Genesis of the "NO" Logo
In history there have been two basic forms of social organization: collectivism and individualism. In the 20th and 21st century, collective variations have included socialism, fascism, Nazism, and communism. Under collectivism, a ruling class of “intellectuals”, bureaucrats, politicians and/or social planners decides what people want or what is “good” for society and then uses the coercive power of the State to regulate, tax and redistribute wealth in an attempt to achieve their desired objectives. Individualism is a political and social philosophy that emphasizes individual liberty, belief in the primary importance of the individual and in the virtues of self-reliance and personal independence and responsibility. It embraces opposition to controls over the individual when exercised by the state. The Preamble to our Constitution makes it plain that all power rests originally with the people, as individuals.
The “O” within the circle represents collectivism in its various forms. The “N” represents an emphatic repudiation of collectivism. The red, white and blue circles encompassing the “NO” are emblematic of our Republic. It is the responsibility of the individuals in an engaged and enlightened republic to limit the influence of the government, especially one that attempts to wield power outside the boundaries delineated by the Constitution.
Henry Morgenthau was a close friend of Franklin Roosevelt,and FDR appointed Morgenthau as Secretary of the Treasury in 1933. By 1939, the New Deal was into its seventh year, and the Great Depression continued.
On May 9, 1939, Morgenthau met with the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee in a private meeting of Democrat leaders. Morgenthau included a transcript of the meeting in his “diary,” which was a hodgepodge of documents, memoranda, and diary entries that became thousands of pages by the time Morgenthau left office in 1945.
Morgenthau’s diary is on microfilm at the Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York. On microfilm roll #50 of the Morgenthau Diary, readers will find the transcript of Morgenthau’s now-famous quote, on frame #41 from the May 9th meeting:
“Now, gentlemen, we have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work.”
