Is that the best you can do?
You're just attacking the author, on purely partisan lines, and saying nothing to respond to the substance. Just as Dean didn't originate the concept of authoritarian conservatism, Alter didn't originate the notion that America was at a crossroads when FDR took office, and could easily have done the Full Mussolini. Sniping about "socialism" is meaningless next to the distinct possibility that we could have had a literal and total dictatorship. FDR had the opportunity and wisely refused to succumb to the temptation of absolute power.