Preface: The purpose of this series of articles is to analyze some of
the defining moments of the American progressive left, as they wage
war on the civil and economic liberties of the American people,
and to identify some of the fundamental shifts in American society
as American liberalism issues an assault on our constitution
 from all four fronts.

In 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated a series of economic programs that collectively formed the "New Deal" these programs were said to be in response to the "Great Depression" (a time of historical economic hardship in America.) The implementation of President Roosevelt's "New Deal" would span from 1933 to his re-election in 1937 giving the federal government unprecedented power to manipulate the private economy and called for the reformation of privately owned enterprises including banking, farming and industry; it would also be responsible for the implementation of the "social security act."

On January 6, 1941, in his State of the Union Address, President Roosevelt articulated his proposal of  "Four Freedoms" asserting four fundamental freedoms that people "everywhere in the world" ought to enjoy; these freedoms included: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

The inclusion of the latter two freedoms continued Roosevelt's eight year long --all out-- assault on the US Constitution as ratified by it's founders, while producing two central tenets of modern American liberalism: an individual's 'right' to economic security and an 'internationalist' view of foreign policy; anticipating what would decades later become known as the "human security" paradigm in social science and economic development.



Franklin D. Roosevelt would serve 12 years from March 4, 1933 until his death on April 12, 1945, but during that time Americans witnessed a fundamental shift in American social policy; a shift that favored government intervention over individual civil and economic liberty.

During the two decades following the death of President Roosevelt, The national poverty level would climb to 19% in 1964, leading President Lyndon B. Johnson to deliver the "war on poverty" speech during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. The speech would lead to the passage of the "Economic Opportunity Act" by congress and the creation of the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) charged with local application of federal funds targeted against poverty.

This legislation would produce countless bureaucracies and greatly increase government involvement inside the lives of American families, shifting government's role from economic assistance to meeting the "emotional, social, health, nutritional, and psychological" needs of American children.

These two presidents would grossly enlarge the size and scope of the federal government, they would advance the progressive agenda of "social justice" and introduce a European philosophy to the governance of the United States of America.

In my opinion: both of these presidents used the economic uncertainty of the American people, as political leverage to forge an ideological agenda that would fundamentally change the relationship of "the people" and their government.

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