Theodore Roosevelt Quotes
Formerly, in every campaign, national, state, or local, the office-holders were assessed all round, as a matter of course. The party committees, after consultations with the heads of departments, notified office holders outright what amount--usually about two per cent of their salary -they would be expected to pay; and at the appointed day they marched up, paid, and got their receipts.
“Assessing” did not mean evaluating. It described a process where each civil servant was “assessed” an amount of money—based on his salary—that was to be paid to the Political Party that appointed him. This historical quotation gives us a feel for the common political practice of 19th century. In the 21st century, this practice looked unethical and corrupt. Consider that Americans of the 22nd century will likely view private campaign contributions as corrupt. Standards have improved over time in America.
Theodore Roosevelt, 1858-1919, 26th President of the United States (Republican, NY), “Political Assessments in the Coming Campaign”, The Atlantic Monthly, July 1882
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
“Assessing” did not mean evaluating. It described a process where each civil servamt was “assessed” an amount of money—based on his salary—that was to be paid to the Political Party that appointed him. The specific corrupt process of “assessing” he described well in {629355}. Roosevelt had worked at the local, state and Federal levels of government. All had tolerated a great deal of this form of corruption. At the time this article was written, the Federal reforms had begun to take effect. Some states and local governments followed, but the average level of corruption being most at the local level, next at the state level, and least at the Federal level, as TR observed then was essentially the same into the 21st century. Government corruption was generally less, but relatively it was worst at the local level and least at the Federal level. At the end of the 20th century for example, every Kentucky County Commissioner except 1 was convicted and jailed for taking bribes and kickbacks from highway and road construction contractors. Corruption at the Federal Level was less.
As a candidate for the Republican Presidential Nomination, Trump was very forthright about the fact that when he was a business tycoon, he gave money to many politicians not for any ideological reasons but he considered the money an investment which paid off handsomely. Almost all large campaign donors believe that they are making an investment and most have continued to be satisfied with the results so they continue to donate. See {583282} as an example of Trump's candid view.
A century afterwards, the biggest change was that the price of the Senate seat had gone up and the Political Action Committees had joined the Party Treasuries as the recipients of the money In the early 21st century almost all the Senators were multi-millionaires.
See {640687}. He was then very worried about the influence of money in politics and was willing to risk his own reelection by limiting his contributions. And he was the Republican presidential candidate so his policy was particularly unusual. A century later money in politics had ballooned to a much larger problem as Taft’s action had little or no effect on the overall relationship between money and politics outside of his campaign.
This seeming non-sequitur actually has a logic behind it. Flake argues that if the Federal government were much smaller, and spent much less money, rich individuals and companies could not be able to get as much out of government and therefore would not invest large sums of money in lobbyists who, in turn, would then not have the money with which to tempt and bribe congressmen and women.
Harry S Truman
- Born: October 27, 1858
- Died: January 6, 1919
- Nationality: American
- Profession: Nobel Peace Prize
Theodore Roosevelt Jr., often referred to as Teddy or his initials T. R., was an American statesman, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer, who served as the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. He previously served as 33rd governor of New York from 1899 to 1900 and the 25th vice president of the United States from March to September 1901. Roosevelt emerged as a leader of the Republican Party and became a driving force for anti-trust and Progressive policies.
