07-23-2020, 08:54 AM
I'm not sure where my attitude on all of this comes from, but I'm not a huge fan of statues and monuments for people in general. I like things people wrote, said, did, etc., but I like that thing. I have a couple of quotes in my signature because I find those quotes to be pearls of wisdom when it comes to governance. When is comes to Theodore Roosevelt, I think he was an honorable person and I admired his views on the environment, but his American imperalist attitude was problematic at best and he was a proponent of eugenics out of fear of deterioration of the "American race." FDR did some fantastic things for our country and tried hard to uplift the lowest of Americans, while at the same time emotionally abandoning his wife and having several affairs.
Much like how I have a tendency to not call people racist, but rather their actions or words, I try to focus on the actions and words of an individual and venerate those specifically, not the person. I also feel like the framers of our country would feel like this great experiment is bigger than them. Washington specifically stepped down after two terms and rejected the offer to be king. I brought this up in the holidays thread, before, but I don't think he would be a huge fan of the way he is nearly worshiped in this country. Jefferson was a governor, vice-president, president, secretary of state, but none of that is what he wanted to be remembered for. Writing the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and the founding of UVA. Those things were what he wanted to be known and I think that attitude is one that many of the framers likely had. His legacy exists in those immense accomplishments, not within the walls of Monticello, his time in Washington, or the monument that exists for him in the city.
Much like how I have a tendency to not call people racist, but rather their actions or words, I try to focus on the actions and words of an individual and venerate those specifically, not the person. I also feel like the framers of our country would feel like this great experiment is bigger than them. Washington specifically stepped down after two terms and rejected the offer to be king. I brought this up in the holidays thread, before, but I don't think he would be a huge fan of the way he is nearly worshiped in this country. Jefferson was a governor, vice-president, president, secretary of state, but none of that is what he wanted to be remembered for. Writing the Declaration of Independence, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and the founding of UVA. Those things were what he wanted to be known and I think that attitude is one that many of the framers likely had. His legacy exists in those immense accomplishments, not within the walls of Monticello, his time in Washington, or the monument that exists for him in the city.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
