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Back to To the Point

To the Point

What President Obama Could Learn from FDR

"The bill opens the door and invites the entrance into the political field of a power so vast, so powerful as to threaten the integrity of our institutions and to pull the pillars of the temple down upon the heads of our descendents." Not an attack on healthcare reform , it's what a New York congressman said 75 years ago about Social Security .

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By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

"The bill opens the door and invites the entrance into the political field of a power so vast, so powerful as to threaten the integrity of our institutions and to pull the pillars of the temple down upon the heads of our descendents." Not an attack on

healthcare reform, it's what a New York congressman said 75 years ago about

Social Security. President Roosevelt's proposal was branded as one that would establish a government bureaucracy that would drive private insurance companies out of business. Is there a lesson here for President Obama?

Nancy Altman is author of

The Battle for Social Security: From FDR's Vision to Bush's Gamble.

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Warren Olney

    former KCRW broadcaster

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Rebecca Mooney

    Producer, The Treatment

  • Sonya Geis with wavy brown hair wearing a black dress with red accents and decorative earrings against a white background.

    Sonya Geis

    Senior Managing Editor

  • KCRW placeholder

    Nancy Altman

    Social Security Works

    NewsNationalPolitics
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