FDR’s 1936 Acceptance Speech – What Americans Want to Hear From President Obama

September 2, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's nomination acceptance speech for reelection at the Democratic national convention in Philadelphia in 1936 still rings true today. It is what Americans want to hear from President Obama this week. You can read the full transcript here. Franklin D. Roosevelt: Acceptance Speech for the Renomination for the Presidency, Philadelphia, Pa. (Excerpt):

Philadelphia is a good city in which to write American history. This is fitting ground on which to reaffirm the faith of our fathers; to pledge ourselves to restore to the people a wider freedom; to give to 1936 as the founders gave to 1776—an American way of life.

That very word freedom, in itself and of necessity, suggests freedom from some restraining power. In 1776 we sought freedom from the tyranny of a political autocracy—from the eighteenth century royalists who held special privileges from the crown. It was to perpetuate their privilege that they governed without the consent of the governed; that they denied the right of free assembly and free speech; that they restricted the worship of God; that they put the average man's property and the average man's life in pawn to the mercenaries of dynastic power; that they regimented the people.

And so it was to win freedom from the tyranny of political autocracy that the American Revolution was fought. That victory gave the business of governing into the hands of the average man, who won the right with his neighbors to make and order his own destiny through his own Government. Political tyranny was wiped out at Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

Since that struggle, however, man's inventive genius released new forces in our land which reordered the lives of our people.. The age of machinery, of railroads; of steam and electricity; the telegraph and the radio; mass production, mass distribution—all of these combined to bring forward a new civilization and with it a new problem for those who sought to remain free.

For out of this modern civilization economic royalists carved new dynasties. New kingdoms were built upon concentration of control over material things. Through new uses of corporations, banks and securities, new machinery of industry and agriculture, of labor and capital—all undreamed of by the fathers—the whole structure of modern life was impressed into this royal service.

There was no place among this royalty for our many thousands of small business men and merchants who sought to make a worthy use of the American system of initiative and profit. They were no more free than the worker or the farmer. Even honest and progressive-minded men of wealth, aware of their obligation to their generation, could never know just where they fitted into this dynastic scheme of things.

DNC Convention preview: Live stream the convention

September 2, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: DNCC Announces Unprecedented Livestream Coverage For 2012 Convention CHARLOTTE, Sept. 2, 2012 – As part of our effort to make the 2012 Democratic Convention the most open and accessible convention in history, the DNCC announced today that it will provide voters from across the country a new, innovative and unique opportunity to participate … Read more

DNC Convention preview: Spanish-language web page is live

September 2, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) announced that the organization’s official Spanish-language webpage is now live on Saturday. The Latino community is an important part of the vibrant and diverse cross-section of America that makes this country great, and this new page allows the DNCC to continue engaging Latinos in the political process.

“From day one, we set out to engage more Americans than ever before, and our digital outreach is just another way that we are delivering on that mission,” said DNCC CEO Steve Kerrigan. “Having a Spanish-language web page ensures that more people can have access to the most open and accessible convention in history.”

The page, available at http://www.demconvention.com/bienvenidos/, will include interactive features that invite Latinos to participate in the discussion as we move forward toward the re-nomination of President Obama. In a video welcome message on the new webpage, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Chairman of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, invites Americans to participate in the convention online and “continue the conversation that the president started with the American people nearly five years ago.”

Video below the fold.

DNC Convention preview: Entertainers announced

September 2, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Democratic National Convention Committee announced the full line-up of performers set to take the stage at Time Warner Cable Arena and Bank of America Stadium next week. “This roster of performances only adds to the excitement building in Charlotte for the historic week ahead of us,” said 2012 Democratic National Convention … Read more