When did politics become the art of diminishing our expectations?

[eridani]

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-politics-of-diminishing.html

When did it become naïve and impractical for leaders to speak of their dreams?

When did it become the role of politicians to convince us about what we can’t become, or dream about, or dare hope for because they couldn’t realistically deliver it?

I recently re-read FDR’s Economic Bill of Rights, perhaps the one memorable State of the Union address ever given. Delivered six months before D-Day, with a war raging on multiple continents, it spells out a revolutionary and legislatively impractical program.

As I read the address, excerpted below, I wondered how many people were telling FDR that he couldn’t say that. That he couldn’t possibly deliver it. That there was a war raging and his were idealistic, distracting, even harmful dreams. That he should not say anything he couldn’t deliver. And that he should talk about practical plans and programs rather than laying down a mark of the inalienable right to economic security.

It is our duty now to begin to lay the plans and determine the strategy for the winning of a lasting peace and the establishment of an American standard of living higher than ever before known. We cannot be content, no matter how high that general standard of living may be, if some fraction of our people-- whether it be one-third or one-fifth or one-tenth-- is ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure. -

[daleanime]

1. It's what happens when candidates....

really have no good reason to run, but still want to win (or at least not lose).

[Hydra]

2. It's a new meme

We can't do better. Wall Street needs more bailout money, our wars are faltering, we need to turn our country into swiss cheese to find more oil, etc.

Somehow, we're supposed to tune into this doom and gloom and just accept that it's the best we can do. Serious People(TM) gave analyzed the situation and there are no alternatives.

I'm not sure how this is supposed to work, but some people seem to lap it up...until it affects them personally.

[Warpy]

3. Nixon got in and the Democrats gave up

because they knew they'd lost the south. Eventually, the DLC weaseled their way in on a tide of Koch money, promising to counteract the southern strategy of playing to the bigots by running conservative politicians.

We all see just how well that has worked out.