During the campaign, John McCain described Teddy Roosevelt as his model. I found myself reading Teddy Roosevelt's Progressive Principles (1912), a collection of campaign speeches he made as the nominee of the Progressive Party that year. While many of the individual sentiments are easy to sympathize with--especially with what I know of the abuses of the era--his view of the role of constitutions versus popular government makes me cringe:
Constitution-makers should make it clear beyond shadow of doubt that the people in their legislative capacity have the power to enact into law any measure they deem necessary for the betterment of social and industrial conditions. The wisdom of framing any particular law of this kind is a proper subject of debate; but the power of the people to enact the law should not be subject to debate. To hold the contrary view is to be false to the cause of the people, to the cause of American democracy.There's no question that there were great evils in desperate need of correction at the time. But to argue that any law that the people choose to enact "for the betterment of social and industrial conditions" takes precedence over rights protected by the federal or state constitutions is a truly frightening concept. It is no coincidence that the Progressive Era was awash in passage of racially discriminatory laws, Prohibition, the Harrison Narcotic Act, and many other laws that were, at best, clumsy and incompetent. And these laws were always justified by the need for "betterment of social and industrial conditions."
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