Free Republic

Hundreds of activists gathered at the American Museum of Natural History on Monday to take down the “racist” statue of Theodore Roosevelt and an urgent call to rename Columbus Day. More than 200 people cheered outside the museum as activists covered the statue of Roosevelt on horseback flanked by an African American and Native American on either side and demanded it be ultimately removed. “A stark embodiment of the white supremacy that Roosevelt himself espoused and promoted,” the group explained in a statement. “The statue is seen as an affront to all who pass it on entering the museum, but...

The FBI case into former Donald Trump campaign advisor Carter Page just took another legal twist. CNN is reporting that the FBI used that infamous Trump dossier as part of “the justification” to convince a FISA court to issue a warrant allowing them to secretly monitor Page. The investigation is reportedly probing possible ties between the one-time Trump advisor and Russia. But, what is particularly interesting from a legal stand point is Page’s reaction to this latest development. Apparently, he’s now planning on taking the Obama officials to court. He said in a statement: “I look forward to the Privacy...

PROGRESSIVE CAUSE GREATER THAN ANY INDIVIDUALBy Theodore Roosevelt, October 14th, 1912 Just before entering the Auditorium at Milwaukee, an attempt was made on Colonel Roosevelt's life. The speech which follows is from a stenographic report, differing considerably from the prepared manuscript. - Editor's Note FRIENDS, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose. But fortunately I had my manuscript, so you see I was going to make a long speech, and there is a...

Where We Can Work With SocialistsIt is true that the doctrines of communistic Socialism, if consistently followed, mean the ultimate annihilation of civilization. Yet the converse is also true. Ruin faces us if we decline steadily to try to reshape our whole civilization in accordance with the law of service, and if we permit ourselves to "Be mislecf by any empirical or academic consideration into refusing to exert the common power of the community where only collective action can do what individualism has left undone, or can remedy the wrongs done by an unrestricted and ill-regulated individualism. There is any...

Where We Cannot Work With SocialistsIt is always difficult to discuss a question when it proves impossible to define the terms in which that question is to be discussed. Therefore there is not much to be gained by a discussion of Socialism versus Individualism in the abstract. Neither absolute Individualism nor absolute Socialism would be compatible with civilization at all; and among the arguments of the extremists of either side the only unanswerable ones are those which show the absurdity of the position of the other. Not so much as the first step towards real civilization can be taken until...

Have you ever heard "what if Texas were its own country" or "what if California", etc.... Here we go. If Alaska were it's own country, because of its size and land mass it would rank 33rd among all of the world's nations. If Texas were it's own country, because of its size and land mass it would rank 40th among all of the world's nations. If California were it's own country, because of its size and land mass it would rank 59th among all of the world's nations. But what of the BLM - the Bureau of Land Management, an...

Here's something I do not understand: The very same people who blast Margaret Sanger, and inevitably bring up the fact that she supported eugenics, will then turn around and defend Theodore Roosevelt with the deepest sincerity knowing full well that Theodore Roosevelt also supported eugenics. Somehow TR is a good progressive, but MS is a bad progressive. How is this possible?!?!?!???? In my book, there are no good progressives and I think every last one of them ought to be thrown out onto the ash heap of history. What follows are two quotes, and I defy anybody - anybody to...

Former U.S. House Speaker John Boehner sees President-elect Donald Trump as a modern-day Teddy Roosevelt, a populist who wants to do “big things.” The Ohio Republican told WCPO.com in Cincinnati that Trump is similar to Roosevelt, the 26th president, because he’s “another guy who saw himself larger than life.” He said Trump doesn’t want to just “trim around the edges” as president. “If you look at what Teddy Roosevelt did, he came in to do big things,” Boehner said. “I think Donald Trump wants to do big things.” …

Does today's trucker and trucking industry owe its entire existence to big government? The answer to that question may very well be yes. Recently, I wrote a post pulling together details about how Teddy used "reaching across the aisle" to undermine any attempt to keep government small, in passing the 1906 Hepburn Act. But what happened after the act passed? Well, it significantly damaged the railroad industry, and some news outlets at the time attributed the economic recession: the Panic of 1907 (whom some also call the "Roosevelt Panic") specifically to the Hepburn Act.(Source) The Panic had multiple causes to...

Have you ever heard the whole story about exactly what it was that ol' Teddy did to get the 'rate bill' - the Hepburn Act, passed in 1906? If I didn't know the details of what I was reading and who was involved, I would swear this story mirrored a similar situation with John McCain rampaging on the floor of the Senate against Tea Party Hobbitses. Yes my friends. All tricks are fair game. Roosevelt threatened to pass the bill with democrat votes in order to undercut his own party, in order to stick the nose of government further into...

Live phonograph recording of former president Teddy Roosevelt speech regarding special interest corruption in the Democrat and Republican parties, given more than a century ago (1912). Words are just as true today as they were then. Could have been spoken by Donald Trump. Worth a listen, despite the poor audio quality.

After spending years trying to silence people in the "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy", Hillary Clinton shrieked this little number: I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate, and you disagree with this administration somehow you're not patriotic and we should stand up and say, we are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration. Yes, unfortunately, I had to listen to it. I provided the link, but for the sake of your health you might not want to click and listen to the YouTube clip. Now, onto Dear Leader Teddy's...

It is a presidential election year, but do not expect that candidates will come a-wooing to Ithaca this fall. For decades, ours has been a reliably Democratic city in a reliably Democratic state.... The joke has always been that Ithaca is “centrally isolated.” We are not really on the way to anywhere else, and candidates in the heat of battle put their time and money into swing communities in swing counties in swing states. It was not always so, though, and Ithaca has seen its share of supplicants over the years. Presidential election campaigning—as we have known it since the...

The progressingamerica project exists primarily, for more than any other reason, to show just how dangerous progressivism is. The progressives own history is one of the best weapons we have against these people. Read this, this is Obama. He could have very well said this in our time. Now, my ambition is that, in however small a way, the work I do shall be along the Washington and Lincoln lines. While President I have been President, emphatically; I have used every ounce of power there was in the office and I have not cared a rap for the criticisms of...

It's long been known that Theodore Roosevelt was influenced by the book "The Promise of American Life", as well as Croly's other writings as he himself makes clear in the essay "Two Noteworthy Books on Democracy. What is questioned is to what degree, how it happened, and if the slogan "New Nationalism" itself is a direct lift. On page 169 is where Croly uses the phrase. In the New York Independent, the following is written: (Page 957, this was originally published in 1912) The New Democracy resembles in some points Croly's "Promise of American Life," from which Colonel Roosevelt got...

There is every reason to believe that human beings are as amenable to cultivation as other animals and plants. Oh. Well I guess that must be true. That comes from a government document. In the accompanying papers for the Report of the National Conservation Commission, on page 677. This is probably something I don't need to cite a source for: Everybody knows who "Mr. Conservation" is, among the list of 43 presidents. Theodore Roosevelt. He described the RNCC report this way in the primary report document: (Page 1) With the statements and conclusions of this report I heartily concur, and...

From today’s briefing, the White House insists that they’re not worried about President Obama being labeled a socialist or a communist -- as Theodore Roosevelt was in 1910: Q: Teddy Roosevelt was called a socialist and a communist after he gave this speech. Is the President mindful of that, and keeping that in part of his target? MR. CARNEY: No, I think -- I think that is an irony, because I don’t think -- I would assume that this President’s critics share in his admiration for Teddy Roosevelt as a titan in American history and a hugely important and progressive...

Last Sunday on "Meet the Press," historian Doris Kearns Goodwin urged President Obama to emulate Teddy Roosevelt in organizing his campaign around the theme of "a square deal, fundamental fairness" in America. Today, the White House announced the president will try to do just that: On Tuesday, December 6, President Obama will travel to Osawatomie, Kansas where he will deliver remarks on the economy. The President will talk about how he sees this as a make-or-break moment for the middle class and all those working to join it. He’ll lay out the choice we face between a country in which...

On Uprising Radio, April 2008, Van Jones had this to say: VAN JONES: One of the things that has happened too often to progressives is that we don’t understand the relationship between minimum goals and maximum goals. Right after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, if the civil rights leaders had jumped out and said, ‘OK, now we want reparations for slavery; we want redistribution of all wealth; and we want to legalize mixed marriages,’ if that had been their…, if they’d have come out with a maximum program the very next day, they’d have been laughed at....

The meanings of words change over time. “Gentleman” once meant a person privy to the person of the king; eventually, it meant a man of wealth and station; now, it adorns the entrance to a toilet intended for males. This devolution has done no noticeable harm. However, “liberal” — Thomas Jefferson was one — has decayed in similar fashion. Ditto progressive — Theodore Roosevelt [a Republican and not to be confused with his distant cousin FDR, a Democrat] was a progressive, and were he alive today would probably be outraged at the current usage. These are, unfortunately, common devolutions. It...