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I like how the modern liberals have revised history to make him a progressive hero. Much like JFK who almost sounds like a Tea Party radical when you go back and read his speeches.
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Originally posted by racrguyOriginally posted by racrguy -
This. Cool dude right there. I can only wish to pass on with half the stories he does...Originally posted by Sean88gt View PostComment
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Not impressedComment
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He also gave an entire speech with a bullet in his chestComment
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Anyone in modern times like this would just be considered a lucky rich boy who can't hold down a job for a reasonable amount of time. Dohctr if you will.
Just a different perspective...Comment
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These colors don't run.Comment
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OK I have not done a ton of reading on him anyone have a good book to point me in the right direction.Half of history is hiding the past.Comment
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Dohctor seems to like profits and individual rights, though. TR hated both of those things.Originally posted by Ruffdaddy View PostI don't like Republicans, but I really FUCKING hate Democrats.
Sex with an Asian woman is great, but 30 minutes later you're horny again.Comment
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Indeed. I do like TR though. Youngest President we have ever had.Originally posted by LANTIRN View Post
But his family was not rich, they were fucking ridiculously loaded.Originally posted by lincolnboyComment
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It depends on what you like to read. His title subjects range a bit. I liked his book on some of his hunting experiences.Originally posted by silverhatch View Post"It's another burrito, it's a cold Lone Star in my hand!"Comment
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I don't agree with some of his decisions and policy as president, but you can not deny the strength of the man's character. Until he really took a turn in the progressive direction he was fucking rad all around.
Like Sean said, he'd be a trip to have a beer with - as a man he was badass, but as a leader of a nation I think he was a bit off his rocker.
He was the first president to basically say, "I'm going to do whatever I want as long as I'm not forbidden by law." He did not lead by the constitution as past presidents but he ruled by "we the people" logic and was basically letting the population hold him accountable (sound familiar?)
Progressivism also meant moving beyond the “shopworn” protection of individual rights, especially property rights. Because these rights were grounded in a permanent view of human nature as essentially self-interested, Roosevelt concluded that the whole idea of natural rights was scientifically wrong and morally obsolete. Evolution meant that there was no such thing as a fixed human nature; human beings could progress beyond their selfish individualism. Roosevelt’s goal was to move Americans beyond purely “legal” justice toward a higher, more “ethical” justice where citizens thought less about their individual rights and more about rights “developed in duty.
That's some bullshit.
He also believed that the right to property could only be justified if it benefited the community, and that he could bring about social justice via redistribution. He was strongly against Marxism and it's advocationof violent revolution and eventual dissolution of government, but the slow progressive movement into what he perceived to be some sort of "democratic socialist" utopia was the endgame. If he were alive today he'd say things like, "the living constitution."
Also bullshit.
But at the same time, what that logic led him to do for the newborn conservation movement was unprecedented and will never be rivaled, and on that basis alone he'll stay on my hero list.
- created the U.S. Forest Service
- established 51 Federal Bird Reservations
- established 4 National Game Preserves
- established 150 National Forests
- established 5 National Parks
- enabled the 1906 American Antiquities Act which he used to proclaim 18 National Monuments.
- protected approximately 230,000,000 acres of public land
The policies and spirit of the Roosevelt Administration were on grand display in March 1907. The President, with the Chief Forester Gifford Pinchot at his side, had enraged western politicians the previous five years by unilaterally proclaiming more than a hundred national forests. Now Congress was about to bring him up short by shutting down his power under the once-minor 1891 provision. The House and Senate approved a measure that would block him from declaring new national forests in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, the states where the outcries were the loudest. Roosevelt’s opponents strategically embedded the measure in the general appropriations bill, which the President would have no choice but to approve.
But an event intervened. For some reason, the appropriations bill found its way to the bottom of TR’s “bills to sign” pile. This may have been related to the activities of the full, frenzied, and celebratory previous week, when Roosevelt, Pinchot, and his men laid out maps of western states on the floor of the White House and drew boundary lines around national forest candidates. The President himself had gotten down on his hands and knees to check out the topography.
So, when it came to signing time, before he could get to the appropriations bill at the bottom of the pile, he just happened to sign a raft of executive orders, 38 in all, creating still more national forests totaling no less than 16 million acres—one-quarter the size of Colorado. Only then did the president turn to approving the law that abrogated his authority in the six listed states. For TR, who so loved to inject drama—and joy—into the making of public policy, signing the “Midnight Reserves” was one of his most cherished moments. He laughed that his opponents “turned handsprings in their wrath.” “Oh,” he exulted, “this is bully!”
And this is just funny:
"Having supported Panamanian independence from Colombia after that country refused to ratify the canal treaty, Roosevelt needlessly insulted the Colombians and for the rest of his life stubbornly opposed any reparations to the once-friendly nation."Comment
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TR = American badass. A man by anyone's description.Comment
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