Where are today's Teddy Roosevelt Republicans ?

President Theodore Roosevelt understood the need to regulate big business and protect the public welfare from the greed of the marketplace. My question is where are the Teddy Roosevelt Republicans of today ? Our country could definitely use a few of them right now.

Thanks to the Rev. Bill McGinnis for calling my attention to this great quote from Teddy Roosevelt:

"I hold that a corporation does ill if it seeks profit in restricting production and then by extorting high prices from the community by reason of the scarcity of the product; through adulterating, lyingly advertising, or over-driving the help; or replacing men workers with children; or by rebates; or in any illegal or improper manner driving competitors out of its way; or seeking to achieve monopoly by illegal or unethical treatment of its competitors, or in any shape or way offending against the moral law either in connection with the public or with its employees or with its rivals. Any corporation which seeks its profit in such fashion is acting badly. It is, in fact, a conspiracy against the public welfare which the Government should use all its powers to suppress.

"If, on the other hand, a corporation seeks profit solely by increasing its products through eliminating waste, improving its processes, utilizing its by-products, installing better machines, raising wages in the effort to secure more efficient help, introducing the principle of cooperation and mutual benefit, dealing fairly with labor unions, setting its face against the underpayment of women and the employment of children; in a word, treating the public fairly and its rivals fairly: then such a corporation is behaving well. It is an instrumentality of civilization operating to promote abundance by cheapening the cost of living so as to improve conditions everywhere throughout the whole community."
Source: Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt

http://patriot.net/~bmcgin/capitalismanddemocracy.html

Time for Food Safety Reform

Dustin Ensinger warns of the vulnerability of our nation's food supply at Economy in Crisis.Org:

In the wake of a rash of food-borne illnesses caused by contaminated peppers, spinach, peanuts and most recently pistachios, one lawmaker is proposing splitting the inept Food and Drug Administration into two separate entities and drastically overhauling the nation's neglected food safety system.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has introduced H.R. 875, the Food and Safety Modernization Act of 2009. The bill would create a new agency, the Food Safety Administration, under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Services, to take over the responsibilities of the FDA.

"There is an urgency that we move on strong food-safety reform. It is a high priority in Congress," Rosa DeLauro, chairwoman of a House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the FDA, said at the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit in Washington. "I'm optimistic that this could finally be the Congress in which we deal with this."

Not only would the bill create an entire new agency to oversee the nation’s food safety, but it would also provide the FDA with mandatory recall authority, make it easier to trace the source of contamination and increase the penalties for companies that sell tainted products.

According to some, reform is severely needed. The nation is left vulnerable through a largely unprotected food supply, they say.

"The U.S. food safety system is seriously out of date and fragmented, leaving Americans vulnerable," said Michelle Larkin, public health team director and senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "We shouldn't have to worry that our kids are going to get sick from their school lunch or that our family is at risk if they eat out at a restaurant or at home."

Indeed, currently, the FDA is tasked with overseeing 80 percent of the nation’s food supply and, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, they are doing an extremely poor job. The CDCP estimates that every year 76 million Americans are afflicted by food poisoning. Of those, an estimated 5,000 will die each year.

"Unfortunately, we wait until people die before we respond when we've known all along there are problems here," DeLauro said, according to Reuters.

The economic cost of having a dangerously vulnerable food supply is in the billions, according to some estimates. That is yet another reason why food safety reform is such a salient issue. A well protected food supply could save the country billions every year in health care costs and lost worker productivity, according to one study on the issue.

"We are way overdue for a makeover," Michelle Larkin of Trust for America's Health, a food safety advocacy group, told The Los Angeles Times. "It costs us around $44 billion annually in medical care and lost productivity, so the stakes are really high."

Source TradeReform.org:

Rosa DeLauro has introduced a food safety bill. It targets imports as one of its provisions. House Ag Committee chairman Collin Peterson has apparently said that imported food safety is a priority for him this year.

Rosa Delauro's bill is H.R. 875. It would create a Food Safety Administration (FSA) within the Department of Health and Human Services that would take over Food and Drug Administration duties relating to food safety but not those of the USDA.

The bill would require domestic and foreign food establishments to register with the FSA, and the registration could be suspended for violations of food safety laws.

http://www.economyincrisis.org/articles/show/2696

An Alternative Model: Economic Democracy

Professor of Christian Ethics Gary Dorrien lectures on an alternative economic model: Economic Democracy.

Hat tip: God's Politics blog
http://blog.sojo.net/2009/04/02/economic-democracy-an-alternative-to-pure-capitalism-or-socialism/

Iowa Catholic Bishops React to Gay Marriage Ruling

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Thanks to a ruling from the State Supreme Court, Iowa has become the fourth state to legalize same sex marriage. In my view, this is a bad decision that should have been left the people of Iowa. The vast majority of Iowans regardless of party affiliation, like most Americans, favor limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

The ruling and the subsequent political fallout is likely to hurt Democrats in Middle America. Iowa Democratic elected officials will have to have ask themselves if they want to follow traditional values and public opinion or pander to a powerful pressure group within the party.

The following is a statement from the Iowa Catholic Bishops which sums up why this decision will negatively impact their state and the rest of the nation:

“Marriage is a basic human and social institution. Though it is regulated by civil laws and church laws, it did not originate from either the church or state, but from God. Therefore, neither church nor state can alter the basic meaning and structure of marriage.

“Marriage, whose nature and purposes are established by God, can only be the union of a man and a woman and must remain such in law. In a manner unlike any other relationship, marriage makes a unique and irreplaceable contribution to the common good of society, especially through the procreation and education of children.

“The union of husband and wife becomes, over a lifetime, a great good for themselves, their family, communities, and society. Marriage is a gift to be cherished and protected.”
(Between Man and Woman: Questions and Answers About Marriage and
Same-sex Unions, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2003)

In August 2007, a Polk County District Court judge struck down Chapter 595.2 of the Iowa Code, which said that “only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid” in the State of Iowa. At the heart of the judge’s ruling was a finding that marriage is a fundamental right. Consequently, the State of Iowa had the burden of proving that it had a compelling interest in withholding marriage from members of the same sex.

On April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Polk Country District Court. According to its own summary, the Supreme Court directed “that the remaining statutory language be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage.”

Because of this decision, we affirm that it is important to work towards the passage of an amendment to Iowa’s Constitution which would define marriage as being between one man and one woman. Amending Iowa’s Constitution requires that two successive General Assemblies pass the legislation, which would then put the amendment to a vote of the people of Iowa.

We are convinced that the passage of this amendment is important for the following reasons.

First, the institution of marriage as a union between one man and one woman goes back to the beginning of recorded human history. Marriage between a man and a woman is a good from the perspectives of both natural law and our Catholic faith. Same-sex marriage, on the other hand, is a creation of the State (or, just of its judiciary) and will likely open the door to redefining as marriage additional relationships, such as polygamy. A constitutional amendment is the best available legal means to protect the traditional understanding of marriage from a redefinition by the judiciary.

Secondly, we affirm that marriage is a gift from God which is essential to the stability of family and society. Society has chosen to protect and promote marriage because of its unique contribution to the common good. For example, marriage between a man and a woman supports responsible behavior in the care of children. Children who are raised by a married father and mother have more positive outcomes, including behavioral and educational accomplishments.

Thirdly, unfortunately, in recent decades, cohabitation and divorce laws have already contributed to a weakening of marriage. This has tended to harm women and children in particular. Usually, children do better physically, emotionally and financially if they are in a stable family relationship of father/mother (husband/wife).

Fourthly, social engineering by judges or legislatures adds to the confusion about the good that marriage offers to society, and weakens the critical relationship between marriage and parenting.

Therefore, we call on Catholics and other citizens of Iowa to reflect carefully on the real social cost of this judicial imposition, and to support the need for a constitutional amendment. We affirm that this is the best way for Iowans to support the ideal of marriage as the stable union of one man and one woman.


Most Rev. Jerome Hanus, OSB, Archbishop of Dubuque
Most Rev. R. Walker Nickless, Bishop of Sioux City
Most Rev. Martin Amos, Bishop of Davenport
Most Rev. Richard Pates, Bishop of Des Moines

http://www.iowacatholicconference.org/bins/site/templates/blank.asp?_resolutionfile=templatespath|blank.asp&area_2=pages/ICC%20Web%20Site/Statements/Marriage%20Amendment%202009

Fabric of America - National TV Ad for the Employee Free Choice Act

Pro-life Democrat Tim Kaine stands by his convictions

Democrats for Life of America writes via Booker Rising:
"The RNC's new Chairman, Michael Steele recently said to GQ Magazine that he supports a pro-choice position. Former Arkansas Governor and candidate for President Mike Huckabee predicted that this comment will lead to pro-life Republicans leaving their party. DFLA sees this as an opportunity to expand the big tent of the Democratic Party by accepting more pro-life views. We believe that many Republicans are only there because it is a more hospitable environment for pro-life Americans. With that now changing, we hope that new DNC Chairman Tim Kaine, himself a pro-life Democrat, will openly invite them to join the pro-life Democratic community across the country."
http://www.bookerrising.net/2009/03/dfla-to-democratic-national-committee.html

Kaine, in his capacity as Virginia Governor, proved that he means business about his pro-life convictions by signing a state law banning embryonic stem cell research funding and legislation authorizing a Choose License license plate.

Bill Lambrecht of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau reports:

Kaine, once a Catholic missionary in Central America, talks freely about faith and carries the credentials to open doors at evangelical gatherings.

He is doing double duty now both as governor and Democratic national chairman, and it was noteworthy today that he split with Harvard pal Obama on a matter that has divided Democrats before.

Kaine signed legislation in his state banning the use of state funds for embryonic stem cell research. He approved the prohibition just three weeks after Obama got out his pen to sign an executive order reversing George W. Bush’s ban on federal funds for stem cell research.

Kaine enacted the law the same day he approved legislation permiting “Choose Life” license tags in the Virginia. You may not see him at the spring get-togethers of the abortion-rights groups.

Kaine’s view toward stem cells would seem to contradict the most recent Democratic Party platform which vows to change course.

It reads: “President Bush has rejected the calls from Nancy Reagan, Christopher Reeve and Americans across the land for assistance with embryonic stem cell research. We will reverse his wrongheaded policy. Stem cell therapy offers hope to more than 100 million Americans …”

A spokeswoman for Kaine told CNN that Kaine’s decision was “in keeping with his faith and his personal beliefs.”

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/dc-download/2009/03/big-demos-split-on-stem-cell-research/

Tim Kaine's record is additional proof that being a pro-life Democrat is not an oxymoron. While not following a single issue agenda, Kaine has the resolve to stand by his convictions despite intense pressure from pro-choice activists to do otherwise.

A New Way Forward: Break Up The Banks

From A New Way Forward www.anewwayforward.org

On April 11, 2009 at 2pm ET/11am PT, there will be protests in cities across the country to break the power of the financial industry and the bankers that caused the current economic crisis. With growing frustration over unemployment, foreclosures and how the government has responded to the economic crisis so far, a web organizing platform, http://www.anewwayforward.org, has emerged to allow people and groups to organize around a progressive approach to economic recovery. The ground up, localized organizing effort to influence national policy is expected to culminate in at least one protest in every state.

"Through campaign money and lobbyists, the financial industry has been pushing politicians to protect their interests in these hard economic times," said one of the website creators. "It's time for the public to demand that Congress and the Obama administration put the well being of all people over the greed of the bankers. Our government will continue to be corrupted by the financial industry if people don't speak out and demand that Congress put the public interest first in everything they do."

The website proposes three key principles for economic reform:

NATIONALIZE: Insolvent banks that are too big to fail must incur a FDIC intervention -- no more taxpayer handouts.

REORGANIZE: Current CEOs and board members must be removed and bonuses wiped out. The financial elite must share in the cost of what they have caused.

DECENTRALIZE: Banks must be broken up and sold back to the private market with new antitrust rules in place-- new banks managed by new people.

The site allows anyone to sign up their city for a protest and begin working out the details with other local protesters in designated forums. Though each protest will be executed differently by different groups of people, the website provides a national community that will help draw attention, support and resources to the local efforts.

"We expect the unemployed, the foreclosed, the Obama supporters, the progressives, and those who are seeing their country slip away, to make their voice heard -- this country can't be hijacked by the banks anymore," said one of the website creators. "People will come out of the woodwork and lead others to express our majority opinion and our public will."

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 11.6 million people are unemployed as of January, 2009 and home foreclosures were up 81 percent in 2008 from the previous year. Americans are disappointed with how the legislative process has failed to represent their daily concerns. They are angry that CEOs at bailed-out banks continue to get $100 million bonuses while economic stimulus and foreclosure prevention legislation gets watered down by Democratic and Republican conservatives in Congress at the behest of big finance.

The website is designed as a tool for the public to proactively gain influence over their elected officials, even if they lack the financial and political resources. The national protest and the sentiment behind them are a way to show the government that voting citizens across the country are paying attention and they demand action on the economy that protects them, not the bankers.

Links:

http://anewwayforward.org/demonstrations/

http://anewwayforward.org/the_idea/