Posted on 04/13/2024 9:04:38 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Over the course of the last week, some of President Trump’s most ardent and vocal online supporters have engaged in a bit of cognitive dissonance, praising the former president for his foresight and wisdom in calling for a federalist solution to one of the nation’s most intractable problems while simultaneously singing the praises of the one man who likely did more than any other American to crush the nation’s federalist history and culture.
Specifically, President Trump called for the question of abortion to be handled by the states, for the federal government to relinquish its power over the issue and enable government at a level closer to the people to enact their wishes. This solution is problematic for a variety of reasons, including, most notably, the Founders’ declaration that “Governments are instituted among Men” to secure the rights embodied in the “self-evident” truths “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
That notwithstanding, Trump is almost certainly correct in arguing for a return to federalism to address many of the country’s most pressing and divisive issues. Not only was this the course agreed upon at the nation’s founding, but it also seems likely to be a sagacious solution to the ever-increasing threats posed by institutional “bigness”: Big Government, Big Business, Big Tech, Big Finance, etc. The growth of the federal state and the centralization of authority consequent to it—as well as the growth of other institutions that are empowered by the federal state’s reach—have been almost inarguably destructive to every aspect of the nation’s well-being.
As the great Russell Kirk put it, “All those gifts of variety, contrast, competition, communal pride and sympathetic association that characterize man at his manliest are menaced by the ascendancy of the omnicompetent state of modern times….”
It is ironic, then, that while Trump was out defending the virtues of federalism and while his supporters were praising him for doing so, many of those same supporters were also singing the praises of the nation’s 26th president, Theodore Roosevelt. While it is true that Roosevelt served in office as a Republican, that’s not to say that he was, in any way, a conservative. There is a reason, after all, that the above-mentioned Russell Kirk, who was born three months before Roosevelt died, is considered the “godfather of American conservatism.”
Conservatism as a coherent force did not really exist in American politics before the 1950s. Teddy Roosevelt, for his part, was, quite literally, a Progressive. His famous third-party run for the presidency in 1912 was under the banner of the Progressive Party. Temperamentally and ideologically, he had a great deal more in common with his distant cousin, Franklin, than he did with Ronald Reagan or any conservatives of the modern era.
In truth, Roosevelt is one of the three people in American politics most responsible for laying the foundation for the “omnicompetent” federal state—along with Woodrow Wilson and Herbert Croly.
When he was inaugurated, after the assassination and death of President McKinley, Roosevelt promised that he would “go slow” with his reform agenda—largely since no one had voted for it—but he couldn’t help himself. Within months, he was railing against “the rich,” complaining endlessly about “the trusts,” and insisting that it was his responsibility to fix the faults in the Founders’ Constitution.
In his first annual message to the nation, Roosevelt derided the Constitution and the federalism so prized by its framers, declaring that they had been woefully mistaken when they “accepted as a matter of course that the several States were the proper authorities to regulate, so far as was then necessary, the comparatively insignificant and strictly localized corporate bodies of the day.” He forgave the Founders personally (and ever so graciously) but nevertheless insisted that “The conditions today are wholly different” than they were in 1788, “and wholly different action is called for.” “The old laws and the old customs, which had almost the binding force of law,” he continued, were no longer sufficient “to regulate the accumulation and distribution of wealth.”
Most tellingly, he suggested that fate had empowered him to act on the people’s “sincere conviction that combination and concentration should be, not prohibited, but supervised and within reasonable limits controlled; and in my judgment, this conviction is right.” He insisted that he would, in other words, have to make himself—and the government more broadly—the partner of American business to see that the concentration of wealth was properly used to advance the general welfare.
These then are Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressive legacies: a belief in the inadequacy of the Constitution, a belief that government can and should be the arbiter of economic success (opening the door to corporatism), and the inauguration of the nation’s perpetual and ongoing class war, in which “the rich” and “the industrialists” (i.e., businessmen) are deemed enemies of the people.
It is worth noting that whatever one thinks of Roosevelt, his ideology, or his reforms, the necessity of his crusade was questionable at best. Despite the Panic of 1893 and the subsequent depression, the American Gross National Product (GNP) grew at a roughly 4.5% rate from 1890-1907. During much of the same period, the decade leading up to Roosevelt’s presidency, prices either remained flat or fell (1894, -3.7%; 1895, -3.8%). The “trusts” may have been a social and political issue for the nation but were hardly an economic concern. One would be hard-pressed to make the case that these so-called enemies of the people were enemies of anyone other than Roosevelt himself.
The ongoing fascination of some segments of the political right with Theodore Roosevelt is honestly quite baffling. The late Senator John McCain also idealized Roosevelt, aligning himself with the image of the “Bull Moose.” The Bull Moose, of course, was the official mascot of the Progressive Party, and the “Bull Moose Party” was just a nickname for the Progressives.
In short, President Trump’s supporters should be glad and pleased that their guy has embraced federalism, but they should also be careful not to saddle him with the legacy of a man who did everything in his power to undermine the Constitution and its federalist spirit. Not only are the positions at odds with one another, but the latter bodes ill for his endeavor to Make America Great Again.
You know better than to trust anything you read in that rag. They are trying to kill support for Cruz to help the rat running against him. On balance Cruz is one of the better ones when compared to Mitch’s gang of rat collaborators.
The game of denying reality by dismissing any source that reports things that are uncomfortable.
I even linked a Google search for you to save you the hard work, and still you deny it ever happened.
I’m getting the information directly from Trump’s own post. Screenshots available with the search link
And since when is calling for the termination of constitutional rules and regulations not anri constructional?
Sheesh.
It’s hard to categorize the “worst” things Theodore Roosevelt did as president, as well as afterwards as a third party/third presidential term candidate.
There’s the 17th Amendment, direct election of senators.
16th amendment
He was the first in U.S. history to implement price controls during peace time. (Hepburn act)
He was a globalist, TR
He gave us the unconstitutional FBI
He gave us the concept of a pen-and-phone presidency, which used executive orders as a run-around-congress - making him King Teddy I
He gave us the modern conception of a bureaucratic state, spawning dozens of bureaucracies staffed with dozens of lifers, none of which was constitutional
Not to mention, the beginnings of the nationalization of land under the auspices of “protecting” - which now some states like Nevada and Arizona and Alaska are more owned by the Federal government than they own themselves.
He also was the very first president to fight for social justice.
So his role in helping Wilson, after seeing all this, well, it makes sense. Taft started out his first two years being in the mold of Roosevelt, then said to himself “hey wait a second, this is wrong!”
Like it or not Theodore Roosevelt was the guy who laid the groundwork for the “economic president” that FDR came to embody - disastrous court cases such as Wickard v. Filburn do owe their existence to Theodore Roosevelt and his fight for antitrust and trying to put government in control of corporate america.
TR himself acknowledged this in his own autobiography, saying about himself that:
“I have always believed that it would also be necessary to give the National Government complete power over the organization and capitalization of all business concerns engaged in inter-State commerce.”
What do you think “complete power” means? No, it’s not something cute and cuddly. That’s what Wickard accomplished. TR’s beliefs.
King Teddy the First was a terrible, terrible president.
Not even one quote from one single Trump supporter praising Roosevelt?
That's not what it's authors (Bingham and Conkling) said. And Justice Miller knew it too when he wrote the Slaughterhouse Cases opinion.
Read the article. It got quite a reception here.
You’ll see. It’s going to be a long year. I try to tell people to trust Trump and get a sense of who is opposing him and why. Not for any other reason than it’s easy to say it
I don’t change minds. I don’t hope to
If Trump said suspend the constitution why are people so knee jerk reactionary with the media
Look at the liberal articles you sent Read them but think. See if you can find an alternative source for the same story. Get ahead of what will happen
Again. People say Biden stole the election and they think it’s a Dem v conservative or Republican thing They’re desensitized. Look at it from a founders perspective. Look at what happened. Don’t be so sure Trump is a loser.
You have to know he loves this country. He would never undermine the constitution
See if you can find other instances
Or go out and get on your boat or watch the golf and forget it.
Long year ahead. And it’ll be a year from now before it’s settled.
As to his understanding of ecological remedy, they extended only to megafauna he was fond of hunting (and to this day, I would say hunters have a better grip on the real problems of exotics and succession than most ecologists). He had no concept for what importing exotic species would do to the foundations of the food chain and as a culture, we still don't.
Um……sure.
Bitt - you might like to add ProgressingAmerica’s articles to your ping lists.
Instead of looking at the news maybe you can make a logical case that Trump would undermine the constitution
Instead of looking at the news maybe you can make a logical case that Trump would undermine the constitution. Conceding that he said something like what his rival Cruz said he said
Ok.
Logical case.
Trump said it was necessary to terminate all rules and regulations including those in the constitution in order to overturn the 2020 election in a social media post on truth social. Received a backlash from people, including republicans and then denied having said it, but afaik still hasn’t deleted the post.
Case closed.
Have a great day!
Case closed. Have a nice day
Trump detractors to the person always throw in, tell you you’re stupid, then run away. They scurry. Every single time
So much fear.
Well, I never called you stupid.
I didn’t run away.
And you didn’t address the issue.
So….youre doing great!
That’s your argument?
You state one instance in 8 years of Trump being in politics and his life of 70+ years completely unturned for anyone to see and you cite one statement
That’s it? That’s evidence that Trymunp will undermine the constitution
Ya. I think we’re done here.
Your cognitive dissonance is remarkable.
“ Your cognitive dissonance is remarkable.”
If you are going to go against Jim Rob’s rules and attack me as hominem, I challenge you to elaborate and explain what you are blathering about here
Define cognitive dissonance. Do tell how you got to this diagnosis without having ever met me
And while you’re at it, explain in common sense terms how has Trump exhibited anti constitutional leanings.
Since I’d didn’t say any of that. I’ll ask do you have these hallucinations often?
Again, remarkable.
(1) antitrust legislation that helped break up abusive monopolies and business combinations; (2) the establishment of the national park system; (3) the development of the US Navy into a modern force and the building of the Panama Canal that led to America's rise as a global power; and (4), anti-corruption legislation that helped remedy abuses that had put Congress and state legislatures at the service of the highest bidder.
Condemning such measures and Teddy Roosevelt as the fruits of Progressivism lets a now pejorative label control our understanding of history. We do much better if we understand the issues of the day and history on their own terms before fastening on good and bad labels based on today's politics.
Notably, the core conservative constitutional thinking of the latter 19th century that Teddy Roosevelt objected to has not fared well over the years. The theory of freedom of contract based on substantive due process and the severely restrictive view of the federal commerce clause lack clear grounding in the text of the Constitution and the thinking of the founding era. That makes them contrary to conservative legal scholarship today.
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