It simply is not possible to post all the things that need to be said, though others have said those things before and often better than your not so humble blogger can muster.

So, again, in a week of great importance to our country, not simply to take its first steps toward meeting our commitments to one another's health, but to reaffirm who we are as a people, we turn to those voices from our past.

If you have read other things posted under this name, you may have seen some of these before as, of course, your own studies of our nation's history done without the assistance of Texas educational boards, is likely to have presented these words to you before. They are well worth another reading.

So today's guest blogger is Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a man born to enormous privilege, who overcame a terrible illness to become the greatest president our country has ever had. This is from his famous "Four Freedoms" speech: the State of the Union speech in 1941 as we approached an apocalyptic war, but one when the President also felt to be the right time to remind Americans of who we are:

The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:

Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.

Jobs for those who can work.

Security for those who need it.

The ending of special privilege for the few.

The preservation of civil liberties for all.

The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

These are the simple, basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations.

Many subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement. As examples:

We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care.

We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it.

I have called for personal sacrifice. I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call.