Its presidents day and the talking head on TV are trying to advance
their political agendas by claiming the greatest presidents was a member of
this or that political party. For me the historical truth about party label is
misleading. We can judge the political philosophy of past presidents by their speeches
and actions viewed through the lens of time. What is startling is that the
labels we use today do not match the historical labels. George Washington had a
soft spot in his heart for a monarchical form of government but sincerely wanted
independence for George III. He was a rich man but knew there were poor white people.
He knew there were leaders and followers but he also knew he was a leader. In other words, he was an economic elitist who
wanted to be president but did not want to be a monarch. He would have been a
Republican in today’s world. He owned slaves but knew that one man owning another
man was morally repugnant nonetheless, could not give up his “rights of
ownership” and still be faithful to his innate feelings.
Thomas Jefferson was a rich man and a slave owner but adamantly
supported the right of “all” the people to vote as long as they were white men.
His republicanism was so deeply imbedded he overlook the excess of the French
revolution. He was convinced that black people could not live in a divided
society; the black people should be free but be free somewhere else. My mother
always told me she was a Jeffersonian Democrat; I am not sure what that meant
other than she believed everyone had the right to vote regardless of color or
gender.
Abraham Lincoln grew up in humble circumstances. He knew that
slavery was wrong but did not know exactly how to abolish the practice and
still preserve the union. Had the Civil War not happened I am almost sure he
would have done something about it but as much as he eventually did. We can
only shutter at the thought of what would have happened had the South been
successful in the Civil War but they weren’t. He did abolished slavery and did
hold the union together. Historians list him as being a Republican, and paved
the way for talking heads to claim Republican held the nation together and as being
staunch defenders of the abolition of slavery. We all know the Republicans all
left the Democratic Party to become Republicans when Lyndon Johnson signed the
Civil Right Act. As for holding the Union together, look at a red map verses a
blue map during the election of Barack Obama.
Teddy Roosevelt was a protector of the people’s right to
enjoy the benefits of competition, free enterprise. His antitrust legislation
is a triumph for the working people, a democratic goal. His fame as a protector
of the natural resources is central to his image as a former president. The
modern Republican label just did not fit his actions: environmental protection and
government regulation is asthma to Republicanism of 2013. Nonetheless,
his aggressive foreign policy as evidenced by the Spanish America War, the Philippines,
and Panama Canal negotiations seemed consistent with modern neo-con policy.
We can look at these
four faces on the Mount Rushmore and wonder what in reality do political labels
mean. Those who follow my blog understand that I believe there are two opposing
political philosophies, selfishness vs. altruism, parochial vs. cosmopolitan, or
egocentric vs. ethnocentric. Our political believes are innate and those collections
of beliefs are what we struggle to name. Even the best debater in the world
could not convince a true Republican to become a true Democrat any more that I
can paint a donkey red and make it a democrat or paint an elephant blue and
make it a republican. We can look at Lyndon Johnson and Barrack Obama just as
we can look at Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and label them, but when we do,
we are identifying their innate political philosophies. I think we are getting
better at classifications as time goes by it is just that the labels we use are
not informative because they are not descriptive.
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