Federal Government and Citizenship
Roosevelt believes if the states can’t solve the common problems, it becomes the responsibility of the federal government.
He only floats that notion once during his presidency and that’s in his second term on November 22, 1906. He's attending a celebration in Philadelphia for James Wilson.
Wilson was a Pennsylvania founding father and a strong nationalist. He is considered the father of the electoral college. At the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that helped break the stalemate between the Virginia and New Jersey Plans.
Wilson was the only one to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. George Washington appointed him to the Supreme Court on September 24, 1789.
Roosevelt didn’t agree with his father’s belief that philanthropy was service to the nation. Instead, TR believes service to the nation means the redistribution of the nation’s wealth. He spells it out in his 1910 Osawatomie Speech in Kansas and goes so far as to say even if you provide service, but you are over-paid you don’t deserve property ownership. He believes we have gone beyond a period of competition to a period of cooperation.
When it comes to conservations TR sees it as both land conservation and human conservation and both require regulation. He also believes under his “New Nationalism” you didn’t solely create your business; you needed others to be successful. You can't do it alone.
That notion is seen in Barak Obama’s contention, “You didn’t build that.” That is why it’s no surprise Obama kicked off his re-election campaign in Osawatomie, Kansas in December 2011.
