The Sunshine Empire

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have had only four non-family heros in my life and one of them is former President Theodore Roosevelt. Only one other picture sits on my desk aside from my family and The Joker, and that is of Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt began his life as a privileged and sickly boy, who just idolized his father. He grew into a man that was shaped by his experience in pain, war, love, and the fiery cauldron of the West and politics. Teddy Roosevelt had served his country in war, in politics, and in the Federal government with all his honest heart. John McCain would like you to think that he is a Teddy Roosevelt like man because he vaguely matches this biography. He fails to mention that he really diverges from this narrative drastically from this point. Theodore Roosevelt was the father of the Progressive movement, which McCain now scorns as socialist. He scorns it as socialist even as he defends his vote for the $700 Billion Wall Street bailout.

McCain would have been the first to side with the policies of William Howard Taft, the man who stabbed TR in the back once in power. Much like Taft, McCain believes in the victimization of the barons of Wall Street and their need for protection against the terrible oversight of government. Whereas Roosevelt knew that capitalism, as perfect a system as it is, could not run unfettered or it would eat itself alive; McCain seems to feel that American corporations are the Sweden of the world. Roosevelt thought that the people deserved a square deal, and McCain seems to think that they are the problem due to their being brown and wanting houses.

I’m sick of Theodore Roosevelt being used as another sad brand name in bullshit Republican talking points. The connections between Theodore Roosevelt and John McCain end with serving in wars and serving in the federal government. That is it. Anyone who says or believes otherwise is completely and categorically false. You are completely and entirely lacking in any historical knowledge beyond reading the paper place mat at an Italian restaurant. I challenge anyone to say otherwise.

Special thanks to Jolemite for sending this article.

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