Does america need another teddy roosevelt?

23 Comments

Let's be honest. This country has an issue with not very ethical or intelligent(*cough*MichelleBackmann*cough*) people in positions of power. What I'm wondering is, don't we need someone like Theodore Roosevelt, someone who has been there and done that and understands,as Teddy would put it, the "strenuous life", not to mention someone who would actually appreciate nature instead of trying to pop up oil wells everywhere there's a drop. What's your opinion?

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  • Yumazing
    12 years ago | pl

    I greatly fear that people will actually vote for Michelle Bachman. She is a horror.

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  • dappled
    12 years ago | pl

    American politics are interesting. I'm always curious to see the processes of what is effectively a two party system. Where I live, there are three parties which are broadly left, right and centre. Roosevelt always strikes me as someone who would have taken up the centre ground as he wasn't a radical but a realist. In a three party system, the middle doesn't often govern (apart from in coalition) so the chances are that Roosevelt would never have been president (which he was by default anyway due to McKinley's assassination).

    In fact, it's only occurred to me now but didn't Roosevelt join/create a third party to compete with Taft, but ultimately lose to Wilson? If he'd never served as president, I think he'd have come third. What does it say about the system when some of the better presidents attain office by luck (bad luck in the case of McKinley)?

    Whether you need a Roosevelt or not now, I'm not sure I feel qualified enough to say. I don't know enough to feel confident in an answer. But perhaps you need a New Deal, rather than a Square Deal, which still gives you Roosevelt; just FDR instead of Teddy.

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    • lilylily
      12 years ago | pl

      I do wish we had an equally strong center party(who would be independent in their choices, not doing something just because most of the party is) because too often nothing gets done in the white house. It's always democrats veto-ing republicans or republicans veto-ing democrats. We definitely need a middle ground

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      • dappled
        12 years ago | pl

        To be honest, it's been the same here all my life with the exception of the last election where left and right cancelled each other out votes-wise and the centrist party held the balance of power. They formed a coalition with the right wing and between them had enough of a majority to lead.

        In my country, when the power switches between left and right, new policies come in that will take ten years to bear fruit. By that time, the power has switched again, the policies are ripped up, and we never get anywhere. If we pursued a consistently centrist agenda (where the needs of both the rich and the poor, the markets and the working man are both addressed) we'd do better. But we flip-flop and constantly work against ourselves. The good policies of both the left and right are ripped up every time the government changes.

        I don't see why making this country a profitable place to do business (right wing) should be at odds with providing a welfare state and good healthcare (left wing). Why can't we have both? It's not rich versus poor. It's everyone in a country working together.

        I might be being naive, though. Especially about human nature.

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        • lilylily
          12 years ago | pl

          Not to mention good and considerate environmental policies. Honestly, without nature we would be NOTHING.

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    • chubbawubba69
      12 years ago | pl

      TR was actually considered a radical in his time. He greatly expanded the power of the presidency.

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      • dappled
        12 years ago | pl

        I was thinking radical in political outlook. Regulating business doesn't seem a particularly Republican viewpoint. I'm not American, though, so this is only my view on a different country's politics.

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        • chubbawubba69
          12 years ago | pl

          If you are interested in Theodore Roosevelt I highly recommend "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris. It won a Pulitzer Prize and is a fantastic biography of a very interesting man.

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          • dappled
            12 years ago | pl

            I actually am very interested in that period of your country's history and I already know that Theodore Roosevelt had quite a life. If it's available on Kindle, I'll read it. I know enough about him that I'm genuinely interested to know more.

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        • chubbawubba69
          12 years ago | pl

          You also have to understand that the Republican party around 1900 was very different from the Republican party of today. From its formation in the mid 1800's until about the 1920's it was actually considered the more liberal party.

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          • dappled
            12 years ago | pl

            That's a very good point, and you're correct about me. I was considering Republicanism from how I know it today. In my head, it was never liberal.

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  • pooItoy
    11 years ago | pl

    we need franklin, not teddy.

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  • DiscoDuck
    12 years ago | pl

    Were is Teddy?

    Dig him up so I can vote for him!!!

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  • buntaboss25k
    12 years ago | pl

    yes. we are totally fucked.

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  • FocoUS
    12 years ago | pl

    Unfortunately, there's only one Teddy Roosevelt.

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  • howaminotmyself
    12 years ago | pl

    I think Roosevelt was a good president but we can't hold onto dreams of the past. We need to move forward. The system is broken and needs a complete overhaul, not a quick fix. We are more than capable of such things, we just need to remember our roots as a nation. The American Dream has turned into a nightmare. It is time to WAKE UP!

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    • FocoUS
      12 years ago | pl

      "The American Dream has turned into a nightmare."

      I'm quoting that forever.

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  • chubbawubba69
    12 years ago | pl

    I greatly admire TR and actually just read "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt".

    If by values you mean perseverence, honesty, integrity, toughness, etc I agree with you. We have never had a president who stuck to his values, spoke his true mind, or worked as hard as TR. I greatly admire his dedication and character. He was the last true hero to be president.

    I do not agree with all of his political positions though. If that is what you mean by values, then no, we don't need another TR.

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  • lilylily
    12 years ago | pl

    *Bachmann

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  • lilylily
    12 years ago | pl

    Please don't do the oil or bust one.

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