But they won't.
President Roosevelt also spoke out against the type of corruption represented by the Koch Brothers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Rupert Murdoch, and Karl Rove; become rampant since the Supreme Court's corrupt decision in Citizens United v. FEC:
"If our political institutions were perfect, they would absolutely prevent the political domination of money in any part of our affairs. We need to make our political representatives more quickly and sensitively responsive to the people whose servants they are. More direct action by the people in their own affairs under proper safeguards is vitally necessary. The direct primary is a step in this direction, if it is associated with a corrupt-practices act effective to prevent the advantage of the man willing recklessly and unscrupulously to spend money over his more honest competitor. It is particularly important that all moneys received or expended for campaign purposes should be publicly accounted for, not only after election, but before election as well. Political action must be made simpler, easier, and freer from confusion for every citizen. I believe that the prompt removal of unfaithful or incompetent public servants should be made easy and sure in whatever way experience shall show to be most expedient in any given class of cases." -- Theodore Roosevelt, speech at Osawatomie, Kansas, "The New Nationalism" (August 31, 1910)
The actions of the Republican dominated Supreme Court in the post-Reconstruction period were very pro-business and anti-human being. These included Santa Clara County v. The Southern Pacific Railroad, which was misused to establish corporate personhood, and Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the concept of separate but equal segregation. The corporations were literally permitted to commit murder and extortion in the name of profit, often with the tacit support of Republican politicians who made the state militia available as the corporation's cudgel. These draconian methods for dealing with striking workers were used at the Homestead, Pennsylvania steel mill in 1892, and against the striking coal miners in Southern Colorado that led to the Ludlow Massacre in 1914.
At the same time came the muckrakers: Upton Sinclair (The Jungle), Ida Tarbell (The History of Standard Oil), and Lincoln Steffens (The Shame of the Cities), among others. Through their books and articles, America became aware of the widespread corruption in its upper class and corporations, and demanded reform.
In his nearly eight years as President, Theodore Roosevelt did what he could to start setting right the wrongs that plagued the nation he loved. He began the process that broke up Standard Oil and the other large trusts that controlled petroleum, sugar, tobacco, copper and other industries in the United States. He left office in 1909, believing his Vice President, William Taft, would carry on his Progressive agenda.
Roosevelt would be disappointed.
A little more than a year later, TR realized his mistake and began a campaign to unseat Taft as the GOP standard bearer and President in 1912. The speech he made on August 31, 1910 at Osawatomie, Kansas, "The New Nationalism", was the beginning of that campaign. Part of his speech was aimed at the Republican Party hacks who were trying to roll back the reforms of TR's eight years in office:
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