What Would Teddy Roosevelt Do?
Timothy Stagich, Ph.D.
With our economy struggling to create jobs, businesses too big to fail and the lack of leadership in Congress, what would past Presidents such as Teddy Roosevelt do to get America back on track? It is not too difficult to imagine how President Roosevelt would deal with our present problems, especially concerning the economy. As his legacy was one of action to protect free enterprise and keep a level playing field for all business, he would almost certainly be working to break up the large Wall Street firms and banking companies that were labeled “too big to fail.” And, he would be trying to create more control of the derivative and shadow banking system on Wall Street or eliminate it completely. And, he would not wait for the stagnation in Congress to change. He would be setting the agenda for job creation and what needs to be done to put the country back on track as a global leader in employment and innovation in business.
Teddy was a true leader and man of action with values and principles. During his administration he was known as the “Trust Buster” breaking up over sixty companies that were too big and threatened to dominate the marketplace. He was the protector of free enterprise and he realized that the domination of out of control corporations and capitalism run amok were not healthy for the marketplace. And, he led America through a period of great economic growth during the industrial revolution. Today, if he were alive I am sure he would be appalled by the lack of leadership and movement toward a healthier approach to free enterprise and regulations that protect the consumer and the marketplace from the inevitable greed that arises from out of control business.
Regarding Congress, he would not be very tolerant of the inaction and partisan politics by many Republicans and even some Democrats. He would confront their inability to lead and solve the problems of the country. And, then he would propose an agenda that would take the country on a new course to stimulate the economy, spur innovation and encourage more companies to remain in America to build their businesses. He would never have repealed the Glass Steagal Act and he would have kept the consumer banks from direct involvement with Wall Street trading. Also, he would never have developed the derivative market through the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000. And, he never would have supported NAFTA and the outsourcing of American jobs.
In contrast, President Roosevelt would have encouraged businesses to reinvest their profits in their companies instead of paying so much of it to investors and to build better organizations and businesses instead of bleeding the profits out of them. Working for the long term future of the country he would have had the vision to foresee and prevent many of the problems that were rooted in greed and deception holding backroom deals to sell out the American people for the benefit of the rich. He would have known that good businesses and the American Middle Class deserve better than Machiavellian politicians and deals that really only benefit the rich and the powerful and in the long term hurt almost everyone else. Also, over time as the country suffers because of shortsightedness of our leaders and bad decisions, even the rich suffer as consumers lose their jobs and have less to invest and to spend. And, soon the Middle Class and the poor will join forces to rise up in protest. Certainly, Teddy would have prevented all of this with real leadership and his famous policy of “Walk softly but carry a big stick.”
Today, we need to remember what great leaders such as Roosevelt would have done to make America strong and to follow his example with leadership that is based on values and principles supporting what is best in our businesses and our people. Hopefully, Americans will not forget what real leadership is and reject those false leaders who are more interested in partisan politics and personal ambition than solving the problems of our country.
Copyright 2012, Global Leadership Resources
