In response to President Bush's comparison of his resolve to Franklin D. Roosevelt's ("Bush: Iraq's Oil Must be Kept From Terrorists," Aug. 31), I offer a history lesson courtesy of Thom Hartmann in his recent book, "What Would Jefferson Do?"
"Today, as we face financial and political crises, it's useful to remember that the ravages of the Great Depression hit Germany and the U.S. alike. Through the 1930s, however, Adolf Hitler and Roosevelt chose very different courses to bring their nations back to power and prosperity.
"Germany's response was to use government to empower corporations and reward society's richest individuals, privatize much of the commons, stifle dissent, strip people of constitutional rights, and create an illusion of prosperity through continual and ever-expanding war. America passed minimum-wage laws to raise the middle class, enforced antitrust laws to diminish the power of corporations, increased taxes on corporations and the wealthiest individuals, created Social Security, and through the WPA became the employer of last resort through programs to build national infrastructure, promote the arts, and replant forests."
President Bush should aspire to be as much like Roosevelt as he possibly can.
Brian Brown, Dubuque.
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