Roosevelt, LaFollette, Coughlin and Long speeches to OWS

In perhaps one of the most prophetic, fiery, and beautiful oratory Robert LaFollette, Sr. a Progressive Republican from Wisconsin spoke boldly against moneyed influence in the nation's politics. He was a man of courageous actions and beliefs, bowing to no moneyed power and being silenced by no President, LaFollette is a true American invoking all the passion, desire, and beliefs of men and women from Boston to Phoenix, from Boise to Miami.



A speech which would call every man to action but at the same time advice them to restrain their impulses, Theodore Roosevelt beat the drum of American idealism. With a firm grip on history in one hand and the neck of moneyed influence in the other he bellowed against those who pay lip service to liberty then seize our rights behind closed doors.



Father Charles Coughlin still has much controversy surrounding his political identity and suspected Antisemitism, nevertheless he gave wildly popular speeches throughout the 1930s railing against both the Democrats and Republicans as two parties in bed with big banks against the American people. This speech is no exception, his attack on the Federal Reserve was completely necessary then and still so today.



Huey Long is a man who either draws great approval or great disapproval, either way he was an influential person who captured the sentiment of America during the Great Depression. The establishment wants you to forget that the same arguments being made en mass today about the two party duopoly is virtually identical to the arguments made in the 1930s; listen to Huey Long's short speech and you will see what I mean.

Nice speeches!

Thanks for sharing.

reply to post by Rockdisjoint


No problem these were very good speeches by men who were quite intelligent and sincere. We could learn a lot by them. Unfortunately there are few people like them around today.

reply to post by Misoir


Nah, there are plenty, the media just keeps them tucked away .

It's unfortunate, but we should also be pushing for a new media in the United States. If only OWS could take the caveat too.

~Keeper

Originally posted by Misoir
reply to post by Rockdisjoint

 

No problem these were very good speeches by men who were quite intelligent and sincere. We could learn a lot by them. Unfortunately there are few people like them around today.

LaFollette and Coughlin were pretty good guys, though Coughlin wasn't a suspected ant-Semite. His weekly radio broadcast showed that he was an inveterate anti-Semite.

Fortunately there's nobody quite like Theodore Roosevelt. Mark Twain believed him to be insane. TR once remarked he could "do anything that the needs of the nation depended" and said "I did and caused to be done many things not previously done...I did not usurp power, but I did greatly broaden the use of executive power." He issued over 1000 executive orders in his presidency.

When the United Mine Workers had a strike in 1902, Roosevelt personally intervened and ordered the mine owners to accept arbitration. His coercive threat? That he would order the U.S. Army would take over and run the mine! When he was told that would be unconstitutional, his answer was quite telling: "To hell with the Constitution when the people want coal!"

He killed game mostly for trophies, and his buffalo was no different. His record of conservation contradicts his need to kill an animal like the American bison. By the time he killed his first one, there were only a few hundred left.

Huey Long was quite a contradiction. While he believe all people regardless of color should have access to good education and a decent living, he never once railed against segregation or white supremacy. He flagrantly used the n-word without any self consciousness.

But his most damning cause was his "Share Our Wealth" movement. His program outlined a plan to confiscate (read: steal) family fortunes over $5 million and levy a tax of 100% on incomes over $1 million a year. The money stolen...er...revenues generated would be used to buy every family a homestead (car, home, etc), and provide a living wage of between $2000 - $3000 a year and old-age pensions.

These men were believers in a cause, a cause for the common man. But some of their tactics were exactly the same as the tactics used today: legislation, coercion, threats, and erosion of liberty. They championed the cause of the few at the expense of the many, and did so with a fervor that wouldn't be so disturbing if so many didn't fall under their sway.

Today's OWS movement is the same way. Huey Long would be right at home with them, calling for the confiscation of wages and private property to give to the people that perhaps haven't had the same luck as others have had.

These people seem to want to make someone like you and me ashamed that we have a home, a job, health care, and a little bit of savings (a couple of thousand in my case, certainly not hundreds of thousands, or millions). They want us to give until it hurts, even though we may be hurting now, just not to the extent that others do. But since I'm able to take my family out to eat every once in a while, I'm supposed to feel like I owe somebody something? I owe two people: my wife and my son. I owe them everything I have, and that's all I have to give. It all goes to them, and nobody else. Well, all of it that isn't stolen from me and given to people that I don't know. That is the soul of the Progressive movement.

I understand you went to a rally and saw some really good people there. You feel that you've been mislead to believe that this is anything other than a movement to take from you and give to them. Well, the harsh reality is that it isn't anything more or less than exactly that. They want what you have, and they will go as far as legislation to get it.

Your eyes haven't been opened. You have fallen for one of the oldest tricks in the book: empathy. LaFollette used it, Roosevelt used it, Long used it, Coughlin used it, and OWS is using it.

/TOA