By Leonard Swidler
dialogue@Temple.edu

A Word to Later Generations from One Member of
“The Greatest Generation”
My impression is that from the beginning of the Great Depression (1929…) the Republican Party has moved far from its intellectual and moral origins and 1st President—Abraham Lincoln!

From the beginning of the 20th century and onward, it has increasingly become the party of the super-rich—who gave us the world-wide disaster of the 1929 Great Depression, and Fascism after that.

Thank God for President Franklin Roosevelt and the Democratic Party shaped in his mentality.
Image credit: public domain.
Now, the Republican party has abandoned the mentality of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and descended into darkness, and is in the clutches of a destructive quasi-fascist—who is best left unnamed.

Of course, if any party stays in power too long, it will begin to lose its altruism and increasingly lean towards “ego-ism.”
However, in my view, not only the U.S., but also much of the globe very much now needs to move away from right-wing parties, which are sliding—or even rushing!—more and more in a Fascist direction. e.g.: Brazil, Turkey, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Pakistan, Philippines, Iran, Saudi Arabia, most of the “Stans,” much of Africa—plus China and India!
With just China and India moving farther and farther in the Direction of Dictatorship there are almost 2.5 Billion people out of the world’s 7.3 Billion under the thrall of increasing dictatorship.
The Greatest Generation had to drag the entire globe back out of the abyss of Dictatorship toward Freedom/Responsibility/Democracy. But at what cost! OMG!

“Washington 020”
Memorial to “The Greatest Generation”
Image by Joel Kramer
Under License CC BY 2.0
My disappearing WWII “Greatest Generation” is almost gone now—and me with it. The successor generations have to take up the responsibility of leading the world back from the Black Hole of Dictatorship toward greater Democracy:
A Choice of the D’s:
Dictatorship or Democracy!

Professor Leonard Swidler is a global theologian who has pioneered and contributed to the field of interfaith Dialogue for more than 50 years. Read more about Professor Swidler here:
For more reads from iPub Global Connection and Professor Swidler, check out Walls to Bridges: The Global Ethic and Authentic Humanity: The Human Quest for Reality and Truth.