No government can help the destinies of people who insist in

"No government can help the destinies of people who insist in putting sectional and class consciousness ahead of general weal." — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Hear now, O children of the republic, the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt, spoken in the midst of turmoil and trial. These words, like tempered steel, were forged in the fires of the Great Depression, when the world itself seemed to falter and crumble under the weight of its own divisions. When Roosevelt said, “No government can help the destinies of people who insist in putting sectional and class consciousness ahead of general weal,” he was not speaking only of politics — he was speaking of the very soul of a nation. He warned that a people torn apart by selfishness and envy, by division between rich and poor, north and south, worker and owner, cannot prosper, no matter how wise their rulers or how vast their wealth.

Roosevelt understood that government is not a savior, but a servant, and its power depends on the unity of those it governs. When a people cease to see themselves as one body, when they begin to think only of their class, their region, their faction, then the heart of the nation weakens. The “general weal,” the common good, is the breath of a healthy society. Without it, every law becomes a contest, every reform a weapon, every institution a fortress of suspicion. Roosevelt saw that no leader, no system, no plan could rescue a divided people — for the strength of a country lies not in its government, but in the bond that ties its citizens together in shared purpose.

In his time, the wounds of the Great Depression had exposed the raw divisions within America. The wealthy sought to guard what remained of their fortunes; the poor demanded justice and bread; industry and labor stood at odds, each seeing the other as enemy rather than ally. Roosevelt, a man of privilege who became a champion of the common man, understood that prosperity could not be rebuilt upon bitterness. He called upon all classes to lay aside their grievances and to labor together — for a government cannot lift those who refuse to lift one another. His New Deal was not merely a program of recovery, but a call to shared responsibility, a summons to restore faith not just in government, but in one another.

This truth has echoed through the ages. In ancient Greece, the city of Athens flourished when its citizens worked for the good of the polis, when rich and poor alike saw themselves as part of a single destiny. But when greed and factional strife grew — when each class sought power at the expense of the other — the city fell into chaos and tyranny. So too, in the Roman Republic, the plebeians and patricians once stood together against external foes; yet as wealth widened the gulf between them, Rome turned from republic to empire, and from empire to ruin. Thus, Roosevelt’s warning is not new — it is as old as civilization itself: a house divided cannot stand.

In his wisdom, Roosevelt did not condemn ambition or success; he condemned selfishness disguised as justice. He knew that each person, each class, must seek prosperity — but not at the cost of the nation’s soul. To put “sectional and class consciousness ahead of general weal” is to poison the well from which all drink. When the worker despises the employer, and the employer forgets the dignity of the worker; when one region hoards its wealth and another languishes in neglect — then no policy, no act of Congress, no presidential decree can heal that wound. Only unity of purpose, born from the recognition of shared fate, can save such a people.

Look to our own age, and you will see his prophecy alive once more. Nations crumble not from lack of resources, but from lack of solidarity. The world is rich in tools, knowledge, and power — yet poor in compassion. The loudest voices are those of factions; the quietest, those of conscience. We forget that the destinies of the few and the many are bound together — that to raise one part of society while despising another is to build a ship where half is sinking and half is dry. Roosevelt’s wisdom cries out across time: a people must be strong together, or they will fail apart.

So, my friends, let this lesson be etched upon your hearts: serve the common good before the private gain. Strive for success, but never forget your neighbor. Let the farmer honor the teacher, the laborer respect the merchant, and the merchant remember the laborer’s toil. Guard against bitterness that divides, for every wall we build between ourselves weakens the foundations of our freedom. Government may guide and govern, but the destiny of a people rests in their hands — in their compassion, their unity, their willingness to place the general weal above the pride of class and creed. For only when all rise together, do we truly rise at all.