Long before Richard (The Dick) Cheney wrote A Plan for A New American Century, which called for the use of the United States unparalleled military might to ensure even greater economic power, there was another Republican who believed in the manifest destiny of white Christian Americans. He, too, subverted the U.S. Constitution in order to meddle in the affairs of other nations. And, like Cheney, Bush, Wolfowitz, Pearl and the other neo-cons, he felt that it was the destiny, indeed the duty, of white Christian Americans to bring civilization to the rest of the world.
That mans name was President Theodore Roosevelt.
In reading James Bradleys book, The Imperial Cruise, one cannot escape the fact that Roosevelt was a racist war criminal of the first order. In addition, one cannot ignore the parallels with our previous administration and their religious conservative followers.
Like Cheney/Bush, Roosevelt manufactured wars, questioned the patriotism of those who challenged his policies, annointed thugs to act as his surrogates, and water-boarded those who refused to submit to his will. And, like Cheney/Bush, Roosevelts policies resulted in the deaths of thousands of U.S. soldiers and millions of non-white, non-Christian foreigners. Moreover, its clear that his ill-conceived meddling in foreign affairs led directly to the Spanish-American War, WWII, the Korean War and, likely, the Vietnam War.
Caring American citizens should be watchful that the past administrations follies dont have similar results.