Louis Bromfield, November 23, 1941
“Revolution brings about quicker change at the cost of considerable sacrifice, where as evolution traditionally leaves undesirable traces of the ages from which it emerges. Democracy in the United States and communism in Russia are moving from opposite poles toward the solution of problems that individuals in both countries heartily want solved. A more ideal form of government will come from the trial and error through which both governments are passing in this period of emergency.
“After the present war is over, the United States will find it essential to participate in a ‘new world union,’ if for no other reason than that its agricultural products and industries will be needed to reconstruct the social order. After that, the United States will have to continue its new relationship to the rest of the world in order to protect its interests.
“Being well off is the worst thing that can happen to a democracy. There has been no such thing as honest prosperity in the United States since the Civil War; we merely have had a succession of boom periods.
“Greed and waste are two of the most pressing problems confronting the United States. National optimism regarding the country’s resources is carried to the point where those resources are threatened.”
