Dakota Beacon

I came across a book recently containing a piece I thought worth quoting. Actually a friend from Army days strongly recommended the book to me. Consequently, I ordered the item on-line.

I found the book to be a light read but with profound insinuations. A third of the way into the 198-page book appeared a list in support of the author’s contention that there are ways our Republic may be taken from us.

“1. The people must be made to feel their utter helplessness and their inability to solve their own problems....

“2. The principle of local self-government must be wiped out,...

“3. The centralized government while appearing in form to represent the people must dutifully register the will of the leader or group in control.

“4. Constitutional guarantees must be swept aside....

“5. Public faith in the legal profession and respect for the courts must be undermined....

“6. The law-making body must be intimidated and from time to time rebuked, so as to prevent the development of public confidence therein.

“7. Economically the people must be kept ground down by high taxes which under one pretext or another they are called upon to pay. Thus they are brought to a common level, and all income above a meager living is taken from them. In this manner economic independence is kept to a minimum, and the citizen is forced to rely more and more on government that controls him....

“8. A great public debt must be built up so that citizens can never escape its burdens. This makes government the virtual receiver for the entire nation.

“9. A general distrust of private business and industry must be kept alive so that the public may not begin to rely upon its own resources.

“10. Governmental bureaus are set up to control practically every phase of the citizen’s life. These bureaus issue directives without number, but all under the authority of the leader to whom they are immediately responsible....

“11. The education of the youth of the nation is taken under control, to the end that all may at an early age be inoculated with a spirit of submission to the system and of reverence for the benevolent leader.

“12. To supplement and fortify all of the foregoing there is kept flowing a steady stream of governmental propaganda designed to extol all that bow the knee, and to vilify those who dare raise a voice of dissent.”

Sounds familiar doesn’t it? In view of our turbulent times this statement describes our crisis perfectly.

But wait. This is not a commentary on the contemporary scene. This quote appeared in the book written in 1944 by Samuel B. Pettengill. Obviously, Pettengill did not raise his critique of the Obama administration. He wrote his book as a critique of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s socialist crusade. Which goes to show that even a staid Democrat like Pettengill can change. But, in doing so, he paid a price.

Pettengill, a Jeffersonian Democrat, represented Indiana’s Third Congressional District from 1931 to 1939. Ultimately his criticism of Roosevelt’s policies resulted in his fall from grace following his third term. Pettengill conceded he could not win a fourth term.

He wrote “For Americans Only” to show how far the principles of Jefferson had been abandoned. In his book he shows that increasing Federal control over every facet of American life in general, and business life in particular, is increasingly destructive to the nation.

Pettengill wrote his book in response to FDR’s New Deal but it applies equally to today’s self-imposed chaos. From that day to this the socialist drift has not changed. After all, Obama brazenly called for FDR’s principles and policies during his first campaign for president. In his second term he continues to implement them. Our nation now is headed pell-mell down the road FDR laid out three-quarters of a century ago.

Our current regime fosters the same old socialist agenda warmed over. There is nothing new under the sun.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).