TR

Within the context of discussing Texas GOP senate hopeful Ted Cruz, George Will made some sharp observations about Theodore Roosevelt. An excellent article from The Washington Post:

After leaving the presidency in 1909, TR went haywire. He had always chafed under constitutional restraints, but he had remained a Hamiltonian, construing the Constitution expansively but respectfully. By 1912, however, he had become what the Democratic nominee, Woodrow Wilson, was — an anti-Madisonian. Both thought the Constitution, the enumeration and separation of powers, intolerably crippled government.

Espousing unconstrained majoritarianism, TR disdained James Madison’s belief that the ultimate danger is wherever ultimate power resides, which in a democracy is with the majority. He endorsed the recall of state judicial decisions and by September 1912 favored the power to recall all public officials, including the president.

Interesting how Obama, when lecturing Republicans in congress, is fond of citing TR as an open-minded Republican who would most certainly be receptive to his policies.