Gaming World Forums
General Category => General Talk => Topic started by: Jeff on March 27, 2008, 04:01:36 am
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Ryan and I got into a little discussion about this in #music, so I figured I might as well let it spill over here. The question is obvious: who are your favorite US presidents? I'd prefer you pick at least your top three and elaborate on why you like them so much.
I picked my top 3 based on who I believe did some of the best good for America as a whole. As I am not familiar with much of American history before 1900, my view is slightly narrowed, since many of the first few presidents did the most for America blah blah, but I thought it would be tacky of me to pick GEORGE WASHINGTON or something.
1. Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
Reasons I think he is awesome:
- Fourteen Points - An amazing set of guidelines that would have prevented the current conflict in the Middle East had France and Britain not totally ignored them.
- Advocation of US military force to aid other nations in struggles for liberty, stability, democracy, and the dissolution of formal imperialism.
- Free trade and anti-trust laws.
- Winning World War 1
Reasons I don't think he is so awesome:
- Racist, but it was 1913 and he was from the South, so keep it in perspective.
- Socialist. Granted this is a perfectly fine position to hold, it just doesn't agree with my views on economics.
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945)
Things I like:
- New Deal. Not much out there is more awesome than pulling a country out of the worst depression in history.
- World War 2
- Four fucking terms. I criticize some of his stuff heavily, but I can't deny the man was amazing and the major things he did far outweigh the things I don't like about him.
Things I don't:
- New Deal. lol it is here twice. Same thing with Wilson; I am obviously not a socialist. I do, however, recognize how beneficial it was, which is why I counted it up top.
- Isolationism. I'll grant you that once we got bombed he jumped on the gun but Jesus man, EVIL DICTATORS RUNNING AMOK IN EUROPE. EUROPE.
- Japanese Internment. That was just mean and abusive of power.
3. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)
Like:
- Interstate system. I don't think we would be in as good of shape as we are today, all things considered, if we did not have this amazing system to move us (and our consumer goods) from one place to another.
- Cooperation with the left. No one party has a monopoly on good ideas. Seems to me like after Eisenhower the republicans and democrats began to drift further and further apart and stopped listening to one another.
- His work against racism.
Don't:
- Ignored the ridiculousness of McCarthyism.
- Intervention in the Middle East. It seems to me that overall his actions in the Middle East made things worse, backing this side and that in civil conflicts and throwing around American weight with no beneficial gains to either other countries or America.
Runners up would probably be Nixon and Truman. Yes, I already got into a discussion with Ryan about Nixon, so if you want to know why I picked him, talk to me on IRC.
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Ol' Abe Lincoln
+ Wasn't afraid to say "Sit down and shut up" to states. Like Maryland.
+ Won a major war!
+ Ended Slavery in the United States! Major props bro!
+ He was tall, and if he encountered someone else who was tall he would make them stand back-to-back to see who was taller.
- Ran a pretty inept war. That's mostly because his choice in Generals (Oh McClellan, you're just awful at everything), but still, there's no reason the Civil War should have lasted as long as it did.
- Seriously, way too many people died during his Presidency because he didn't have the balls to make McClellan do anything.
- Was seriously tossing around the idea of shipping the black peoples back to Africa.
- Republican, so the Republican party of the future is able to claim they aren't racists because they freed the slaves.
Bill Clinton
+ Seems like a pretty cool guy to hang out with.
- Lied to America.
+ Later actually admitted he lied to America, unlike most Presidents. Got a pretty hard slap on the wrist for it, too.
+ His assault on Iraq as a distraction tactic did not result in a 5+ year war.
+ NAFTA has had a couple of good effects.
- NAFTA had a couple of bad effects too.
I'm gonna have to meditate on the last one.
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I don't follow presidents too much, but I was always a fan of Herbert Hoover (the only fan lole?). He was ballsy enough to believe in Self-reliance even through the depression. It's admirable for someone to tell you not to depend on the government even when it seemed at the time that everyone needed something from them (due to fall in banks, issues with low wages, etc). It obviously wasn't enough, because Wilson was the one that really ended the depression.
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I don't follow presidents too much, but I was always a fan of Herbert Hoover (the only fan lole?). He was ballsy enough to believe in Self-reliance even through the depression. It's admirable for someone to tell you not to depend on the government even when it seemed at the time that everyone needed something from them (due to fall in banks, issues with low wages, etc). It obviously wasn't enough, because Wilson was the one that really ended the depression.
what the fuck are you talking about man. bootstrapping is laughable, and was pretty much proved so because of the great depression. and it was FDR who ended the depression with his g..g-government programs.. Wilson wasn't a President at any time during the great depression!
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Fourteen Point is the most idealist thing ever, please some reality here
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Bill Clinton
+ Seems like a pretty cool guy to hang out with.
- Lied to America.
+ Later actually admitted he lied to America, unlike most Presidents. Got a pretty hard slap on the wrist for it, too.
+ His assault on Iraq as a distraction tactic did not result in a 5+ year war.
+ NAFTA has had a couple of good effects.
- NAFTA had a couple of bad effects too.
- Rwanda
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- Rwanda
That too, but he was just trying to play it cool with France.
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That too, but he was just trying to play it cool with France.
So that excuses evacuating American troops and turning a blind eye while hundreds of thousands of people were massacred with machetes and then GIVING FOOD TO THE PEOPLE WHO CARRIED OUT THE GENOCIDE?
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1. Woodrow Wilson (D) (March 4, 1913 - March 4, 1921)
I've always been fascinated by this guy. He seemed to be (other than the whole racism thing) a pretty good guy. He is the only American President to have a doctoral degree, and is generally considered to be one of the more progressive presidents. He's certainly not without his faults, however. (Alien and Sedition Act, RACISM, etc)
2. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D) (March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945)
This guy pretty much redefined American Liberalism. (for the better!) Won WWII and brought our nation out of the greatest economic disaster we had ever known, etc. He too has his faults, such as the Japanese internment and some of his political tactics. (attempting to pack the supreme court, etc etc)
3. Abraham Lincoln (R) (March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865)
Probably our best president, imo. Had a fantastic ability to bring people together (bbbarack.. obama..) from opposite sides of the aisle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_lincoln#Administration_and_cabinet). Won the civil war and had a fantastic idea for reconstruction. also ended slavery.
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George Washington, why? because if we just listened to him he would be a better country.
he told the people NOT to divide into parties, yet they did anyway and in the most stupidest manner too, as if it were sports teams.
What do I mean by sports teams? Well if you are a fan of the nicks, you most likely follow them even when they make mistakes, even when they are losing games. That's a true fan, sure. However when your party fucks up, and you decide to stick by them and say "we are still right" even though you know your wrong, that's a negative affect on American Government and makes gettings things done impossible.
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George Washington, why? because if we just listened to him he would be a better country.
he told the people NOT to divide into parties, yet they did anyway and in the most stupidest manner too, as if it were sports teams.
What do I mean by sports teams? Well if you are a fan of the nicks, you most likely follow them even when they make mistakes, even when they are losing games. That's a true fan, sure. However when your party fucks up, and you decide to stick by them and say "we are still right" even though you know your wrong, that's a negative affect on American Government and makes gettings things done impossible.
do you understand what parties are for.
seriously washington's anti party stance is ony exceeded by his dedicated isolationism as completely unfeasible in the modern day.
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So that excuses evacuating American troops and turning a blind eye while hundreds of thousands of people were massacred with machetes and then GIVING FOOD TO THE PEOPLE WHO CARRIED OUT THE GENOCIDE?
Well, that and Somalia had been a disaster and maybe they didn't want to repeat that. Hindsight's 20/20 though!
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Well, that and Somalia had been a disaster and maybe they didn't want to repeat that. Hindsight's 20/20 though!
Except the massacres were already going on when he gave the OK to pull out American troops and civilians and leave the helpless people to their deaths. Not much hindsight involved in that.
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Taft
+ custom fatman bathtubs
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the only thing i remember learning in my highschool american history class was that taft had to use a boomerang to put on his belt (because he was fat_)
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Lincoln.. hands down.