Thursday, July 23, 2009

The Words Of Teddy Roosevelt

The man who wrongly holds that every human right is secondary to his profit must now give way to the advocate of human welfare, who rightly maintains that every man holds his property subject to the general right of the community to regulate its use to whatever degree the public welfare may require it.

We grudge no man a fortune in civil life if it is honorably obtained and well used. It is not even enough that it should have been gained without doing damage to the community. We should permit it to be gained only so long as the gaining represents benefit to the community. This, I know, implies a policy of a far more active governmental interference with social and economic conditions in this country than we have yet had, but I think we have got to face the fact that such an increase in governmental control is now necessary.

And he's a hero to some Republicans, why?

1 comments:

SSG_E said...

He was a progressive in every sense. He also advocated for eugenics, like every other progressive of the early 20th century. Woodrow Wilson was too. People like this said at the time that the Constitution was no longer relevant and it could be discarded when making law or implementing policy. FDR fit the progressive mold, and now so does BO.