In 1900, Theodore Roosevelt (TR), soon our 26th President, wrote “Civic Helpfulness.” He argued our churches, pastors, priests, and the rest of us – without government – do enormous good, and that helping our neighbors learn “self-help” makes America tick. His message is again timely.
In short, TR argued that the better part of the good we do is done quietly, not publicly, not by government, but by those who serve with heart, who live to help their neighbors up, when life knocks them down.
These days, tens of millions default to government, think we owe no duty to our neighbor, let alone to a stranger in need, since the “government” will fix all their ills. That is faulty thinking.
TR, a Republican who believed in limited government, felt the duty to help each other was real and that it was not up to the government. “Tried by this standard, the religious teachers of the community stand most honorably high,” as they give “disinterested labor for their fellow men.”
Using their example, he explained that helping others is both a duty and “labor of love,” but was about getting people to be self-reliant, not allowing dependence on an institution – especially on government – to become permanent. The goal was to help people learn to help themselves.
“Undoubtedly the best type of philanthropic work is that which helps men and women who are willing and able to help themselves …,” he explained. “Every man and woman in this land ought to prize above almost every other quality, the capacity for self-help.”
Expanding, he pushed the idea that we all need help now and then, but self-help – making our own way – is what assures our character, reduces our dependence, and helps society thrive.
“The quality of self-help is so splendid a quality that nothing can compensate for its loss…” and so the goal should never be dependence on the state, but self-sufficiency, teaching work, and worth.
Describing American institutions that encourage a healthy, interdependent, self-reliant citizenry, he praises civic groups, churches, YMCA and YWCA, policemen, and public school teachers. Throughout the essay, perhaps not surprisingly, he talks about assimilation, oneness, and patriotism.
In schools, immigrants – at that time, all legal – learn to love America, respect their neighbors, and be self-reliant, plus reasons to love the country and to work hard. “Loyalty to the flag is taught by precept and practice in … public schools” with “loyalty to the principles of good citizenship.”
“Civic Helpfulness” to TR is what makes Americans different, our concern for our fellow citizens’ wellbeing, combined with determination to be our best selves, get involved and give back as often as we can, while understanding that we are each ultimately responsible for our own destiny.
Americans who could approach politics as service stepped up to keep the country or town on track. “Clean politics is simply one form of applied good citizenship,” wrote TR. “No man can be a really good citizen unless he takes a lively interest in politics,” does what he or she can.
He closes the essay by encouraging us to help each other, through church, other civic groups, serving in law enforcement, public teaching, politics, or through some other act of generosity.
Then TR – not yet president – issues a warning. He warns against allowing growth of dependence on the state, or on any institution, as that will degrade respect, reduce self-reliance, self-help, and dignity. “In charity, the one thing always to be remembered is that, while any man may slip and should at once be helped … no man can be carried … with advantage to him or the community.”
One wonders what TR would make of our sprawling, indebted, modern welfare state, never mind how government perpetuates dependence, reducing self-reliance, self-help, and self-respect.
His blunt warning: “The greatest possible good can be done by the extension of a helping hand at the right moment, but the attempt to carry any one permanently can end in nothing but harm.”
TR warns – seeing into the future – that the “mushy class” in government, if not stopped, will push “foolish and indiscriminate giving … wild and crude plans of social reformations…” adding “things being bad, affords no justification for making them infinitely worse” with permanent dependence.
How odd that, 126 years ago, a dynamic, compassionate Republican leader – soon our 26th president, who would win the Nobel Peace Prize and bring us into the 20th Century, saw the risks. Clearly, we have drifted from TR’s notion that “civic helpfulness” is getting people on their feet, not creating a welfare state with permanent dependence. The real question is not whether he was right – he was. It is whether we can get back there, to a limited government, less welfare, more self-help.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, Maine attorney, ten-year naval intelligence officer (USNR), and 25-year businessman. He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (North Country Press, 2018), and “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024). He is National Spokesman for AMAC. Today, he is running to be Maine’s next Governor. BobbyforMaine.com
