Work in progress — cycles are added one at a time. Every quote is machine-verified against an archived source; follow the links to read it.

Immediately extend the merit system to all non-policy-making federal positions — Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936

Similar by rationale solution · rationale

Score	Cycle	Candidate	Issue	Position
0.43	1932	Herbert Hoover	Public ownership of electric power	Federal regulation of interstate power; opposition to government operation of the power business
0.39	1936	Frank Knox	How to finance old-age and unemployment insurance (contributory reserve vs. pay-as-you-go)	The Social Security Act is 'unworkable and unsound' -- 'lip service to security'; a Republican administration would offer its own legislation
0.38	1936	Alf Landon	Unemployment insurance	Leave unemployment insurance to State experiment; no federal tax to compel it
0.37	1932	Herbert Hoover	Regulation of securities issuance and exchanges	No federal 'blue sky' law — securities regulation belongs to the states, and the President should not police booms
0.36	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Benefits for disabled and service-connected veterans	Full justice and generosity for veterans disabled by actual wartime service — silence on the bonus
0.36	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	How to finance old-age and unemployment insurance (contributory reserve vs. pay-as-you-go)	Defense of the payroll-tax financing: the employer pays an equal share and the reserves are safe
0.36	1932	Albert C. Ritchie	Federal responsibility for relief	States' rights and business-led recovery — no federal intervention in relief
0.36	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Public works as employment policy	Expand self-sustaining public works and temporary federal work (forests, flood control, waterways), with advance planning
0.35	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Old-age pensions and social insurance	Build on the Social Security Act toward economic security for all
0.34	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Sickness and health insurance	Sickness insurance as a "minimum requirement" alongside old-age and unemployment insurance
0.33	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Direct relief for the unemployed	Provide useful work at prevailing wages for the needy unemployed rather than a dole
0.33	1932	Herbert Hoover	Short-term and marketing credit for agriculture	Restore short-term farm credit through the new agricultural credit corporations, RFC loans to processors and financing of export sales
0.32	1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Concentrated economic power vs. the average citizen (rhetorical framing)	'I welcome their hatred': a second term in which organized money meets its master
0.32	1932	Herbert Hoover	Overall role and scale of the federal government	Preserve 'ordered freedom' and equality of opportunity; reject a state-controlled or state-directed economy as 'tyranny'
0.32	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Tariff levels	A "competitive" tariff set through a scientific Tariff Commission, with anti-log-rolling rules and a public counsel
0.31	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Regulation of securities issuance and exchanges	Require full public disclosure on all offerings of stocks and bonds
0.31	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Public ownership of electric power	The next federal hydro-electric development will be on the Columbia River
0.31	1932	Alfred E. Smith	Overall role and scale of the federal government	War on any candidate who makes 'demagogic appeals to the masses' setting class against class
0.31	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	National economic planning	Industry leaders to organize cooperatively for the common good; government regulates only as a last resort
0.31	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Restriction of immigration	Continue immigration restriction to protect labor, but end abuses against individual families in enforcement
0.30	1936	Alf Landon	Equal rights and opportunity for Black Americans	Equal opportunity for colored citizens: protect their economic status and personal safety; further their employment
0.29	1932	Herbert Hoover	Federal responsibility for relief	Relief through voluntary mobilization and local responsibility, with RFC loans to exhausted states — no federal dole
0.29	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Overall role and scale of the federal government	Remove government from private enterprise except public works and natural resources
0.29	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Public employment offices	A federally coordinated system of state employment offices (the vetoed Wagner bill)
0.29	1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	Regulation of securities issuance and exchanges	Federal regulation of securities and commodity exchanges, interstate holding companies and interstate utility rates