Déjà vu

On the 31st of October 1936, three days before the 1936 US presidential election, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered a speech at Madison Square Garden, in which he spoke about the battles his administration had, and was, fighting.

"We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace, - business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organised money is just as dangerous as Government by organised mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me‚ and I welcome their hatred."

Roosevelt went on to win 523 of the 531 electoral votes in the 1936 election with his Republican opponent, Alf Landon, winning just 8 votes.

The animosity between President Roosevelt and the financial industry was partly a result of his signing into law the 1933 Glass–Steagall Banking Act. The banking reforms contained within the act were designed to control the speculation which led to the great depression. For 70 years the world experienced steady and sustained growth, but starting in the early 80's the banking industry lobbied the US government seeking the repeal of the Banking act, finally getting their wish in 1999, and many believe that its repeal was one of the major factors in the global financial crisis that followed less than 10 years later.

With us now just 3 days from the 2011 Irish general election we again have national economies in tatters thanks to speculation, and we again have banks opposed to the introduction of banking reform. But sadly we no longer appear to have politicians with the foresight to stand up to financial industry by even suggesting that the greater good might not be served by allowing those that have wronged us to continue on their course.

Is there a politician left here in Europe who could stand up and announce, to public ovation, that he welcomed the hatred of those with money? Is there even a public who would applaud such a speech?

Regardless of what the morally, and financially, bankrupt banks may claim, proper financial regulation was key to sustained economic well being, and I fear that it is to the detriment of the working and middle classes, and ultimately us all, that we don't have politicians of FDR's calibre to stand up and be hated.

Roll on Friday, the election, a new government, and maybe even, a future.