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Follow FDR, "Above All Else, Do Something" [1]

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Date: 2025-03-23

Democrats, Please Channel FDR– “Above All Else, Do Something” February 18, 2024

Nothing makes our Democratic base despair more during the current Trump-Musk incited constitutional crisis than the likes of process stories/opinion articles such as the one CNN published by Edward-Isaac Dovere on February 16, 2025. The title says it all–“Democrats Confront Their Powerlessness As Trump Flexes Authority.” Translation: Trump plays “absolute” monarch and our side just “plays dead.” This typical media piece attacks “Team Blue” as essentially “leaderless” and claims that Democrats, including prospective presidential candidates, are largely sitting back and waiting for others to go after Trump. Dovere states that Democrats are not yet eager to attack the Trump “buzzsaw.” Get real! With Democrats in the minority in the House and Senate, as well as shut out of the White House, they have to show that they are strong ASAP and that they are an effective loyal opposition. Our base and other Americans must have a good alternative to take on Demagogue/Dictator wannabe Trump and his sidekick “co-president” Elon Musk, who 24/7 are trying to destroy our democratic institutions. We must know by now that major media outlets will not do this for us. It is up to our party leaders, including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and fellow Democratic Empire State Senator Chuck Schumer, to lead this charge to, frankly, save our democracy. Remember, this is not the first time that our country has faced a major crisis. Let’s recall how Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced the greatest economic downturn our country ever faced in the 1930’s Great Depression.

When Roosevelt took office on March 4, 1933, millions of Americans were out of work and on the verge of starvation. “Hoovervilles,” encampments of homeless people, had sprung up in many areas. FDR spoke of a “New Deal” for the American people. He basically argued that the federal government must financially help the people to get back on their feet, not wait for “dog-eat-dog” laissez-faire capitalism to declare economic winners and throw most people to the curb. FDR’s New Deal philosophy was a fairly radical new proposal. FDR pushed for new agencies to get such aid to Americans all across the country. When he first took office, Roosevelt did not have a full ready-to-go set of programs to alleviate unemployment, curb stock and bond fraud, initiate bank reform, deal with labor-management relations, and handle other related matters. However, he made sure that he spoke to the American people clearly about these issues through his fireside radio chats. And when one program or another did not work, what did FDR do? Did he throw up his hands and wait for other Democrats or various pundits to offer solutions? No, he stated, “If one program doesn’t work, keep trying others. Above all else, do something!” FDR’s can do attitude encouraged the American people to fight unemployment with optimism and turned despair into hope. FDR told people that if his efforts failed, he would be the last president elected by our democracy. While he was helping to pull us out of the Great Depression via his programs that he helped push through a Congress elected by the American people, Germany, Italy, and Japan were turning to bloodthirsty leaders, brutal fascist aggression, and quashing any democratic impulses in their nations. Soviet Russia was also purging any dissent. Most historians now agree that FDR saved our nation’s democracy from such political catastrophe.

Again, Democrats, remember don’t cower in the face of Trump, Musk, and his bully friends. Fight back. Bully Trump has already retreated after he initially tried to freeze numerous federal programs. Although we don’t have the White House, we can communicate by showing up at demonstrations and getting on television, radio, and the internet to push resistance to the Trump-Musk gutting of key safety net federal programs.

This CNN Dovere article quotes Democrats as fearing massive protests because Trump might use them to impose martial law. According to CNN, Democrats are also afraid that Trump’s pardoned January 6, 2021 arrested rioters might attack them as they demonstrate. If that happens, the Trump-Musk team must be blamed without let-up.They must also be blamed now without stop for shutting down the government by closing down far too many agencies and laying off many of their workers. Again, Democrats, stop being “fraidy cats.” Follow FDR’s example. As he said in his first and most famous inaugural address, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Yes, Democrats might be able to force GOPers from cutting some key safety-net programs in mid-March, but that will not be enough. We must fight right NOW and through Nov. 2026, the time of the next midterms. We need only a net gain of 3 seats to take back the House. More Trump voters and many Democrats who sat home on Election Day now realize that they have been had. The price of eggs and other grocery items have increased and inflation is rising on Trump’s watch. These voters, as well as our base, and Democratic legislators must rally every day in front of government buildings that Trump and Musk have closed. In progressive Cong. Jamie Raskin’s (D-MD) apt words, “a rally a day keeps the fascists away.” We must call and email our Congress Members to stop these anti-democracy moves. Spineless “moderate” GOPers must be shamed by their constituents to stop this madness and we must keep theseTrump voters on defense. Again, don’t sit back and take this. “Above all else, Do, Do, Do something.” We must never think of ourselves as powerless. Our country’s democracy is at stake.

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