Teddy's the Man

Every once in a while, reading quotes of great men from the past, a figure stands out to you. Each person may look for something different. For some, it is someone who fights a cause they are for, for some it is the eloquence of an individual, and for some it is the impact they had on history. For me, Theodore Roosevelt stands out amongst many other great men. That is not to say I do not like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, General Patton, or even John C. Calhoun (yes he did support slavery, but his arguments for state's rights were incredibly eloquent and thought provoking). Teddy stands out because, well, you can find tons of his quotes in books and on the internet. He talked big, but he had no problem acting big either. Whether bringing the coal miner strike in Pennsylvania to an end (and keeping the Northeast from freezing to death in their homes) or working as a mediator to bring peace in the Russo-Japanese war, his strong convictions were a driving force.
"Peace is generally good in itself, but it is never the highest good unless it comes as the handmaid of righteousness; and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and sloth, or as an instrument to further the ends of despotism or anarchy. "
Peacenik pacifists take note: yes peace is good. However, when you allow people to do whatever they want (like a spoiled child getting everything they cry for), society will eventually fall apart. Tolerance is good, but even tolerance has a breaking point into allowing someone else to rule over you and everything you do.
"Rhetoric is a poor substitute for action, and we have trusted only to rhetoric. If we are really to be a great nation, we must not merely talk; we must act big."
This goes to all the politicians, national, state, and local. Talk is cheap. If you want to be reelected, show us the goods. Fight for what is right and help your nation, not just your party. Anyone can talk, be a man (or woman) and visibly push for your platform. If you do this, you will never be without a job (i.e. the Democrats didn't sponsor a candidate to run against Senator Dick Lugar, R-IN, since becoming older he has become a statesman, not a politician).
"The American people are slow to wrath, but once that wrath is kindled, it burns like a consuming flame."
Apparently Al-Quieda didn't read this. Unfortunately, it seems now days we need to add "but the flame can die if a victory does not come about overnight." We want everything condensed into a half hour sitcom.
"There is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any sense of moral responsibility."
Doctors kill over a million babies in America alone each year before they are born. Hospitals push to allow the euthanizing of older people because the hospital board feels the person wouldn't want to live that way (let alone cost the hospital more money). I am supposed to allow a friend to destroy their life because the philosophers today champion personal freedom at all cost. My Christian belief is not allowed in the public square because lawyers say it can damage other people's sensibilities.
The next three go together. "The first requisite of a good citizen in this Republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight." And " There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism…. The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities." And "The man who loves other countries as much as his own stands on a level with the man who loves other women as much as he loves his own wife."
A citizen must fulfill his duty for society to exist (work, vote, defend the nation if attacked, etc.). If enough ignore it, society collapses. Secondly, hyphenated Americanism has led to a great decline in patriotism in our country. It has dividedts people into an us versus them attitude (after all, this is an American country, not an African-American country, or Hispanic country, etc). Our nation is slowly devolving into a feudal system, not coalescing into one nation. And finally, to have the spirit to change your country for the better requires you to love it more than another country. If you love France more that America, what would possess you to change America? Nothing, you will just sit there and complain while wishing you were in France. And please, if you'd rather be there, please, please GO!