I have a great deal of affection and respect for TR. And while he speaks for me on a number of issues, I strongly disagree with him on even more and I doubt that he would have liked me very much if he had known me. Let's say it's a complicated relationship. But this is one of my favorite of his speeches, although I don't agree with everything in it, and somehow it seems germane to this board at this time. It's long. If you read it, let me know what you think. http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Nationalism
My guess is that you'd better read the whole thing. And maybe actually think about it. I didn't post it for people who want to skim it for stuff they agree with.
First off, great speech, thanks for posting it! ...But we all will see what we want to see in the speech, so in rlm's defense... that's what he sees in it. I'm not necessarily agreeing with the implications of his selected quotes, but can see why he would choose them... and why they are relevant. But this speech contained far more than that. So I've selected a few more quotes which I believe are relevant to our discussons here as well. My first chosen quote might be: "Even in ordinary times there are very few of us who do not see the problems of life as through a glass, darkly; and when the glass is clouded by the murk of furious popular passion, the vision of the best and the bravest is dimmed." ...as I saw after 9-11. As I see it the American patriotic spirit after the attack drowned-out the voices of reason in favor of blind, irrational support for the invasion of Iraq. I imagine Unions may favor this quote, by Abraham Lincoln: "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." 96 years ago it wasn't much different than today in this respect: "At many stages in the advance of humanity, this conflict between the men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possess is the central condition of progress. In our day it appears as the struggle of freemen to gain and hold the right of self-government as against the special interests, who twist the methods of free government into machinery for defeating the popular will." These words are worth repeating: "...conflict between the men who possess more than they have earned and the men who have earned more than they possess..." It is a central complaint of the Occupiers. The next quote immediately followed: "At every stage, and under all circumstances, the essence of the struggle is to equalize opportunity, destroy privilege, and give to the life and citizenship of every individual the highest possible value both to himself and to the commonwealth. That is nothing new." What I get out of that is that this, the current protests against the greed of the corporate world, is nothing new. We are a forgetful species and are doomed to repeat this, until we are determined to not forget it again. I won't be holding my breath lol "But it does not give the right of suffrage to any corporation." ....until now. Under (current) law aren't corporations 'people' now? As such they may now have the right of suffrage. "The true friend of property, the true conservative, is he who insists that property shall be the servant and not the master of the commonwealth; who insists that the creature of man's making shall be the servant and not the master of the man who made it. The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have themselves called into being." ...or was he a quack for believing this? He may be considered to be that by some today, but I'd say the majority of Occupiers would still agree with him on this point. "There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done." ...and yet, 96 years later look where we are. I understand it's difficult, but 96 years and we're still having this problem? "Corporate expenditures for political purposes, and especially such expenditures by public-service corporations, have supplied one of the principal sources of corruption in our political affairs." And our current Congress should re-read this: "The duty of Congress is to provide a method by which the interest of the whole people shall be all that receives consideration." ...and that can't happen if they continue to be legally allowed to receive any money or valuables from special interests. The Occupiers have also stated they are not against anyone fairly making millions, as in this quote (by TR): "We grudge no man a fortune which represents his own power and sagacity, when exercised with entire regard to the welfare of his fellows." ...I know the Occupiers would agree with that as many have stated it. "I should be heartily ashamed to see us wrong a weaker power, and I should hang my head forever if we tamely suffered wrong from a stronger power." IMO, America should hang it's head in shame over our invasion of Iraq. As far as the "stronger power" abusing us... I'd say the lax international laws against digital-espionage may qualify in a way. We need to stop allowing it to happen. "There must remain no neutral ground to serve as a refuge for lawbreakers, and especially for lawbreakers of great wealth, who can hire the vulpine legal cunning which will teach them how to avoid both jurisdictions." "...the impotence which makes it possible for local selfishness or for legal cunning, hired by wealthy special interests, to bring national activities to a deadlock..." (see "Congress") "... This New Nationalism regards the executive power as the steward of the public welfare. It demands of the judiciary that it shall be interested primarily in human welfare rather than in property, just as it demands that the representative body shall represent all the people rather than any one class or section of the people." "One of the fundamental necessities in a representative government such as ours is to make certain that the men to whom the people delegate their power shall serve the people by whom they are elected, and not the special interests. I believe that every national officer, elected or appointed, should be forbidden to perform any service or receive any compensation, directly or indirectly, from interstate corporations; and a similar provision could not fail to be useful within the States." Now, while I would apologize for how long this post is ...IMO, a long-winded speech such as this deserves a long-winded response... especially since it is so relevant to today's issues. A parting quote: "The object of government is the welfare of the people."
Nice comments. This is what I was hoping for. Clearly someone still has an attention span that extends beyond sound bites. I don't disagree with the statements rlm has pulled from the speech. But I think it's significant that he didn't really read it, but skimmed it and pulled out the bits that fit his worldview with no concern for context. And then assumed that I would not agree with them. Totally in character from what I've seen.
This is my main reason for being here on this site... to overcome that nasty propaganda machine politicians, on all sides, use to influence the public. I don't have an issue admitting when I'm wrong, or when someone I admire is wrong, but I will not stand for blatant bs propaganda. It's too easy to influence the gullible and they know that. TR was definitely ahead of his time. I had wanted to stop at the TR National Historical Park during the one trip I took through North Dakota years ago, but was unable to convince my tired family to visit it. I made do with the Devil's Tower and Mount Rushmore (I climbed up the back-side... 'till my gf's daughter started following me and I had to stop and make sure she got back down safetly lol). There are just so many relevant issues he raised that are unfulfilled...will we ever learn?
