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This passage is adapted from a speech delivered by President Franklin Roosevelt on January 6, 1941, to the United States Congress. In the passage, Roosevelt reveals his intention to preserve and spread American ideals around the world.
The Nation takes great satisfaction and much strength from the things which have been done to make its people conscious of their individual stake in the preservation of democratic life in America.(5) Those things have toughened the fibre of our people, have renewed their faith and strengthened their de- votion to the institutions we make ready to protect. Certainly this is no time for any of us to stop thinking about the social and economic problems(10) which are the root cause of the social revolution which is today a supreme factor in the world. For there is nothing mysterious about the founda- tions of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and(15) economic systems are simple. They are: • Equality of opportunity for youth and for others. • Jobs for those who can work. • Security for those who need it. • The ending of special privilege for the few.(20) • The preservation of civil liberties for all. • The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living. These are the simple, basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable com-(25) plexity of our modern world. The inner and abid- ing strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations. Many subjects connected with our social econo-(30) my call for immediate improvement. As examples: • We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance. • We should widen the opportunities for adequate(35) medical care. • We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it. I have called for personal sacrifice. I am as-(40) sured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call. A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my Budget Message I shall recommend that a greater portion of this great de-(45) fense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying today. No person should try, or be allowed, to get rich out of this program; and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation.(50) If the Congress maintains these principles, the voters, putting patriotism ahead of pocketbooks, will give you their applause. In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four(55) essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression— everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—everywhere in the world.(60) The third is freedom from want—which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants—every- where in the world.(65) The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a posi- tion to commit an act of physical aggression against(70) any neighbor—anywhere in the world. That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of(75) tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb. To that new order we oppose the greater conception—the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and(80) foreign revolutions alike without fear. Since the beginning of our American history, we have been engaged in change—in a perpetual peaceful revolution—a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly adjusting itself to changing(85) conditions—without the concentration camp or the quick-lime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society. This nation has placed its destiny in the hands(90) and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guid- ance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of hu- man rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights or keep them.(95) Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept there can be no end save victory.
In lines 71-73 (“That is no…generation”), President Roosevelt is most likely responding to what implicit counterclaim to his own argument?
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