America's Four Freedoms- are we any closer?

America's Four Freedoms - Are we getting closer?

As we look forward to joining family and friends tomorrow, let's pray for the 140,000 brave American's in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for those in Miami County getting ready to deploy for 18 months or more.

Let us thank our government for this week's $350 Billion dollar, 14 inch high omni-bus spending bill (filled with pork, apparently written by Turkeys), coupled with an $800 billion increase in the national debt ceiling; which is a mere $8,000 per family, to be paid back by our grandchildren. So welcome the little tykes to the table tomorrow and feed them well; they will need to grow strong and fast to support us in our old age.

Our President will make a Thanksgiving declaration tomorrow, I wonder if he will say things like:

"This is no time for any of us to stop thinking about the social and economic problems which are the root cause of the social revolution in the world."
"There is nothing mysterious about a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people are simple, they are:
Equality of opportunity, jobs for those who can work, security for all, the ending of special privilege for the few, the preservation of civil liberties for all; and the enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress.

These are the simple, basic things many call for immediate improvement:

We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care. Persons deserving or needing gainful employment should have the means to obtain it. I have called for personal sacrifice. A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes.
In my next Budget Message I shall recommend that a greater portion of our defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying today. "

No, we probably won't hear those words as part of the Holiday message, nor will we hear this message urging sacrifice to reduce the deficit or gain employment and Health Care for all.

However, those words, which we will not hear this weekend, were delivered to Americans in the 1941 State of the Union address by FDR.
President Roosevelt went on, in that address to say: "In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world.
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way--everywhere in the world.
The third is freedom from want-- a healthy peacetime life everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear-which means no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor.
Norman Rockwell used that address as inspiration to paint his most famous series, "The Four Freedoms." A series he used to raise money for the US war effort - he raised over $32 Billion (in today's dollars) touring the country with those paintings.

But the story behind them has some quirks to remember today. "Freedom from Want" featured a matronly woman serving a huge turkey to her family. The model was not the pictured family matriarch, but Rockwell's cook, working six days a week for less than minimum wage.

In "Freedom of Speech", Jim Edgerton, the man standing up in the Arlington, Vermont town meeting pretended to be a man who spoke out against building a new school with public funds. He spoke vociferously against educating the onslaught of people moving into 'his' state.
In "Freedom of Religion", Rockwell asked Episcopalian Rose Hoyt to hold a rosary and be a Catholic for the day. His first draft painting, with a Jew, Muslim, Black and Christian was considered too radical for the day.
"In Freedom from Fear", Rockwell arranged for the Bennington Banner to fake a war headline to be held while two unrelated kids pretended to be tucked in for the night, on a bright afternoon.

My point tonight is simple… Our freedoms are precious, although Rockwell took significant artistic license in the famous pictures depicting them. Our democracy is facing challenges eerily similar to the ones FDR outlined sixty years ago. Are we closer to resolution today?
Do we feel safer at home? More tolerant of others' beliefs? More satiated and well paid? More willing to let others disagree with us and our leaders? I wish I could say yes and Amen.

Leib Lurie is a Troy resident, Optimist Club member and Serial Software Entrepreneur. You can reach him at Leib@Lurie.net