If you believe the federal government plays too large a role in our lives, blame the presidential election of 1936.
That was one of the themes of today’s John Locke Foundation Headliner speech from Amity Shlaes, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Shlaes covers the ’36 race in her recent book The Forgotten Man.
Shlaes says Democrat Franklin Roosevelt secured a massive re-election landslide over Republican Gov. Alf Landon by focusing on the federal government as a means to serve interest groups that offer votes to the party in power.
3:45 p.m. update: Watch the entire speech here.
