Given the tragedy of contemporary politics, one has to wonder what the sage of Sagamore Hill would say if he was still on his bully pulpit. As the conscience of his generation, always outspoken and eager to engage on the issues of his time, there is no doubt that Theodore Roosevelt would\u2019ve had a lot to say. Fortunately, his life and politicking left us a treasure trove of literature and documents providing insights as to how he would see things today. Let\u2019s hear what he has to say.<\/p>\n
Mr. President, how do you see our political landscape as it has played out for the last twenty years?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m almost nonplussed, but I will say that the present Republican Party is made up of spineless and yellow-bellied scalawags who should be ashamed of what they have wrought on the American people. It is certainly not my political party or that of our founding father, Abraham Lincoln.<\/p>\n There has always been a lunatic fringe out there, but the election of Trump in 2016 gave the crazies an opening and has enabled them ever since. We had them back in 1902 – populists and anarchists – but there was a sober center to the parties then that kept them in line. Mark Hanna* and Tom Platt* wouldn\u2019t have tolerated the idiocy that prevails today.<\/p>\n That said, our current mess really started back in 2008 with the election of Barack Obama. Right wing Republicans and fellow travelers just couldn\u2019t stand the idea of a Negro in the White House. It drove them crazy and, I must say, their racism jump started much of this and helped lead to the election of the former president, a draft-dodging, lying, cheating con-man with the morals of an alley cat.<\/p>\n It almost makes me ashamed to have been a Republican. I remember vividly the reaction to my inviting Booker Washington to dinner at the White House. Ben Tillman* and much of the South went apoplectic. I had hoped that we had moved beyond those feelings. You remember, of course, that my dear mother* was a Southerner and I have aways been proud of that part of my heritage.<\/em><\/p>\n Thank you Mr. President, we appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule to visit with us on this Father\u2019s Day. There\u2019s so much more to talk about and we hope you will join us again soon. Did you mention that you were off to the territory somewhere?<\/strong><\/p>\n Thank you, it’s been a jolly good time. As for Father\u2019s Day, let me say that being the father of Alice was a far greater challenge than being president of the United States, settling the Russo-Japanese War or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. And yes, I am off to the territory, this time to paddle the Upper Iowa River, north of Dubuque near the Minnesota border.<\/p>\n Give me a call, I\u2019m eager to continue our conversation given the ongoing threats to our democracy and the republic. *Mark Hanna, Senator, 1897-1904 (Ohio) Martha (Mitti) Bulloch Roosevelt, mother of TR, a Southern belle raised in Roswell, Georgia, as part of the wealthy Georgia planter class.<\/p>\n For more on Theodore Roosevelt and his views see Edmund Morris\u2019s outstanding trilogy, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, and Colonel Roosevelt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Given the tragedy of contemporary politics, one has to wonder what the sage of Sagamore Hill would say if he was still on his bully pulpit. As the conscience of his generation, always outspoken and eager to engage on the issues of his time, there is no doubt that Theodore Roosevelt would\u2019ve had a lot…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-robert-fischer"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThomas C. Platt, Senator, 1897-1909 (New York)
\nBen Tillman, Senator, 1895-1918 (South Carolina)<\/p>\n