Beck's Bull Moose bamboozlery
January 27, 2010 4:20 pm ET by Simon Maloy
Teddy Roosevelt was possessed of a certain kind of toughness, famously beginning a 1912 campaign speech by saying: "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose." As such, I'd be kind of afraid to pick a fight with the man, even though he's been dead for nearly a century.
Glenn Beck, on the other hand, has no such fear of the ol' Rough Rider, and is increasingly devoting his on-air resources to tarnishing the reputation and legacy of America's 26th president. Last night, for example, Beck played a game on his show called "Who said it?" in which he matched supposedly damning quotes to the famous "progressive" who uttered them. Among the quotes was Roosevelt's purported exclamation: "To hell with the Constitution when the people want coal!" Beck took this quote, along with a few others, to proclaim: "Anti-business, anti-capitalism, anti-Constitution -- that's what progressives are."
As with most of Beck's revisionist history, this is in need of some context and vigorous fact-checking.
In May 1902, anthracite coal miners in Pennsylvania went on strike, demanding higher wages and shorter hours. Employers refused to deal with the unions, and coal production essentially ground to a halt, sending coal prices through the roof. Roosevelt, as president, intently followed the strike's progress, knowing that he had no authority to intervene, but growing increasingly concerned as winter approached that the short supply of coal -- America's primary source for heat at the time -- would lead to "untold misery ... with the certainty of riots which might develop into social war."
Roosevelt's view was that he, as president, was steward of the national welfare, and that the coal shortage threatened that welfare. As Rutgers history professor John Whiteclay Chambers wrote in The Tyranny of Change: America in the Progressive Era, 1890-1920, Roosevelt believed the president "should intervene in the economy when necessary to contain the most destructive aspects of assertive wealth and provide some protection for its victims. Without strong presidential leadership and some reforms, mounting discontent might explode into widespread militance and even class conflict." [Page 175] Chambers also noted that Roosevelt's interventionist philosophy was tempered with a desire to "preserve American corporate capitalism as it was evolving by regulating it in the public interest."
It was in this context that Roosevelt was alleged to have said: "To hell with the Constitution when the people want coal!" It wasn't an expression of the "anti-Constitution" philosophy Beck attributes to Roosevelt, but rather an acknowledgement by Roosevelt that he considered the threat of widespread fuel riots to be so serious that he would knowingly violate the bounds of his authority by intervening in the coal strike. And Roosevelt did intervene, inviting both labor leaders and employers to the White House for mediations in October 1902, and subsequently threatening to seize control of the mines. The threat worked, and the strike was soon resolved.
As the Labor Department's history of the 1902 coal strike makes clear, Roosevelt knew the risks he was running:
He recognized that under ordinary conditions he had no right to interfere in the strike. But Roosevelt was not the kind of man to "sit by idly" while "misery and death come to the great masses of people in our large cities." He told his Attorney General and Secretary of War that strong action might be an "evil precedent," but he would run the risk of impeachment rather than expose the Nation to chaos.
One can debate whether or not Roosevelt was right to knowingly exceed the limits placed on the executive office in the interest of national welfare, but it's ridiculous to suggest that this one quote from Roosevelt shows that he was, or that progressives in general are, "anti-Constitution."
That's the conditions unchecked, unregulated capitalism brought to this country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. That's the unbalanced system Progressives have always fought against. Then, as now, there were voices crying, "Marxist! Communist! Anarchist!" and saying these ideas somehow violated the Constitution.
Is that the kind of America Beck really wants?
What and kill all our fun here ?
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE REPUBLICAN
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised. All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too.
He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.
Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.
If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that his in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university.
Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax-payer funded roads.
He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans.
The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.
He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.
Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."
The funny thing is that he's demonstrating the fact that Republicans and Democrats have virtually traded places on the political spectrum since the early 1900s. That's why it is meaningless to point out that X number of Democrats voted against the Civil Rights Law 45 years ago. Those Democrats were racist Southern Conservatives.
Well, Lincoln was a Repub. If it wasn't for the whole anti-slavery thing he would have been perfect.
So to were the Founding Fathers. Freedom of speech, rights to bear arms, freedom of Religion, all men are created equal, and no Kings was not the status-quo for governments at that time. As a matter of speaking those ideas were quite radical at that time. Just ask King George.
I think Mr. Beck only shows his ignorance when he tries to revise American history to suite his needs.
James Madison:
James Madison, on a $15,000 appropriation Congress wished to give French refugees in 1794:
What does that quote tell you? I'm not trolling or trying to start a fight. Honestly. That quote is from the father of the Constitution. He wouldn't even consider the idea that it's Constitutional to give a mere $15,000 - which is only about $200,000 now - to help those poor French refugees coming in from Hispaniola. What does that say about how far our government has strayed past the original intent of the Constitution? Republican and Democrat alike. We're broke now because of it.