The Forgotten Men Who Brought You The Forgotten Man

Since the MSM robotically inspects each new Republican presidential candidate and finds him or her inferior to a GOP president whom they spent eight years previously flailing, Philip Terzian of the Weekly Standard writes that turnabout is indeed fair play:

What, for example, would Thomas Jefferson think of his Democratic Party and its urban base, or collaboration with labor unions? What would Andrew Jackson think of a Democratic Party that is underwritten by East Coast financiers, and frequently opposes the projection of America power beyond its borders?

For that matter, what would Franklin D. Roosevelt think of the modern Democratic Party? FDR was vociferously opposed to public employee unions, rhetorically challenged the foreign tyrants of his day, and believed Social Security should not be a European-style “dole” but a temporary measure to relieve distressed old folks who had lost their life’s savings. He made no effort to challenge segregation in the Democratic South—one of the firmest bases of his coalition—and summarily discontinued programs (Works Progress Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps etc.) when he concluded their usefulness had passed.

When the Japanese attacked Hawaii in 1941, FDR did not reach out to moderate Japanese, or separate the policies of the imperial government from the sentiments of the Japanese people. He removed American citizens of Japanese descent from the West Coast to prison camps, and pledged to Congress that “no matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.”

Indeed, it is worth wondering what the party of Charles Schumer and Sheila Jackson-Lee and Debbie Wasserman Schulz and Paul Krugman and Rachel Maddow thinks of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Nahh, as long as the interment camps can be converted to rounding-up the Reds (other than Vogue-approved John Huntsman), and high-speed rail used to transport them there, they’re all fans of the “Miracle of the 1940s.”

See also: the modern left’s Cargo Cult of the New Deal.