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#1 (permalink) |
Lennonite Priest
Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA
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Politics aside who is your pick for best President
If you could choose any of our past presidents who would you choose to hold the office today?
Let's not rip apart others choices as this is based on opinion and evryone is entitled to theirs. Just put all partisan politics behind and have fun. My choice would be FDR. The man was able to get us out of the Great Depression, keep morale high for a war and maintain the US's good name. If the government would only use his examples of how to rebuild an economy we would be well off again. He invested money into corporations R and D. Which jump started the industrial revolution of the 20th century and made us the greatest nation on Earth. (Of course WW2 helped but he was funding R and D's before the war and corporations like Hoover, Westinghouse, Tappan, etc. flourished) He helped build an infrastrure, knowing that those workers would help the local economies by spending their pay at the local stores. He also knew that if you helped out a poor man and gave him hope, that man could achieve anything. Setting up a true system where an unemployed man could live until work was found. Found ways to get education to improve and thus allowing all men and women the best possible education in a public system. He did whatever was necessary to improve the US and knew the greatness we had in us. He prepared the country for the future. He never put us above anyone. He allowed the Brits and even the Soviets to take credit in WW2. He had a great vision for the UN. Today it is nowhere near what he envisioned.
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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?" |
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#2 (permalink) |
Adrift
Location: Wandering in the Desert of Life
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Nicely done, pan - I couldn't agree more. FDR would be my choice as well.
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Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." -Douglas Adams |
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#3 (permalink) |
Omnipotent Ruler Of The Tiny Universe In My Mind
Location: Oreegawn
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aye, i'll third that motion. and let's not forget that managed to convince the press to help him out in hiding his disability. any man with the ability to hold the press on a string like that is cool in my book. jk.
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Words of Wisdom: If you could really get to know someone and know that they weren't lying to you, then you would know the world was real. Because you could agree on things, you could compare notes. That must be why people get married or make Art. So they'll be able to really know something and not go insane. |
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#4 (permalink) |
Sarge of Blood Gulch Red Outpost Number One
Location: On the front lines against our very enemy
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Martin Van Buren!!!!
heh heh, j/k. FDR's cuz, Teddy.
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"This ain't no Ice Cream Social!" "Hey Grif, Chupathingy...how bout that? I like it...got a ring to it." "I have no earthly idea what it is I just saw, or what this place is, or where in the hell O'Malley is! My only choice is to blame Grif for coming up with such a flawed plan. Stupid, stupid Grif." |
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#6 (permalink) |
Idolator
Location: Vol Country
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Well, my immediate first response before reading all the others was FDR as well. However, just to name someone different, personally Clinton always made me comfortable. I thought he was just badass. He just seemed like the type that wouldn't take any shit. I dunno, I liked Bill.
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"We each have a star, all we have to do is find it. Once you do, everyone who sees it will be blinded." - Earl Simmons |
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#7 (permalink) | ||
Lennonite Priest
Location: Mansfield, Ohio USA
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Quote:
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As for Teddy Roos, Archer he was my second choice.
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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?" |
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#8 (permalink) | |
Idolator
Location: Vol Country
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I'm glad that I've already gotten someone to agree with me on that. I was expecting to catch hell for that choice.
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"We each have a star, all we have to do is find it. Once you do, everyone who sees it will be blinded." - Earl Simmons |
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#10 (permalink) |
Psycho
Location: Macon, GA
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You know what guys, I don't want to start any name calling or other nastiness here but....
I would just like to point out how different my opinion of FDR is from yours. I see FDR as being the root of many of our problems today. Without having any textbooks or notes in front of me let me explain why. First of all Roosevelt's fiscal actions did not pull us out of the depression, they actually made it worse. The War pulled us out. 2-Roosevelt's New Deal programs paved the way for many of the publicly funded programs that bleed tax payers dry today. Tax rates skyrocketed with him in office and have been high ever since. I once saw a graph of the rates and couldn't believe how low the federal rate was before FDR. 3-Before FDR, the states had lots of political power. FDR changed this by making the states dependant on the federal government through the power of the purse. This transition paved the way for the federal government to become more intrusive in our lives. I could go on but I'm tired and I know that no one in here will read this objectively anyway so what's the use? My choice for president would be any one of the Framers of our Constitution. Those guys really understood what it took to protect private citizens and allow them to live their lives without interference from government and politicians. 200+ years later that document is still holding up against the slow but persistent erosion of freedom that we allow our elected leaders to facilitate. All politicians today are pretty much the same to me. I suppose I'm a reactionary but I wish government would play a minimalist role and leave people the hell alone. This is of course, why I don't like FDR. I'm not trying to start a battle with the FDR camp, I just want to voice my opinion.
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Pride is the recognition of the fact that you are your own highest value and, like all of man’s values, it has to be earned. It is not advisable, James, to venture unsolicited opinions. You should spare yourself the embarrassing discovery of their exact value to your listener. Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged Last edited by Dostoevsky; 05-19-2004 at 10:05 PM.. |
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#12 (permalink) | |
Cherry-pickin' devil's advocate
Location: Los Angeles
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As some have said, 'facts in politics just don't exist.' ------------ Anyways my personal stand? I'd be on the motion for FDR as well not based upon what action he did or didn't, but for his character. He was what one could call a 'strong man' but one who worked with both people and Congress. And he was there in the two greatest crises other than the Civil War in American history. His strong personality, will, and ability to work with everyone in the most dangerous of times and so on would probably be my first choice, especially given the times... But to be honest, a list of the top rankings of Presidents I found a while back says that I would agree with any of the top 5-6: Franklin D Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison |
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#13 (permalink) | ||
Junkie
Location: San Jose, CA
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However, when you say: Quote:
For example, see this list: http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/...successes.html Now, I'm not saying that you should trust me more than Powell. But, if you're relying on a single source for your information about FDR and the Great Depression, you're selling yourself short. Read a few different sources, conservative and liberal, and decide for yourself. |
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#14 (permalink) |
Cherry-pickin' devil's advocate
Location: Los Angeles
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Reading up on posts and stuff anre thinking about it again, I realized how many presidents there are out there that in the publics eye may be poor but may be ranked extremely high for what they did achieve.
The classic case IMO is Lyndon Johnson: The guy who won in the biggest landslide in history in 1964 ended his run with just one term. He was brought down by the Vietnam War. But that often masks how effective of a president he was - he was the master at getting Congress to work for him. Imagine one of you in his shoes trying to get the Civil Rights Act and Voter Rights Acts to pass when you have the Southern coalition planning to block it - the fact he brokered the deal and got a large overwhelming majority to vote in favor is amazing. It's just surprising at times to see him in the top 15 constantly.... Okay now im just rambling facts ![]() |
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#18 (permalink) | |
Omnipotent Ruler Of The Tiny Universe In My Mind
Location: Oreegawn
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Mwahahahaha... I love out of date jokes.
__________________
Words of Wisdom: If you could really get to know someone and know that they weren't lying to you, then you would know the world was real. Because you could agree on things, you could compare notes. That must be why people get married or make Art. So they'll be able to really know something and not go insane. |
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#19 (permalink) | |
Sarge of Blood Gulch Red Outpost Number One
Location: On the front lines against our very enemy
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__________________
"This ain't no Ice Cream Social!" "Hey Grif, Chupathingy...how bout that? I like it...got a ring to it." "I have no earthly idea what it is I just saw, or what this place is, or where in the hell O'Malley is! My only choice is to blame Grif for coming up with such a flawed plan. Stupid, stupid Grif." |
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#20 (permalink) | |
Insane
Location: Eternity
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But I think Bill Clinton is just dreamy! ![]()
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The mother of mankind, what time his pride Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host Of rebel Angels |
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#21 (permalink) |
Insane
Location: st. louis
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i would have to say TR because he did some really good things during his term even though he threw the rep. party into dissaray
if you want some presidents few remember try: Mckinley polk the first johnson the adams's or tyler just to name a few
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"The difference between commiment and involvment is like a ham and egg breakfast the chicken was involved but the pig was commited" ![]() "Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt |
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#22 (permalink) | |
Tilted
Location: Blacksburg, VA
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I would pick Washington, one of the greatest men of his or any other century. |
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#23 (permalink) |
I change
Location: USA
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Abraham Lincoln. He did what he believed was the right thing to do. He ignored the vagaries of public opinion and endured scandal, bad press, mockery, and elitism.
I see the Civil War as being paradigmatic of our continual internal struggle with the two major mindsets of the population. The hardest thing to do is hold our Union together and ensure its survivability into the future. Polarization as a result of ill-formed opinion and politicalized allegiances, wishful thinking, and anti-government polemic is endemic to our society. The cycle has repeated itself over and over again - it's our perverse destiny to be at war primarily with ourselves. A strong executive with an historical vision is job one.
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create evolution |
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#24 (permalink) | |
Huzzah for Welcome Week, Much beer shall I imbibe.
Location: UCSB
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I'm leaving for the University of California: Santa Barbara in 5 hours, give me your best college advice - things I need, good ideas, bad ideas, nooky, ect. Originally Posted by Norseman on another forum: "Yeah, the problem with the world is the stupid people are all cocksure of themselves and the intellectuals are full of doubt." |
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#25 (permalink) |
Insane
Location: in my head
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definitely not fdr. I would pick teddy, because he was a great balance between the business interest, the working interest, and the countries interests in the rest of the world. fdr sold our liberty for security. and now we cannot escape the web of government he has weaved around us.
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"My give up, my give up." - Jar Jar Binks |
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#26 (permalink) |
Insane
Location: About 70 pixals above this...
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But teddy was worse than Any Bush in showing off power to get things done HIS way without any thought of other countries or the bad relations that festered thereafter. He kinda screwed us with his badmouthing/intimidation of japan (WWII) and interference in south America.
He pissed off a lot of people without need. He was an ego maniac to boot; congress was screwed by him many a time. My vote is for the good Wilson. He was fair, balanced, against war but knew that things were getting out of hand and that America needed to stop foolish aggressions. If the european powers had not shat on his 14 points and the Isolationists in America had not done the same to his League of Nations, WWII would not have happened. |
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pick, politics, president |
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