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Teddy Roosevelt is absolutely right

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More Teddy Roosevelt quotes:

"The government is us...You and me!"

"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism...The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin...would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities."

"It may be that at some time in the dim future of the race the need for war will vanish: but that time is yet ages distant. As yet no nation can hold its place in the world, or can do any work really worth doing, unless it stands ready to guard its right with an armed hand."

"I have always been fond of the West African proverb: 'Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.'"

"Is America a weakling, to shrink from the work of the great world powers? No! The young giant of the West stands on a continent and clasps the crest of an ocean in either hand. Our nation, glorious in youth and strength, looks into the future with eager eyes and rejoices as a strong man to run a race."

"If a man does not have an ideal and try to live up to it, then he becomes a mean, base and sordid creature, no matter how successful."

"The worst of all fears is the fear of living."

"A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user."

"It is true of the Nation, as of the individual, that the greatest doer must also be a great dreamer."

"The bulk of government is not legislation but administration." "Men can never escape being governed. Either they must govern themselves or they must submit to being governed by others."

"It is by no means necessary that a great nation should always stand at the heroic level. But no nation has the root of greatness in it unless in time of need it can rise to the heroic mood."

"Cowardice in a race, as in an individual, is the unpardonable sin."

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

"A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards."

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

"...the man who really counts in the world is the doer, not the mere critic-the man who actually does the work, even if roughly and imperfectly, not the man who only talks or writes about how it ought to be done."

"Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable; but it can never take the place of action, or be even a poor substitute for it. The function of the mere critic is of very subordinate usefulness. It is the doer of deeds who actually counts in the battle for life, and not the man who looks on and says how the fight ought to be fought, without himself sharing the stress and the danger."

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"The men with the muckrakes are often indispensable ... but only if they know when to stop raking the muck."

(Note: For many who may not know, the term "muckrakers" was coined by President T. Roosevelt {borrowed from the book Pilgrams Progress} in the era of "yellow journalism," the journalism of sensationalized crime, scandal, gossip, disasters, sex, sports and the like. Newspapers were filled with scare headlines, sensational pictures and photographs, stunts and faked stories, comic strips, features and personal crusades. Fake stories - sound familiar?)

So the REAL question is, do you simply take one small quote - perhaps out of its total context - and say "yes, yes, yes, that's right", or do you place credence in the totality of the underlying principles on which that quote was based? President Roosevelt tried to instill into the landscape and inspire people to become things not unlike the current day administration? How would President Teddy Roosevelt have acted in the face of today's problems? I can't help but think that the actions of GWB pale in comparison to what TR would have done - or wanted to do.

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y the way, the full quote in its full context:

"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

- Teddy Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star", May 7, 1918

".......Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else."

Posted: 07/06/2004 @ 08:55 AM (PDT)

maxwell edison     1133

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Teddy Roosevelt said....JamesRL | 07/06/2004 @ 07:15 AM (PDT)

I posted..maecuff | 07/06/2004 @ 07:25 AM (PDT)

Teddy Roosevelt is absolutely rightmaxwell edison | 07/06/2004 @ 08:55 AM (PDT)

The full quote and full contextmaxwell edison | 07/06/2004 @ 09:02 AM (PDT)

Well saidOz_Media | 07/06/2004 @ 10:26 AM (PDT)

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