Then:

“This morning I came, I saw and I was conquered, as everyone would be who sees for the first time this great feat of mankind.”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, September 30, 1935, at a speech marking the dedication of what was then called the Boulder Dam (now the Hoover Dam), a project which opened two years ahead of schedule.

Now:

“You will never see another federal dam.”

Deanna Archuleta, President Obama’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior, in front of a Las Vegas audience in November 2009.

Put aside the question of whether it’s a good idea for the federal government to be building hydroelectric dams, as that is in fact a valid question. Ask yourself instead whether it’s at all possible to be inspired by today’s Left, which refuses to build a dam or a pipeline, build a stone monument in the hills, put a man in space or engage in any of the great public projects which it regales our schoolchildren with as proof of the greatness of the Republic.

Instead, that Left insists upon using the resources of a far larger government to redistribute wealth from the young to the old, the rich – or more to the point the aspiring rich – to the poor, the productive to the unproductive.

And then ask yourself exactly what about this Left is worthy of support from the general public.

Hat tip: Mark Steyn, who referenced the two quotes in his new book After America: Get Ready for Armageddon.