What would Theodore Roosevelt think of today's Republicans?

Question

THEODORE ROOSEVELT, PROGRESSIVE REPUBLICAN
(1911)

ON LABOR RIGHTS AND BEING CALLED A COMMUNIST
"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."

"If that remark was original with me, I should be even more strongly denounced as a communist agitator than I shall be anyhow. It is Lincoln's. I am only quoting it; and that is one side; that is the side the capitalist should hear. Now, let the workingman hear his side."

ON CORPORATIONS
"The Constitution guarantees protection to property, and we must make that promise good. But it does not give the right of suffrage to any corporation."

ON THE GRADUATED INCOME AND INHERITANCE TAX
"The absence of effective state, and, especially, national, restraint upon unfair money getting has tended to create a small class of enormously wealthy and economically powerful men, whose chief object is to hold and increase their power... No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned. Every dollar received should represent a dollar's worth of service rendered -- not gambling in stocks, but service rendered. The really big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the mere fact of its size acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively small means."

"Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and in another tax which is far more easily collected and far more effective -- a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against evasion and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate."

"One of the chief factors in progress is the destruction of special privilege. The essence of any struggle for healthy liberty has always been, and must always be, to take from some one man or class of men the right to enjoy power, or wealth, or position, or immunity, which has not been earned by service to his or their fellows. That is what you fought for in the Civil War, and that is what we strive for now."

ON ENVIRONMENTALISM
"Of conservation I shall speak more at length elsewhere. Conservation means development as much as it does protection. I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us. I ask nothing of the nation except that it so behave as each farmer here behaves with reference to his own children. That farmer is a poor creature who skins the land and leaves it worthless to his children. The farmer is a good farmer who, having enabled the land to support himself and to provide for the education of his children, leaves it to them a little better than he found it himself. I believe the same thing of a nation.

ON LABOR RIGHTS (MINIMUM WAGE, SHORTER WORK WEEK, WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACTS, REGULATION OF CHILD LABOR, SANITARY STANDARDS, WORK SAFETY AND JOB TRAINING)
No man can be a good citizen unless he has a wage more than sufficient to cover the bare cost of living, and hours of labor short enough so that after his day's work is done he will have time and energy to bear his share in the management of the community, to help in carrying the general load. We keep countless men from being good citizens by the conditions of life with which we surround them. We need comprehensive workmen's compensation acts, both state and national laws to regulate child labor and work for women, and, especially, we need in our common schools not merely education in book learning, but also practical training for daily life and work. We need to enforce better sanitary conditions for our workers and to extend the use of safety appliances for our workers in industry and commerce, both within and between the states.

ON PUBLIC WELFARE
"The object of government is the welfare of the people. The material progress and prosperity of a nation are desirable chiefly so far as they lead to the moral and material welfare of all good citizens."

"The fundamental thing to do for every man is to give him a chance to reach a place in which he will make the greatest possible contribution to the public welfare. Understand what I say there. Give him a chance, not push him up if he will not be pushed. Help any man who stumbles; if he lies down, it is a poor job to try to carry him; but if he is a worthy man, try your best to see that he gets a chance to show the worth that is in him."

" The man who wrongly holds that every human right is secondary to his profit must now give way to the advocate of human welfare, who rightly maintains that every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it."

ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL REGARDLESS OF THE SOCIAL CLASS YOU WERE BORN INTO
"Practical equality of opportunity for all citizens, when we achieve it, will have two great results. First, every man will have a fair chance to make of himself all that in him lies; to reach the highest point to which his capacities, unassisted by special privilege of his own and unhampered by the special privilege of others, can carry him, and to get for himself and his family substantially what he has earned. Second, equality of opportunity means that the commonwealth will get from every citizen the highest service of which he is capable. No man who carries the burden of the special privileges of another can give to the commonwealth that service to which it is fairly entitled.

ON REGULATION OF BIG BUSINESS
It has become entirely clear that we must have government supervision of the capitalization, not only of public service corporations, including, particularly, railways, but of all corporations doing an interstate business. I do not wish to see the nation forced into the ownership of the railways if it can possibly be avoided, and the only alternative is thoroughgoing and effective regulation, which shall be based on a full knowledge of all the facts, including a physical valuation of property.

ALL THIS FROM JUST ONE SPEECH
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/democrac/31.htm

nature lover,

I accidently recc'd your totally clueless post. Franklin Roosevelt was an admirer of the policies of Theodore Roosvelt. How exactly did FDR destroy what Theodore Roosevelt stood for?

Answer 1

Theodore Roosevelt was probably one of the best President's in the 20th Century. He was one of the most honest and non-corrupt Presidents we have ever had. He would probably be ashamed out how the Republicans today are sucking up to corporations.

Answer 2

Theodore Roosevelt, in my opinion, was the greatest Republican second only to Abe Lincoln. In some ways TR was greater than Lincoln. Today's Republican politicians can't even come close to either of these great men. The only Republican in my life time that might would be Eisenhower.

To Nature Lover: Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt were cousins. Theo lived long enough to know the way his cousin thought and admired him. They thought alot alike on many issues. With your avitar name you should also know that Teddy Roosevelt was the most environmentally concious president we've ever had. He would be disgusted with the policies of his beloved GOP today on that issue too.

Answer 3

Yeah and we had what? 1% income tax? And a federal government small enough to fit in a side wing of the department of education. I'm guessing quite a few politicians from the past would change their mind were they to see things today. Hell Washington, Jefferson, etc. would be advocating outright revolt.

Answer 4

Research his speech on what being an American means, not immigrants demanding to be coddled in their own culture and tongue and refusing to be a part of the "melting pot" of our society. He would go after the big oil companies and gas vendors that neither dems nor reps have the testicular fortitude nor honesty to confront over the continual gas price gouging, starting by slapping teh hands of politicians taking oil money. AND cut off all this "global warming" alternative energy schemes that is just another big cash corporate cow paid for by teh taxpayers. AND cut off all food imports that are not 100% guarranteed safe, no imports made by places with lower standards of enviromental regulation, labor practices, etc. than what we have here in teh USA, that would give American companies and American workers a chance to compete with foreign ones. No government contracts to companies employing illegal immigrants, PERIOD. Treason should be regarded as treason not as "espionage", whether corporate or military. Illegal immigration is a FELONY, a "anchor baby" is an accessory to a felony, and therefore does not deserve native status if the mother is here illegally. No more forgiving foreign debt when we go 3 billion deeper in foreign debt by the day. When some politician sticks pork in a bill he wants the President to sign, the President should list each and everyone on TV so the American public can understand where their money is going. When foreign countries rail against us in the UN or world stage, they have no excuse to be taking my hard earned tax dollars. If France wants to have a 10% stake in iran's nuclear program, then they can pay 10% of whatever harm Iran does with nukes, and we need a President with the balls to tell them so, publically. Same for any other country investing in it. Hold people and countries accountable for what they enable. The more our government collects, the more it will spend. If that wasn't true then we wouldn't have a social security system about to implode. No one gets to be President unless already a millionaire, why are we paying them and their expenses after they leave office? Security detail makes sense, but that's it. Same for all the congress and senators, they don't have to file their own taxes, supply their own insurance, transportation, etc. how would they "feel our pain"? Until the budget is balanced and national debt paid off there should be NO pay raises in Washington. And the District of Columbia was set up to be non-partisan, that is why it has no representation. Convicted felons gave up their right to vote when they chose to act criminally. Driving is a privilege, not a right, and it isn't automatically guarranteed to anyone who comes into the country, legal or not. Release all border guards now rotting in prison for doing their job, when someone shoots a drug dealer, you give them a commendation not a jail sentence. When tehy go after someone like Mark Foley (which I supported them doing) they should hold up next to his a photo of democrats and their offenses and ask why there is a double standard of ethics? Murtha showed in the ABSCAM scandal he was willing to sell out the USA, he was just to slick to physically take the cash himself, Bush did a piddling job or he would have reminded everyone of that. And Libby and Gonzalez need to be booted for their cover up of the sexual molestation of boys in the Texas boys school, not for firing 8 stupid lawyers without democrat blessings. And he knew that taking guns away from law abiding citizens didn't make criminals act better, but worse, as he did his own stint as a lawman. he also knew that rewarding conutries like Iran for hostage taking, will only lead to more, the "big stick" would have already fallen. And Najaf would be on the target list, too, it will be a part in bad events to come as part of the mahdi army end timesprophecy BS, which explains why Iran wants nukes.

Answer 5

Roosevelt would have became an independent when he saw the stupidity greed corruption and bs that is in all modern politicians

Answer 6

Teddy obviously had zero understanding of economics. I knew that already though - he "busted the trusts" even though trust-controlled commodity prices had declined faster than the prices of commodities not controlled by trusts over the prior 40 years.

Answer 7

To be honest I think he would piss off both sides! A great man!

Answer 8

He would be aghast, so aghast that Bloomberg would have very stiff competition.

Answer 9

He would have been appalled at FDR who destroyed all he talks about,.

Answer 10

He would think that they have been gutless in fighting the war in Iraq.