We noted the passing of Wendell Berry here on September 1, but I didn't go into much introspection on him in relation to us. This omission was, ironically, time caused.
I didn't have time to.
Since Berry's death I've ready comments by people, principally on Twitter, reflecting on how influential Berry was on them. He was certainly influential on me, but not quite in the way that he was on others. Berry wasn't the source of my world view. Rather, what he was was the distiller of it.
I had an Agrarian mindset before I'd ever heard of Berry. I came into Berry, in fact, because I had an agrarian mindset. Indeed, I had an agrarian mindset before I had heard of agrarianism in a philosophical sense. I was really a nascent agrarian by the time I graduated from high school, although only vaguely so.
By the time I had graduated from university as an undergrad, I was a full blown, if undefined, agrarian. What I really wanted to do was to hunt, fish and garden, and be allowed to do so. If I could have, I would have ranched. I didn't have the means to do that, or to make my other goals my present habitus or mode of living, at least in full, although at the time wildgame provided most of my meat, and my father's garden most of my produce. What I didn't have, was a good and steady income and the destruction of the extractive economy, which I was disenchanted with anyhow, kept me from having one. I had already found a literary fellow traveller in the form of Aldo Leopold.
Law school seemed my only option, and so I went.
The Agrarian impulse however only strengthened during that time. Getting out of law school in 1990 I recall telling a friend of mine that I had no ambition, as all I wanted to do was ranch. He told me that didn't mean I had no ambition, that was my ambition. Well, that's one of those insights that is a bit shocking when you first hear it, but it was correct. At that time I still carried a sort of weltanschauung that required me to make something of myself in the eyes of the world, something that had been instilled by my mother.
In spite of starting practicing law, my agrarian world outlook only increased. At that time I discovered the Southern Agrarians somehow, which was mind blowing. For the first time, really, I learned that there others who held the same viewpoints on many things that I did. The Southern Agrarians, who are very problematic on some things, nonetheless really helped define my philosophical worldview to me and I realized that what I was, was an agrarian.
The Southern Agrarians were almost all dead by that point in time. Only Andrew Nelson Lytle was left alive. So the movement seemed to be dead itself, but the arrival of the Internet allowed even a very isolated person such as myself to learn who else was out there. That lead me to Gene Logsdon and Wendell Berry. Berry was by far the more influential.
Indeed, Berry took the world out look I had and really distilled it. There were a lot of things I believed but I didn't have the existential nature of defined. Berry did that for me. His influence on how I sese the world was massive.
Distilling my world view didn't stop with Berry. Sometime after discovering him I discovered the Distributist, including Chesterton, and that really completed it, basically. I often say, when there's ears to hear it, that while not all Distributists are Agrarians, all Agrarians are Distributist.
Berry stands in my intellectual formation with Leopold and Chesterton, three men who now are at some lively gathering beyond the veil.
Berry's death is a major and tragic loss for the intellectual life of the nation. Not just agrarianism, but the soul of the United States itself. Berry lived life the way it really should be lead. He was deeply Christian (he was a Baptist) and a man of letters who farmed. He saw America for what it was, what it had become, and what it should return to. He advocated for Christian principles and lived a Christian life, while having a deep land ethic and understanding of the land itself. He urged us to "become native to this place".
I've never really been able to pull off what he lived and advocated. But I may be about to.
Berry, in his youth, was an opponent of the Vietnam War in a region that was likely not opposed to it. His departure comes during the reign of Donald Trump.
Berry, like all true agrarians in contemporary society, likely knew that what he stood for was not going to be adopted by the culture at large. The Southern Agrarians were already lamenting the destruction of the last of agrarianism during the 1930s. The Unsettling of America, a masterpiece, was published in 1977. Particularly after the election of Ronald Reagan, each passing year has made the plight of agrarians worse in this country, as its yielded to an unprincipled culture and greed. Restraints placed on the evolution by the law, which do exist, and by the culture, which also exist but which are greatly weakened, have nearly fallen by the wayside.
Berry was 93 when he died this past week. Donald Trump, suffering from dementia in the Oval Office while nearly ruling as a dictator, is 80 years old. Berry was of the Silent Generation (Leopold was of the Lost Generation). Trump is a Baby Boomer and virtually defines that generation, in spite of what many in it would like to believe.
Berry stood for, and will continue to stand for, the opposite that everything Donald Trump does. He was a sincere Christian deeply in nature and the virtues of self control on al things. Trump is, at best, a faux Christian who stands for destruction and avarice. They represent the two poles that struggle for the soul of the nation, one who would anchor us in a quiet and unassuming harbor, and another who would drag us out into and down under in the tempest.
Wendell Berry, August 5, 1934 – August 31, 2026. May the perpetual light shine upon him.
Foothill Agrarian: What would Danny Branch do?: Wendell Berry’s passing this week hit me harder than I expected. I started reading Wendell Berry’s fiction shortly after graduating from col...
Ugh, just when the first corn fed, cornfederate legislature was safely in the history books, the Management Council met. Of course, the same dumb ideas that get rejected repeatedly are back up for reconsideration, at least in part.
I hear we want to do the election review again and redo the same bills that just died three weeks ago ... in exchange for 911 funding.
Tara Nethercott.
The corner crossing bill won't be back, which is too bad.
Vote the WFC out and send them back to pre 1964 Alabama where they'll be happy.
I was aware this legislation had been introduced. Frankly, Anti SLAPP provisions are really tricky as they're based, basically, on pre judging a litigants intent.
The money has to come from somewhere. Property taxes rise because in no small part new people come in and overpay in the local housing market, and otherwise inflate it.
A better idea would be to have an unrealized sales tax on the sale of real property from other states that
is used by a person within five years of moving to Wyoming.
Thank goodness. This idea was outright unworkable.
August 29, 2026
Things are going to be rough from now until the the beginning of the next legislative session as the members of the deposed Freedom Caucus be a general pain.
The WFC food fight at the legislature continues as Chip Neiman took to Facebook to pout over Senators walking out of the recent pointless joint meeting.
As Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives, I’m entrusted with the responsibility of appointing legislators to standing committees. It’s a charge I didn’t take lightly upon my election to the Speakership.
I’m proud of the members of the House Minerals and Appropriations Committees for finishing the job they took up for the interim pertaining to local government infrastructure funding and the Wyoming Business Council.
Today, the Senate walked out on Wyoming cities, towns and counties. Conversely, the House committee members remained steadfast in order to deliver the strongest local government funding model seen in decades. This bill will fund local infrastructure and benefit every local jurisdiction and citizen.
The Legislature isn’t a place for turf warfare.
I worry for the future of the Wyoming Legislature. I encourage those new members coming to Cheyenne, to remember who they serve; not a committee, a chamber or any particular lobbying outfit, they serve the people of Wyoming. See less
Neiman notes that he's Speaker of the House in the legislature, which is true, but he's on his way out and is a lame duck. The complaint that the "Legislature isn't a place for turf warfare" is really rich given that the WFC acted like the first Vandals in Rome in Cheyenne. If it's turf warfare, they started it.
We're going to see a lot more of this. The WFC has been kicked to the curb, but like the the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) in the Battle of Berlin, it's going to see that everything is destroyed that it can destroy before it goes.
One common theme we're now seeing in connection with the WFC losing is this one that appears in the comments to Nieman:
Me too! We are quickly becoming a blue state, just as Charlie Kirk predicted!😢
I've scene that more than once now.
People who make that comment are deluded. I don't know about this person, but they're likely also carpetbaggers. Wyoming is a conservative state, but it's not a Turning Point USA Southern Bible Belt state. This is why traditionally there was no support for restricting abortion much here (which I do feel should be restricted, and indeed illegal) and nobody cared much whether somebody was a homosexual or not, which apparently is also no longer the case. The local view, and it was expressed in the Democratic and Republican parties, wsa "I don't care what you do as long as you leave me alone". The WFC didn't want to leave people alone.
As for Charlie Kirk and his predications, I'm increasingly in the "I don't care what Charlie had to say" camp. I don't mean to sound like a Kirk basher, but those politicos and their followers that are Kirk acolytes increasingly don't impress me. Kirk was brought to UW by one of his collegiate admirers who went on to work for Hageman and get canned for following Francoist website, with the same fellow then managing Chuck Gray's campaign. That's a good enough reason not to vote for Gray, although were are are plenty of other reasons not to do so. Anyhow, Kirk never reflected a Wyoming point of view.
This is a result of the defeat of the WFC, and that Wyomingites did not rise to the occasion to take advantage of a bevy of potential exemptions, at least one of which was in my view likely illegal.
The last year made it increasingly obvious where local funding came from for municipalities and counties, which likely helps explain this.
And so we're off and running for the General Election, which in Wyoming's case means the election is pretty much over for the statewide races. Sure, the contest officially carries on, but chances are that the Republican nominees will take everything.
Still, this year, there's a chance, here and there. . .
So, our early predictions.*
Governor:
Republican. Eric Barlow
Barlow is a rancher, veterinarian, and long time legislature.
He's won this race and the General Election in this case is a mere formality.
Democrat. Kenneth Casner
75 year old making his third pointless bid for the Governor's office. He won't win, everyone knows he won't win, and he shouldn't be running.
Casner's appearance says something, however, about the state of the Democratic Party in Wyoming, and it's the opposite of what's happening in much of the rest of the country. In much of the country Democratic voters are rising up and tossing out geezer candidates, but in Wyoming the Democratic ranks are so depleted the Democrats are falling back on them, which is not a good sign.
Casner would have done his party a favor if he hadn't run.
Constitution Party: Rebecca Bextel.
The Constitution Party is a gadfly far right political party which was once the home of people who now populate the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. Indeed, it's their proper home, which shows in the one candidate of theirs which we know to exist, Rebecca Bextel.
The central figure in CheckGate, Bextel is flat out delusional and is running as she feared that Brent Bien would lose and there would not be any candidates running for the true interpretation of the Double Secret Constitution known only to the Wyoming Freedom Caucus. Bextel appears to seriously believe that Barlow could only win if vast hoards of Democrats, which don't exist in Wyoming crossed over to vote for Barlow and that in the general election the great mass of MAGA/WFC true believers will carry the day.
With the WFC having received a titanic dope slap in the primary, a rational person in her position would drop out. But then, running as a Constitution Party candidate shows demonstrated irrationality.
Endorsement: Barlow by far.
Secretary of State
Republican: Robert Short.
Short is an excellent choice and will take the office.
Democrat: Bryan McCarthy.
McCarty actually has an impressive business background and has worked as an auditor. He should be given credit for running, although he probably should have run for State Auditor.
He's going to lose and it's not even going to be close.
Endorsement: Robert Short.
State Auditor
Republican Kristi Racines won an uncontested Republican primary race and no Democrats ran.
State Treasurer
Curt Meier won his bid to run again in the primary for the Republicans and no Democrats ran.
Senator
Republican: Harriet Hageman.
63 (soon to be 64) year old incumbent Congressman with a terrible record on public lands who came up due to the "hate Cheney" wave two years ago. If she wins, she'll be 70 at the end of her first term.
Democrat: James Byrd.
72 year old former legislator, geophysicist, and businessman. Really impressive overall, but he is in his 70s.
This race features two candidates who are pushing what we regard age limits. Hageman is a nightmare of a candidate however.
Byrd actually stands a chance in this race, but it's a real uphill battle.
Endorsement: We won't vote for Hageman, which leaves Byrd the only realistic choice, and by and large he's a good one, but we aren't doing an endorsement yet.
House of Representatives
Republican: Chuck Gray
Gray is a carpetbagger about whom Wyomingites know utterly nothing, other than he's an adoring sycophant of Donald Trump, he sent Wyoming's voter rolls to the Federal Government illegally, he has a nasty public personality, and he's a Californian who went to Wharton. About him personally, we know utterly nothing.
Having received only 25% of the primary vote, his election to the House can't be assured.
Democrat: Lisa Kinney
About the worst candidate the Democrats could have chosen for this position, 75 year old Kinney can't win the office and is a remnant of an earlier era in more ways than one. Her being the nominee is a sign of the absolutely pathetic state of the Wyoming Democratic Party.
Libertarian: Shaun Johnson
Like the Constitution Party, the Libertarian Party has become so obscure their state's organization doesn't even list their candidates. This is the only one we know to exist.
Johnson is a lawyer presently in Thermopolis. I don't think he stands a chance, but I'll note that former Wyoming legislator Tim Stubson, who once ran for Congress, has endorsed him, which shows the depth to which a lot of Republicans despise Chuck Gray.
Write In: Kevin Christensen?
A building movement to mount a write in campaign for Christensen, who ran in the GOP primary, exists. He came up late in the primary election and got 21,632 to Chuck's 31,222. While that's about 9,000 more votes, both Balow and Gilat, both seen as early possibilities for defeating Chuck, received over 10,000 votes. Even gadfly Reid Rasner received a little over 10,000 votes.
If we had Alaska's system, Christensen, along with Friess and Balow, would be on the election in the Fall. If we had the system in which the top two vote getters were on the ballot, Gray and Friess would be. Given all of this, there's a really strong indicator that many of those who voted for a candidate other than Gray would vote for Christensen.
Overall, therefore, this race remains in a state of flux while its seen if enough momentum can build up to create a write in campaign for Christensen against a well funded Chuck.
Endorsement: Kevin Christensen. I'm early in doing this, and I note that some disaffected Republicans are saying they'll vote for Kinney. But Kinney is at best a lesser of two evils.
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Republican: Steve Harshman
Harsham is a long time Wyoming educator from Natrona County who was in the legislature for many years. He's an excellent choice for this office.and he will win it.
Democrat: Ana Cordova.
Cordova won the contested Democratic primary. She's a Wyoming native and extremely well educated. She only returned to the state recently, however, and really has no chance in this race.
Endorsement: Harshman.
Other races:
We'll no doubt comment on some as time goes by, but will hold off for the most part right now.
Well, as of this morning, I've seen the first disaffected far right local candidate express support for a Bien write in campaign, based on the delusion that there's a lot of Bien support out there (there isn't, he came in third).
The same person, I note, tried to run for County Commissioner and fell far short of the necessary numbers to get on the ballot, so I doubt that they have much influence.
Anyhow, what's surprising is that this person expressed disdain for Bextel and even more disdain for Harriet Hageman, stating that Hageman is just a reliable flunky for Trump. The outrage seems to be inspired by Hageman supporting Degenfelder as Trump did. The Wyoming GOP in fact endorsed Bien, Gray and Hageman, with Hageman showing independence from Trump late in the race, but endorsing Degenfelder.
It's hard for these people to accept that people just don't want to elect far right person like Bien. They don't. But imaging that they do is some sort of salve.
Having said all of that, there's definitely a movement amongst the ignorant far right to write Bien in. They're infighting right now with the Bextel supporters. Both groups are throwing around Wyoming's "sore loser" law as if they know what it means, but they don't .There's nothing whatsoever that keeps a voter from writing in any name. What the law prohibits is a candidate who has already lost a primary to then run as the nominee of another party.
Anyhow, it's interesting in that far right fanatics are already indicating that they're supporting a defeated Bien, and not Bextel, in the Governor's race, with some screaming for Bextel support. Neither of those candidates is going to win that race, but we are seeing the casting about for alternatives going on.
All that serves as a reminder that the Common Sense Republicans still have a lot of work to do, as they need to take back the party organization. The Sturmabteilung is still in control of the party and is reeling. It needs to be tossed out.
August 25, 2026
The WFC radicals just can't get it through their skulls that people don't like them.
Bien, at least, is more realistic about what a write in campaign against Barlow would mean, which would just be an embarrassment to him.
This entire story is a fart in a windstorm. No serious number of people are going to write Bien in, or vote for Bextel. This race is over. It is interesting, however.
The state GOP is controlled by WFC members and endorsed Bien, Hageman, and Gray. Trump endorsed Gray, Hageman and Degenfelder. Ultimately, Hageman followed Trump, thumbed her nose at the state GOP, and also endorsed Degenfelder. For that reason, the WFC, including its members on committees, revolted against Hageman, but to no effect. Now they're miffed at Trump as well, seemingly not realizing that without their dear leader, they are nothing whatsoever but a bunch of extreme right wing nuts.
A more interesting event would be a Christensen write in campaign against Gray, which would have a real chance of success.
Drake is correct. The Bien endorsement was not very smart. The ongoing pouting by the far right, which still controls most of the county and state GOP organization, is also not very smart. Voters need to take that on next.
On other matters, Byrd and Kinney made a second appearance together, emphasising dinner table topics.
The topics probably aren't bad, but Byrd needs to decouple himself from Kinney. Kinney has no chance of winning whatsoever and just isn't a good look for Byrd, who could easily pass for a traditional Wyoming Republican. Kinney can't. Linking his campaign to her's isn't going to help her, and it will hurt him.
While Romtvedt was panned on Facebook for this article, he's not the only one thinking in this fashion by any means. To my surprise a hardcore right wing Republican announced he's voting for the Democratic candidate for Wyoming's House District 58 rather than vote for Bill Allemand. While that brought shock from some of the people who know him, and it was pointed out that the Democrat supports abortion, which the Dems would be very well advised to abandon as a position in Wyoming, he also drew praise as Allemand is such a bad candidate. I doubt the Democrat will win, but I bet he does far better than would otherwise be the case.
Frankly, at this point, with Trump now going so far as to attempt to rename Lake Ontario, a lot of Republicans, including myself, are at the point where they're questioning for any Republicans. We have a unqualified octogenarian child in the White House and Hageman, Lummis and Barrasso are sitting around with their thumbs up their asses doing nothing.
August 30, 2026
And today, Rep. Hageman sent out her list of "accomplishments"
This year has been one for the history books as America’s 250th anniversary inspired celebrations from coast to coast. In the final newsletter of August, I want to reflect on all accomplished thus far in 2026:
Constituents First
One of the duties my office performs on your behalf is working as a liaison between individual Wyomingites and federal agencies. An example is helping people who have yet to receive their tax return from the IRS or their benefits from the VA. I am proud to report that my office has resolved nearly 1,200 cases this year, returning roughly $2.5 million to constituents from various federal agencies.
If you are facing issues with a federal agency, whether it is the VA, Social Security, the IRS, or another department, my office may be able to help. We can assist with paperwork, follow up on stalled cases, and make sure your concerns are heard and resolved as quickly as possible. Visit my website to submit your request here.
Investing in Wyoming's Infrastructure
Each year, community project funding gives me the opportunity to request federal dollars for specific infrastructure projects that directly benefit Wyoming communities. For fiscal year 2027, I am proud to report that appropriators included over $11 million of my community project funding requests across various fiscal year 2027 appropriations bills. This adds to the $40 million I have already secured throughout my time in Congress, and I am hopeful to get this year’s funding across the finish line.
A list and explanation of each project is on my website here.
14 Bills introduced
One of my core roles as your lawmaker is introducing legislation that benefits Wyoming. I arrived on Capitol Hill after more than 30 years in courtrooms, often litigating federal statutes. Understanding the fine details of the legislative process, how agencies design rules, and most importantly, what Wyoming needs from the federal government has driven me to introduce a wide range of legislation during my time in Congress. Below are the 14 bills and resolutions I sponsored this year, which brings me to a total of 56 pieces of legislation introduced to date in the 119th Congress.
H.R. 7286 – Revokes the tax-exempt status of organizations performing or funding abortions. (NOTE, THIS ONE I ACTUALLY AGREE IS A GOOD BILL)
Domestic ORE Act – Cuts red tape for mineral exploration on public lands by raising the acreage companies can explore under a simple notice from 5 to 25 acres. A BAD BILL.
SAFE Act – Enhances detection capabilities to combat chameleon carriers. A HORRIFICALLY BAD BILL.
H.R. 7695 – Nullifies the 2001 Clinton Roadless Rule and restores active, responsible forest management on National Forest System Lands. ANOTHER HORRIFICALLY BAD BILL.
H.R. 7872 – Reforms bonus bids for coal producers on federal leases designed to cut upfront costs in half. A BAD BILL.
Research and Oversight of AI in Courts Act of 2026 – establishes a task force of judicial experts to examine the integration of AI speech-to-text and automatic speech recognition (ASR) technologies in American courts.
Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026 – Prohibits retroactive climate liability lawsuits and other proceedings to implement or enforce an energy penalty law. A MORONIC CLIMATE CHANGE DENYING BILL.
H.R. 9277 – Prohibits courts from considering agency evidence that isn't based on reliable scientific principles and methods, cracking down on regulations built on flawed or cherry-picked data. A HORSESHIT ANTI SCIENCE BILL.
H.R. 9278 – Requires courts to conduct an independent, de novo review of the facts whenever a federal agency imposes a sanction, rather than deferring to the agency's own fact-finding.
Preventing AI Censorship Act – Gives American citizens the right to sue federal employees who violate their First Amendment rights through the use of Artificial Intelligence.
H. Res. 1374 – Calls on the Federal Communications Commission to modernize America's television content ratings system, so parents have the information they need to make informed viewing decisions for their children.
H.J. Res. 202 – Nullifies the EPA’s California waiver to enforce strict greenhouse gas standards on cars. A BAD BILL.
H.R. 10090 – Implements a new excise tax on private colleges and universities that allow males to compete in women’s sports.
Strengthening Transportation Oversight and Preventing (STOP) Improper Licensing Act – Requires federal safety regulators to audit states issuing non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens and unqualified drivers. EH?
Hageman needs to go.
Wyoming is investigating the Attorney General's Office for election interference, based on the presence of aggressive Federal AG's at the polls.
What sort of person served in the Department of Justice anymore?
September 1, 2026
The Tribune ran an article on the Libertarian Party's candidates and the Constitution Party's today.
The article highlighted Shaun Johnson, Libertarian, who imagines himself to have a chance against Chuck Gray.
Somebody would have a chance against the much disliked Gray, but I doubt it's Johnson. Kevin Christiansen has rejected supporting a write in campaign against him, unfortunately.
Christensen appears to be positioning himself to run against Gray in two years, figuring the disliked Californian is likely to be even more disliked by then, a pretty good bet.
Perhaps standing a bitter chance, the article revealed that a Libertarian, Joe Porambo, is running against WFC member Bill Allemand and Democrat Keenan Morgan in House District 58. Morgan and Porambo will draw more votes that might be expected, and in the conservative district, Porambo might actually have a chance.
Somebody who doesn't is Rebecca Bextel of the delusional Constitution Party. She's also written up in the article. The far right wing party that backs a double secret constitution that nobody has ever read is also running Tamara Trujillo for Secretary of State. She will lose.
Rod Miller is featured in a hilarious campaign ad for Democrat Karlee Provenza.
And for September 2, 2026, a reminder that all politics is local:
September 2, 2026
The House passed another stopgap budget bill to keep the government running.
Frankly, I"m not a big fan, meaning not a fan at all, of the big expansion of data centers and I'm absolutely opposed to them being constructed on vacant agricultural land.
This was a hearing in front of the County Commissioners. It looked like each of the current sitting commissioners made some sort of comment at the end, as the Oil City News reports:
Of the five sitting commissioners, only Laird is on the ballot this election. Laird is correct on Donald Trump's position. Trump basically called communities that don't want data centers stupid as life is all about money and he loves money and you should love money because Trump loves money and you should love Trump, and money, but Trump most of all.
This must be a nightmare of Chuck Gray, who has been trying to hate things Wyomingite's claim to hate, and they seem to hate data farms, but Trump, who Gray loves, loves them.
On something Trump and Gray presently hate, wind farms:
Driskill is in the legislature and has been consistently clear thinking.
We have to note that the data center story must be a living nightmare for Chuck Gray. Gray was for windfarms and gravel pits until it gave him a way to try to make himself to be a champion of the common people. Then he switched and made it a plat form for his fairly unsuccessful campaign. Yes, he won, but only 25% of the vote. There's a lot of chatter right now, and it's probably just chatter, but Lisa Kinney and maybe even Shaun Johnson have a chance of derailing him. For that matter, with three of them in the race, and disdain of Gray high, we may very well be getting a minority vote Congressman in the state for the first time ever. I.e, whoever wins may have less than 50% of the vote.
Now comes the data center story.
Gray campaigned on loving Trump more than Trump loves Trump. And he figures you love Trump almost as much as he does. But now it's clear that average Wyomingites hate data centers. Windmills were an easy target as Trump think windmiss are bad and evil and that whales don't like them, but Trump loves data centers and feels that people who do not are stupid.
Oh oh.
It also seems that in the backrooms of the Pentagon the Chiefs may have had enough of Trump's conspiratorial plotting.
Here we have a letter from Gen. Caine:
There's a lot of reading between the lines on this, but it basically says:
1. The military doesn't do politics.
2. The military won't do anything illegal.
3. Any element of the military deploying to the polls, including the National Guard, is illegal.
It seems like Caine got out in front of the Administration on this, perhaps removing one of the legs on an attempt to mount a coup.
Footnotes
*We steadfastly refuse to adopt the moronic "red=Republican" standard used only in the U.S. Red=Political Left, Blue=Political Right.
Then Vice President Theodore Roosevelt delivered a famous speech at the Minnesota State Fair. The speech is frequently quoted, but out of context, and extremely inaccurately.
Remarks by the Vice President at the Minnesota State Fair in Minneapolis
In his admirable series of studies of Twentieth century problems Dr. Lyman Abbott has pointed out that we are a nation of pioneers; that the first colonists to our shores were pioneers, and that pioneers selected out from among the descendants of these early pioneers, mingled with others selected afresh from the old world, pushed westward into the wilderness, and laid the foundations for new commonwealths. They were men of hope and energy; for the men of dull content or more dull despair had no part in the great movement into and across the new world. Our country has been populated by pioneers, and therefore it has in it more energy, more enterprise, more expansive power than any other in the wide world.
You whom I am now addressing stand, for the most part, but one generation removed from these pioneers. You are typical Americans, for you have done the great, the characteristic, the typical work of our American life. In making homes and carving out careers for yourselves, and your children, you have built up this state; throughout our history the success of the homemaker has been but another name for the upbuilding of the nation. The men who with ax in the forest and pick in the mountains and plow on the prairies, pushed to completion the dominion of our people over the American wilderness have given the definite shape to our nation. They have shown the qualities of daring, endurance and far-sightedness, of eager desire for victory and stubborn refusal to accept defeat, which go to make up the essential manliness of the American character. Above all they have recognized the practical form the fundamental law of success in American life – the law of worthy work, the law of high, resolute endeavor. We have but little room among our people for the timid, the irresolute and the idle, and it is no less true that there is scant room in the world at large for the nation with mighty thews that dares not to be great.
Every father and mother here, if they are wise, will bring up their children not to shirk difficulties, but to meet them and overcome them; not to strive after a life of ignoble ease, but to strive to do their duty, first to themselves and their families and then to the whole state; and this duty must inevitably take the shape of work in some form or other. You, the sons of pioneers, if you are true to your ancestry, must make your lives as worthy as they made theirs. They sought for true success, and therefore they did not seek ease. They knew that success comes only to those who lead the life of endeavor.
No hard and fast rule can be laid down as to where our legislation shall stop in interfering between man and man, between interest and interest. All that can be said is that it is highly undesirable on the one hand, to weaken individual initiative, and on the other hand, that in a constantly increasing number of cases we shall find it necessary in the future to shackle cunning as in the past we have shackled force.
It is not only highly desirable, but necessary, that there should be legislation which shall carefully shield the interest of wage workers, and which shall discriminate in favor of the hones and human employer by removing the disadvantages under which he stands when compared with unscrupulous competitors who have no conscience, and will do right only under fear of punishment.
Nor can legislation stop only with what are termed labor questions. The vast individual and corporate fortunes, the vast combinations of capital which have marked the development of our industrial system, create new conditions, and necessitate a change from the old attitude of state and the nation toward property.
Right here let me make as vigorous a plea as I know how in favor of saying nothing that we do not mean, and of acting without hesitation up to whatever we say. A good many of you are probably acquainted with the old proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick – you will go far." If a man continually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from trouble, and neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness there does not lie strength, power. In private life there are few beings more obnoxious than the man who is always loudly boasting, and if the boaster is not prepared to back up his words, his position becomes absolutely contemptible. So it is with the nation. It is both foolish and undignified to indulge in undue self-glorification, and, above all, in loose-tongued denunciation of other peoples. Whenever on any point we come in contact with a foreign power, I hope that we shall always strive to speak courteously and respectfully of that foreign power.
Let us make it evident that we intend to do justice. Then let us make it equally evident that we will not tolerate injustice being done us in return. Let us further make it evident that we use no words which we are not which prepared to back up with deeds, and that while our speech is always moderate, we are ready and willing to make it good. Such an attitude will be the surest possible guarantee of that self-respecting peace, the attainment of which is and must ever be the prime aim of a self-governing people.
This is the attitude we should take as regards the Monroe doctrine. There is not the least need of blustering about it. Still less should it be used as a pretext for our own aggrandizement at the expense of any other American state. But most emphatically, we must make it evident that we intend on this point ever to maintain the old American position. Indeed, it is hard to understand how any man can take any other position now that we are all looking forward to the building of the Isthmian canal. The Monroe doctrine is not international law, but there is no necessity that it should be.
Our dealings with Cuba illustrate this, and should be forever a subject of just national pride. We speak in no spirit of arrogance when we state as a simple historic fact that never in recent times has any great nation acted with such disinterestedness as we have shown in Cuba. We freed the island from the Spanish yoke. We then earnestly did our best to help the Cubans in the establishment of free education, of law and order, of material prosperity, of the cleanliness necessary to salutary well-being in their great cities. We did all this at great expense of treasure, at some expense of life, and now we are establishing them in a free and independent commonwealth, and have asked in return nothing whatever save that at no time shall their independence be prostituted to the advantage of some foreign rival of ours, or so as to menace our well-being. To have failed to ask this would have amounted to national stultification on our part.
In the Philippines we have brought peace, and we are at this moment giving them such freedom and self-government as they could never under any conceivable conditions have obtained had we turned them loose to sink into a welter of blood, and confusion, or to become the prey of some strong tyranny without or within. The bare recital of the facts is sufficient to show that we did our duty, and what prouder title to honor can a nation have than to have done its duty? We have done our duty to ourselves, and we have done the higher duty of promoting the civilization of mankind.
Barbarism has and can have no place in a civilized world. It is our duty toward the people living in barbarism to see that they are freed from their chains, and we can only free them by destroying barbarism itself. The missionary, the merchant and the soldier may each have to play a part in this destruction, and in the consequent uplifting of the people. Exactly as it is the duty of a civilized power scrupulously to respect the rights of all weaker civilized powers and gladly to help those who are struggling towards civilization, so it is its duty to put down savagery and barbarism. As in such a work human instruments must be used, and as human instruments are imperfect, this means that at times there will be injustices, that at times, merchant, or soldier, or even missionary may do wrong.
Let us instantly condemn and rectify such wrong when it occurs, and if possible punish the wrong-doer. But, shame, thrice shame to us, if we are so foolish as to make such occasional wrong-doing an excuse for failing to perform a great and righteous task. No only in our own land, but throughout history, the advance of civilization has been of incalculable benefit to mankind, and those through whom it has advanced deserve the higher honor. All honor to the missionary, all honor to the soldier, all honor to the merchant who now in our own day have done so much to bring light into the world's dark places.
Let me insist again, for fear of possible misconstruction, upon the fact that our duty is two-fold, and that we must raise others while we are benefiting ourselves. In bringing order to the Philippines, our soldiers added a new page to the honor-roll of American history and they incalculably benefited the islanders themselves. Under the wise administration of Gov. Taft the islands now enjoy a peace and liberty of which they have hitherto never even dreamed. But this peace and liberty under the law must be supplemented by material, by industrial development, to the introduction of American industries and products; no merely because this will be a good thing for our people, but infinitely more because it will be of incalculable benefit to the people of the Philippines.
We shall make mistakes; and if we let these mistakes frighten us from work, we shall show ourselves weaklings. Half a century ago Minnesota and the two Dakotas were Indian hunting grounds. We committed plenty of blunders, and now and then worse than blunders, in our dealings with the Indians. But who does not admit at the present day that we were right in wresting from barbarism and adding to civilization the territory out of which we have made these beautiful states? And now we are civilizing the Indian and putting him on a level to which he could never have attained under the old conditions.
In the Philippines let us remember that the spirit and not the mere form of government is the essential matter. The Tagalogs have a hundred-fold the freedom under us that they would have if we had abandoned the islands. We are not trying to subjugate a people; we are trying to develop them, and make them a law-abiding, industrious and educated people, and we hope, ultimately, a self-governing people. In short, in the work we have done, we are but carrying out the true principles of our democracy. We work in a spirit of self-respect for ourselves and of good-will toward others, in a spirit of love for and of infinite faith in mankind. We do not blindly refuse to face the evils that exist; or the shortcomings inherent in humanity; but across blunderings and shirking, across selfishness and meanness of motive, across short-sightedness and cowardice, we gaze steadfastly toward the far horizon of golden triumph.
If you study our past history as a nation you will see we have made many blunders and have been guilty of many shortcomings, and yet that we have always in the end come out victorious because we have refused to be daunted by blunders and defeats—have recognized them, but have preserved in spite of them. So it must be in the future. We gird up our loins as a nation with the stern purpose to play our part manfully in winning the ultimate triumph, and therefore we turn scornfully aside from the paths of mere ease and idleness, and with unfaltering steps tread the rough road of endeavor, smiting down the wrong and battling for the right as Greatheart smote and battled in Bunyan's immortal story.
Let's look at that line again:
A good many of you are probably acquainted with the old proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick – you will go far." If a man continually blusters, if he lacks civility, a big stick will not save him from trouble, and neither will speaking softly avail, if back of the softness there does not lie strength, power. In private life there are few beings more obnoxious than the man who is always loudly boasting, and if the boaster is not prepared to back up his words, his position becomes absolutely contemptible.
Hmmm. . . .
So Roosevelt didn't actually say what people think he said, at all.
The first tests on radiation treatment for cancer were conducted.
.webp)
