Teddy IV Says Watch It!

Remember Theodore Roosevelt? You know, the president who basically created the modern Federal government? And who, in spite of his many admitted shortcomings, was never-the-less one of the most important and effective presidents in US history? And who, by the way, championed conservation?

Well, he had kids. In fact, he has a modern name-sake, Theodore Roosevelt IV. And Theo IV has taken up his ancestor’s causes. In a thoughtful and well-written op-ed piece in The Guardian, he argues that unless we act now, the whole of our common lands…national parks, conservation areas, everything!…well be subject to the mindless greed of the few, and possibly lost forever.

Personally, we here at LR Net couldn’t agree more. The one thing that is horribly clear about the current administration is that it never met a forest that it didn’t want to strip mine to the bedrock.

In fact, the thing we really wish is that …when member’s of the current GOP administration shuffle off their mortal coil (strictly by natural causes and in the passing of time, of course) that they should find themselves at the Pearly Gates…confronting not Saint Peter but Theodore Rex himself, fierce behind his mustache and his pince-nez, and armed with a very big stick, indeed.

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Addendum: It is one of the great ironies of history that Theodore Roosevelt was, himself, a Republican. Indeed, for many years, the Left has not been sure it really liked TR. This was, after all, a very white Great White Male, and one who did some questionable things—like building an American empire in places like the Philippines and Panama.

But, on the hand, Theodore Roosevelt was very much a progressive, worked hard to curb the powers of the rich, and began the process by which the Federal government claimed for itself the right to regulate corporations. He was the president who busted the trusts and pressed for the  Pure Food and Drug Act.

And, thus, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprise that this same president…hyper-masculine, imperialist, and tough-as-nails former cowboy…is hated today by the Right, which sees him frankly as the next thing to a Communist, and probably a Snowflake to boot.

~Scorch