Posted on 05/04/2010 5:29:11 AM PDT by Old Teufel Hunden
It is remarkable that Theodore Roosevelt (TR to his friends), who has been beloved as an iconic patriot and president, would become a controversial figure today.
This unusual development is largely due to the rise of Glenn Beck.
Glenn has been right on many issues and his views are resonating with Main Street.
But he is wrong on one big issue: Theodore Roosevelt is not, as he claims, the root cause of President Obama’s intrusive, “big government” policies.
It is no accident that TR’s face is chiseled into Mount Rushmore along with those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, as he is rightly regarded by historians as one of the greatest presidents in American history.
He was raised to that height in the national consciousness by the weight of important achievements that significantly advanced the interests of the United States.
Strong in this belief, I have found Glenn Beck’s criticism of TR surprising.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
I like to think that if TR were alive today, he would be right out front at a tea party event pounding his fist and railing against this current government.
Beck’s right on this one. Roosevelt was a progressive. He deeply distrusted business and worked hard to move the Republican party to the left. I’m not sure why Newsmax is ignoring his record.
Unfortunately, TR let the Tax genie out of the bottle with his lack of foresight and his childish, idealistic “progressivism.”. It doesn’t matter how much he might regret his mistake; we’re now condemned to pay the price.
If it were up to me, we’d erase his face from Rushmore and replace it with Ronald Reagan’s.
Did you read the article? Are you against child labor laws? Is that being socialist?
I agree, mostly, with Beck.
TR, far more than Lincoln, who is so often blamed, is responsible for the idea that the government is responsible for fixing our problems. While TR no doubt would be appalled by today’s intrusive government, once the idea has been accepted that “when people hurt, the government must move,” there is no logical stopping point short of full totalitarisnism.
After Lincoln, and especially after the end of Reconstruction, the federal government returned to a limited role not utterly dissimilar to what it was before the War.
Since TR the federal government has continually expanded in both size and mission. Even presidents like Coolidge and Reagan were able only to slow its growth, not reverse it.
I also have no idea why anyone at FR would care one way or another what any of these media billionaires has to say.
Right on buddy! Right on!
” I’m not sure why Newsmax is ignoring his record.”
Because most Republicans are not for small government.
“Theodore Rex” is another great read.
Hoist by his own petard.
If one always "acts according to the practical needs of the occasion," it seems pretty obvious that one will constantly be expanding the role of government, as that is in general the most obvious way of dealing with any problem. A true conservative recognizes that some problems are the price we must pay for limited government, thereby avoiding the problems caused by unlimited government. This analysis leaves out the obvious issue that expanding the government to deal with "the practical needs of the occasion" seldom is all that effective at actually solving those needs.
"Making America strong and No. 1 on the world stage" is a defensible goal, but it also quite obviously requires a government that in size and scope is far beyond that envisioned by the Founders.
I expect to be dead in 100 years. However, if policies I supported while living turned out to have bad consequences, those suffering the consequences could legitimately "blame" me.
Yes, you do. There is enough human history to know that government expands as much as possible and abuses any powers given. That's why the founders didn't allow for a national sales tax or a national income tax.
I think a lot of freepers would like to see either a flat tax or national sales tax implemented with the elimination of the income tax.
Some of us want to see the 16th amendment repealed and the income tax replaced with nothing. Return to having the government doing what was given to it to do in article 1, secion 8 of the US constitution and they don't need much money at all. What they need they can get off constitutional funds sources.
Well, yes it is.
It's a type of socialism, as with Social Security and many other policies, that has been accepted by most Americans, including myself, as the article says.
But that doesn't make these policies of government intervention into private businesses and lives any less socialistic, it just means we have grown used to many socialistic policies.
I have no idea why this loud mouth would earn 42 million dollars annually.
Oh, so you feel like he's earned enough money already?
TR was correct about big business. If you do not keep an eye on them they will corrupt officials and cheat the people. Look what happen in Wall Street. Selling mortgage backed securities to investors as AAA investments and at the same time betting against them with options (indicating they knew the MBS were financially unsound). Then go overseas and help the Greek government hide their deficit spending. Do you know how many pro US former East European bloc nations are financially underminded by Wall Street who sold them shaky mortgage backed securities to their banks and pension funds??!!!! Russia loves it, and the former Communist opposition parties chumping at the bit for an election loves it also.
Bingo! The winner! Most Republicans are all for liberty when it comes to themselves, but they don't want liberty for their neighbors. In fact, they often want the government to regulate, sometimes literally at the point of a gun, their neighbors actions. Thus, they grow government because they don't like what some people are doing. Just like leftists in the Democrat party.
“However, if 100 years from now, that were distorted into something we never intended it to be, do we take the blame? “
If you support something that supports the monstrous leviathan that is the federal government, you are very much to blame. These tax schemes are meant to maintain current levels of revenue and current level of government. The income tax was just as wrong in 1913 as it is today. Those who instituted it are much worse than those who now go along with it. The first had to take much initiative to get the job done.
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