Theodore Roosevelt wrote: "My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins, or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege...It is a motto which it is indeed well to have inscribed on our great national monuments, in our temples of justice, in our legislative halls, and in building such as those at West Point and Annapolis -- in short, wherever it will tend to arouse and inspire a lofty emotion in those who look thereon. But it seems to me eminently unwise to cheapen such a motto by use on coins, just as it would be to cheapen it by use on postage stamps, or in advertisements."
PS --- Roosevelt was a Republican ---- what an inconvenient fact, eh?
Roosevelt was a Republican back in the days when Republicans WERE Republicans...And believed in anti-trust laws, and national parks, and preservation, and tree-hugging, and rights for someone other than the robber-barons. It's not "inconvenient" at all. I points up how far off the right end of the scale the extremists (who call themselves "Republicans" today) have gone.
I'm always amazed at how the Righties can still maintain that someone using a label from 100-150 years ago is anything remotely like the people who like to congratulate themselves on wearing the same label today. It's not the same party; it's not the same ideology; and frankly, I think Teddy Roosevelt would be ashamed to know that the extremists today are still using the word "Republican" to describe themselves.
