Legit, right? Well here’s the thing: Theodore Roosevelt brought progressivism into American politics. National parks & trust-busting are progressive ideas. They are both ways that the federal government exerts power and limits your freedom for ‘the greater good’. I’m not even going to say that these are bad things. I truly believe the park system in the US is a net benefit, and by a wide margin. Ditto for anti-trust laws.
The problem is that Teddy concentrated more power in the office of The President than had any of his predecessors. Not that someone else wasn’t going to do it eventually, but he still started it. To his credit, he used that power to the benefit of Americans, but the precedent he set has caused far more harm than good.
Teddy, as a man, is awesome and a great role model. Bold, Intelligent, strong, brave, and adventurous, Theodore Roosevelt is pretty close to the masculine ideal. Look up the story of his mid-speech assassination attempt for a small example of what I mean. Unfortunately, the mindset that allowed him to excel at being a man has proven to be absolutely disastrous to the country he loved.
Gun control, prohibition, the war on drugs, taxes on literally every transaction in our society, car emissions controls, immanent domain, the ways our government exerts power to ‘make us safer’ are mind boggling. I’m not saying that Theodore Roosevelt invented them, nor that he even meant for any of them to happen, but he was instrumental in bringing that mindset to the US. Someone would have done it eventually. It’s the nature of rulers to concentrate power in themselves, and the nature of humans in general to maintain status quo. Those two things combined never bode well for us individuals.
The government in 2019 America has become so intrusive and omnipresent that people don’t know what it’s like otherwise. The government sells us on the idea of safety in exchange for freedom. People expect to be safe and protected at all times from all things, and they allow themselves to become soft, weak, and defenseless. They are becoming the thing Roosevelt warned against, and he was instrumental in bringing it about.
With all the recently renewed talk about more gun control because of Dayton, OH and El Paso, TX, the spectre of the government further implementing more useless restrictions ‘for our own good’ is in the front of our minds.
I don’t want to talk bad about TR. I really wish he was the perfect man that we could all look up to in his entirety, but that’s just not the case. He had some great traits that we should emulate. His personal philosophy of life is incredible. His ideas about living the Strenuous Life are really inspiring! But he was not perfect. Even the things he did as president that were good were not without massive downsides. Those downsides are basically the outline of the cultural divide in the US today.
So watch out who you idolize. Keep your eyes open, be willing to separate the good in someone from the bad, and always consider the long-term effects of your actions.
Stay objective, I’ll see you next Friday. -S_S
Pro-Gun Millennial 
Fair advice. I think it’s an unfair expectation that our heroes be perfect in every way. In fact, that might be a reason that we rarely talk about public figures like that these days, there’s just too many skeletons in everyone’s closets that someone will get offended and drag a name through the mud. So it’s far easier to just start with the mud than the good things.
I’m a fan of TR, but I’m also aware of his political history. Like many things, it’s a matter of time, place and circumstances. Take the good of what we can learn, acknowledge the shortcomings, and move on.
I think it’s a sad state of affairs today that we aren’t “allowed” to focus on the good things people have accomplished if there is any “bad” in the ledger.
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It appears that I’m guilty of that too.
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