Theodore Roosevelt: Liberal Or Radically Conservative?

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In today’s political culture, many people choose which candidate they will support based upon where he or she lies on the political spectrum. Where someone would lie in the political spectrum is based upon his or her viewpoints on the economy, foreign policy, defense, social issues, and almost anything else that an elected official would have to make a decision upon. The main categories of the political spectrum are: radically liberal, establishment liberal, moderate, establishment conservative, and radically conservative. An example of a 2016 presidential candidate for each each category of the political spectrum in that respective order is: Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz. Some candidates, like Donald …show more content…
While politicians on both the left and right would agree that a consumer needs to be protected by law, Roosevelt did something most conservatives would never think of; he supported the creation of a new government program. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was created in 1906 under the Pure Foods and Drugs Act. This was really just one example as to how Teddy Roosevelt was a big government politician, which associates himself with more liberal-minded politicians.This ties in with his trust busting. He busted those trusts to prove that the government was more powerful than businesses. Once again, I would say that he is liberal on this …show more content…
However, he was still a member of the GOP, so he obviously was not extremely liberal. On the political spectrum, Roosevelt belongs in between establishment liberal and moderate, making him a moderate liberal. Present day politicians he would be most like are Jim Webb and George Pataki. Of course, both Pataki and Roosevelt have been the Republican governor of New York with moderate liberal viewpoints. Although I believe that he was a moderate liberal, many other political scientists could disagree with me. Some he could believe he was Bernie Sanders left, some could argue he was Ted Cruz right, some could say he was straight down the middle, even others could say he was most like Donald Trump for how badly each of them scared Republican elites. No matter what someone’s opinion of President Theodore Roosevelt is, no one can argue with the fact that he had a great presidency and he truly deserves to be upon Mount

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