Our day was really hectic. Once we got into the city, we picked up a local expert who gave us a tour. He was really good and was chock full of information. Huh, I guess if you're going to be a "local expert" then you gotta be stuffed to the brim with information. Anyway, one of our first stops of the day was to another memorial. This time it was the FDR Memorial and it was one of my favorites. Like many of the other memorials, they had engraved a bunch of quotes on the walls/floor. The FDR Memorial had a lot more than some of the other memorials, but then again, he was in office for a long time and therefore had tons of opportunities to say memorable things. Then again, he was also in office for a long time because he said memorable things. Anyway, I took a picture of one of my favorite FDR quotes:

Visiting all of these memorials that were dedicated to honoring the many great men of our history actually made me sad. We used to have so many great leaders leading our nation and now...well, now we have Bush. When I was in my last semester of my undergraduate studies, I was lucky enough to take a fabulous US History class with a fabulous teacher who really made me think. One day she asked the class if we thought that the government should be allowed to restrict the rights of thousands of people based on nothing more than their skin color (this was in 2001 when the government was pretending that the Bill of Rights did not apply to their citizens who were Middle Eastern...oh wait, that's still going on). Being opinionated, I raised my hand and said no and that our nation would be taking a step backward if we allowed the government to do so. Anyway, I saw this quote at the memorial (but for some reason, I don't have a picture of it):
"We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all our citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization."
I read this quote and I laughed out loud. We have taken so many steps backward as a nation under Bush. What would these great leaders of our nation think of us if they were still alive?