating class. In his speech, he included the below words:

“Still, you’ll hear voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s the root of all our problems, even as they do their best to gum up the works; or that tyranny always lurks just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave, creative, unique experiment in self-rule is just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.” (see below video)

Interestingly, if we journey back to June 28, 1934, President Franklin Roosevelt, in his 5th Fireside Chat, included these words:

“A few timid people, who fear progress, will try to give you new and strange names for what we are doing. Sometimes they will call it “Fascism,” and sometimes “Communism,” and sometimes “Regimentation,” and sometimes “Socialism.” But, in so doing, they are trying to make very complex and theoretical something that is really very simple and very practical.” (see below video)

Both of these Presidents, I’m sure, have claimed to be upholding our Constitution, and were/are discharging their duties according to the principles espoused by, and agreed upon by, the very men who brought this Constitutional Republic into existence. But, if that were the case, wouldn’t the words of these Presidents also be similar in style and tone to the men who Founded the United States?

Please consider some of the very words, written by our Founders:

Thomas Jefferson:
“The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.”

George Washington:
“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence. It is force, and like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

Thomas Paine:
“Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil, in its worst state, an intolerable one.”

And, the above are but a few examples of the many words espoused by our Founders, who had a healthy skepticism, and perhaps a very realistic view of Government, and it’s inherent nature of abusing the Powers given to them. If the Founders, themselves, warned us of the threat of BIG GOVERNMENT, and the potential for tyranny, then, why do we see so many examples, today (as in the above examples), of politicians warning citizens about “their fellow citizens,” and trying to espouse the virtues of BIG GOVERNMENT?

I would even go a step further, and ask: If the policies espoused by Franklin Roosevelt were inline with those of our Founders, and those enumerated in our Federal Constitution, then, why would he have even needed to evoke such words as Fascism, Communism, Regimentation, and Socialism? It wasn’t really that people were calling his New Deal polices “Fascism,” “Communism,” “Regimentation,” and “Socialism,” the question is, why were they calling his policies by those names? And, for both of these Presidents, it should have been sufficient to point to the “specific power” Constitutionally Enumerated to Congress and The President, to validate being involved in the areas to which they were/are involved.

(Forward to 15m 34s)

(Forward to 2m 10s)

Further Reading:
Hitler, Mussolini, and Roosevelt
Did FDR End The Great Depression?

Posted, originally, at: The Original Republican