logoalt Hacker News

mothballedyesterday at 9:45 PM2 repliesview on HN

FDR essentially pioneered the modern use of the omnibus bill by threatening to veto any assistance to the poor/elderly that didn't include social security. Basically his goal was to make the poor starve if social security didn't pass, and blackmail politicians into being forced to vote for it.

Of course this was all predicated on the other prong, which was the 'switch in time that saved 9' where he also threatened to pack the courts to ensure it was found 'constitutional'. FDR was quite ruthless in his destruction of constitutional and democratic controls, and now so much of our government depends on it that it's effectively politically impossible to unwind.


Replies

dmixyesterday at 10:07 PM

FDR also bullied Congress into passing laws and threatened their individual reelections using his cult of personality the same way Trump has been doing for a decade now to keep the moderates and fiscal conservatives in his party from making any noise.

doomslayer999yesterday at 10:11 PM

By far the worst president in history, who should have been hung for treason against the constitution.