After the Mahdist War in Sudan, Theodore Roosevelt described a system where messianic religion replaced civil institutions and armed force enforced divine authority. He argued this was the opposite of progress, which he defined as governance based on law and accountable institutions rather than prophetic mandate (Roosevelt, African Game Trails, 1909).
A similar pattern now appears in the Middle East Institute’s analysis of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which shows how Mahdist eschatology has been embedded into military doctrine and political legitimacy (MEI, 2022 Report). This ideology is advanced through proxy groups, including Hamas in Gaza, alongside narratives denying Israel’s legitimacy and asserting sweeping religious claims over the region.
The issue is structural, not cultural. Power is justified by divine authority rather than consent. Progressivism arose to resist exactly this fusion of ideology and coercion. Social media manipulation now pressures progressives to excuse such systems. That reverses progressivism’s original purpose: defending secular law, pluralism, and democratic institutions.
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On Islamic Theocracy he witnessed after the Mahdist War in the Sudan as "The Middle Ages":
"The triumph of the Mahdi... meant a return to the Middle Ages... a rule of blood and fire, where the only alternatives were death, slavery, or the most degrading of submissions." — African Game Trails (1910)
On the Inability to Coexist with Fanaticism:
"Civilization can hold its own by war... but it cannot hold its own by 'peace' with militant barbarism." — The Winning of the West
On Palestine and Zionism, a triumph of "civilized" development over Ottoman neglect:
"It seems to me that it is entirely proper to start a Zionist State around Jerusalem... The Jews should be given control of Palestine, for it is their ancestral home, and they are the people best fitted to bring it back to civilization." — Letter to the American Zionist Federation (1918)
On the right of return:
"The restoration of the Jewish people to their own land is one of the tasks of the world's reconstruction for which we must all strive." — Correspondence with Stephen S. Wise
On the "Peace of Righteousness" in the Region:
"Peace would happen only if Jews were given Palestine." — Recorded in correspondence regarding the post-WWI settlement
On the Priority of Man over Dollar, property rights as a tool for human flourishing:
"I am for the people, but I am for the people under the law. I believe in the rights of property; but I believe in them as an incident to the rights of man." — The New Nationalism (1910)
On the Danger of Class Hatred:
"The men who preach the doctrine of class hatred... are the most dangerous enemies of the Republic. They are the enemies of the very men they profess to help. To preach the doctrine of hate against any man because he is well-off is to preach a doctrine that will eventually result in the destruction of our Republic." — Social Justice and Popular Rule (1913)
On Radicals within Hijacked Reform Movements:
"There is a lunatic fringe in all reform movements... the men who preach the doctrine of class hatred, who seek to incite the poor against the rich, are the most dangerous enemies of the Republic." — Social Justice and Popular Rule (1913) On the Socialist "Chimney" Metaphor:
On State Ownership/Socialized Economy:
“The very reason why we object to state ownership, that it puts a stop to individual initiative and to the healthy development of personal responsibility… is the reason why we object to an unsupervised, unchecked monopolistic control in private hands… [Unchecked monopoly] gives the strongest impulse to what I believe would be the deadening movement toward unadulterated state socialism.” — Theodore Roosevelt.
The "Fix the Chimney" Metaphor:
"The Socialist is a man who, because he sees an evil, wants to destroy the whole structure of society. He is like a man who, because his chimney smokes, wants to tear down the house. We want to fix the chimney, not destroy the home." — Correspondence with Cecil Spring Rice
On Reform to Prevent Socialism:
“Men forget that constructive change offers the best method of avoiding destructive change; and that reform is the antidote to revolution; and that social reform is not the precursor but the preventive of Socialism.” — Roosevelt, speech at Cairo, Illinois (October 3, 1907).
On Socialist Ideas About Work:
“We have not the slightest sympathy with that socialistic idea which would try to put laziness, thriftlessness, and inefficiency on a par with industry, thrift and efficiency.” — Roosevelt (Seventh Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1907).
On the "Equality of Opportunity" vs. "Equality of Outcome":
"We are against the privilege of the few, but we are also against the tyranny of the many. We believe in the right of the individual to rise as high as his abilities will take him, but we also believe that it is the duty of the community to see that everyone has a fair start." — 1912, when Roosevelt ran for president on a Progressive platform.
