As a result, Democrats can use the arguments of both Socrates and Callicles in the Gorgias as advice for the present-day; Callicles helps Democrats to acknowledge a problem that they face, that many Americans view today’s leaders as inferior to those of the past. Socrates provides a solution to that problem: Democrats should strive to embody the rhetoric of America’s previous leaders and propose policies that are truly best for the American people, not moderate policies intended to maximize appeal. Furthermore, Callicles’ argument demonstrates that such an approach would be successful, as if any popular past leader of the United States like Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, or Franklin Delano Roosevelt were to be resurrected to run for President, they would undoubtedly win in a landslide. These leaders didn’t acquire their popularity by being moderate. …show more content…
When Theodore Roosevelt saw that trusts, or monopolies, were cheating millions of Americans, he did not stand by idly; he aggressively utilized the Sherman Antitrust Act to break up monopolies, causing some to mock him as the “trust-buster.” When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was faced with the worst economic recession in American history, he did not utilize moderate, monetarist economic policies; he passed what many would consider to be the most aggressively liberal economic policies in American history in the New Deal, which created programs like Social Security and the minimum wage, even though most of the New Deal was controversial and parts would be struck down by the Supreme