Robert Reich articulated something that has been bouncing around my head since 2016

  • blackbelt352@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Well Abraham Lincoln did get a letter from Karl Marx congratulating him on a winning second term and how the civil war’s fight against slavery was a huge positive direction for workers all across the world. And Franklin Roosevelt despite blemishes like the internment of Japanese American citizens did a lot for protections for the working class. And all the things Teddy Roosevelt did that VaultDweller replied with.

    As for political party… uuuuh yeah not really.

    • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      Hey now dont ya dare discount Theodore Roosevelt, he laid the groundwork for Franklin Roosevelt in many ways. He also established the national parks, pushed early environmental legislation, and broke up corporations with his trust busting efforts. And thats not even getting into his conservatorship and diplomatic efforts. Really most of his bad spots are the definition of part of his era, IE the whole white mans burden shtick. But even then he generally respected the cultures he interacted with, which puts him leagues above his contemporaries with maybe some colonial commanders who actually knew the locals they were in charge of and respected them.

      • blackbelt352@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Truuue Teddy did do quite a lot progressive in his time, even by our modern standards.

        Maybe Eisenhower too? At least with his warning about the military industrial complex.

        • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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          4 months ago

          He also did a shit tonne of infrastructure shit. The modern highway system being the magnum opus, shich while yes it did bring attention away from rail it also allowed a logistics boom on a scale not seen sinc the creation of the trans continental lines. Also highways can be squiggly as fuck unlike rail where you have to go somewhat straight. Also he helped reinforce new deal era policies and adviced Kennedy qoute a bit especially during the Cuban missile crisis.