Teddy, the Last Good Republican?

This is a short report on Teddy Roosevelt's actions after he took over in 1901. From the US History.com site.
T.R. was not the flunky big business thought he would be, T.R. was an American first, Republican second, and Business Man third.
I need to repeat, Teddy Roosevelt was an American first, so he did the following.

Trust-busting
The Theodore Roosevelt Administration

Most Republicans viewed their election victory in 1900 as an endorsement of the party’s policies toward business. Theodore Roosevelt, who became president in September 1901, did not fully share that view. Rather than simply maintain the status quo, Roosevelt sought a mid-course between Republican laissez faire policies and the socialism advocated by some reform elements.
The president found an ally in an increasingly concerned public that had been wary of big government solutions in the past, but was now more receptive. The trusts' continuing growth in numbers and power convinced many that action was needed.

From the beginning of his administration, he made it very clear who was in charge-Teddy Roosevelt. He also made it very clear who he worked for-the American People.
T.R. understood the dangers of Big Government and the peoples' fear of it, but he also understood that Gov't was the referee on the national scene.

Roosevelt took the following steps during his first administration to “keep order” in the American economy:

Department of Commerce and Labor. In 1903, Roosevelt persuaded Congress to establish a new cabinet-level department to increase the federal government’s purview over the interstate commerce actions of business and to monitor labor relations. Big business interests lobbied heavily to halt this innovation — the first new executive department since the Civil War — but failed.(emphasis added) (Commerce and Labor would be separated into independent department in 1913.)

Bureau of Corporations. As an arm of the newly created department, a Bureau of Corporations was established to find violations under the existing antitrust legislation. The Bureau began investigations into the activities of the meatpacking, oil, steel and tobacco industries, among others.

Antitrust Law Suits. Roosevelt instructed his attorney general, Philander C. Knox, to launch a series of lawsuits against what were deemed offensive business combinations.(emphasis added) Such giants as J.P. Morgan’s Northern Securities Company, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Trust and James B. Duke’s tobacco trust were targets of the government’s attorneys. In all, forty-four suits were brought during Roosevelt’s administration.

Did you get that first part, Roosevelt ordered HIS attorney general. I bet Mr. Cox not only could recall that moment, I bet he never forgot it.

Trust-busting was not a term the president favored. He believed the offending corporations needed to be regulated, not destroyed. Many of his big business critics, however, failed to note the difference.

I hear it from you. This is interesting, but how does it help us now?
It helps us to review our history. We have lived all of today's difficult moments before.
Teddy's actions show that even a member of the Millionaires' Club can have a positive impact on our Gov't.
It takes courage, and a conviction that the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution the way they did for a reason.
Unlike trying to know the mind of God, mortal Humans CAN understand why the Founders constructed our Govt the way they did, because they wrote about it extensively.
All a real leader today needs to do is READ and to do what is right for America, not just try and satisfy their own personal agenda.
We know the Republican candidates won't end the war, they said so last night. That's wrong for America.
We know Joe Biden is full of shit when he said to end the war, elect a Democrat for President.
We fell for that lie last November, falling for it again would be bad for America.
We do know that the War was founded on lies and continues only to fill the pockets of the rich corporations, not protect us from terrorists. That's really bad for America and Iraq.

We need another Teddy, but where is he now?

I think(HOPE!) the real American Presidential Candidate has yet to emerge.

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