General

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

Friedrich Dominicus — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 06:56:50 GMT

He is responsible. It's him who can veto everything, it's him who should fight for the constituion. If he chooses bad advicers it falls also back on him.

NO presidents are "responsible"

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

cab21 — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 20:47:48 GMT

they all could have vetoed anything, or not became presidents, so they are all bad. the ideal would have been no government and then people rolling over and the territory being captured and claimed by european imperialism.

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

Minarchist — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:45:00 GMT

@eliotn

The Presidents were rarely the authors of their own policies. As I implied, Wilson was a pure tool of the Morgan interests. However, that does not absolve him of his responsibility. Wilson could at any time have used the immense power of the Presidency to reverse harmful policies. Instead, he used the power of the Presidency to push those harmful policies. He is as responsible as anyone, and more so than most, his being a hand-puppet notwithstanding. The same for the rest of them.

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

Wheylous — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 18:46:42 GMT

Truman being very bad is a good point. Jeez, we can find faults in all these guys :(

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

No2statism — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 18:40:58 GMT

Lincoln, then Wilson. I totally agree with what Clayton said about Reagan so he is one of the worst along with Washington.

the very best president was John tyler. He ended the wars against the Indians, he vetoed a central bank twice, he took in more than he spent, he didn't invade any foreign countries, he was pro states' rights to the core, and he was good on civil liberties. It is a shame that Polk had to start a war with Mexico, but just because Tyler annexed Texas didn't mean that war had to happen.

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

eliotn — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 18:22:47 GMT

It seems to me that, to some degree, people are looking at a policy and attributing it to a president. Just because a certain policy was enacted when a president was in power doesn't mean that the president is responsible. Also, I wouldn't necessarily put full responsibility on the president, there are other people in government who help to push along these statist policies.

Something to keep in mind in the analysis.

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

Minarchist — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 10:34:12 GMT

Would you mind to tell me what you find so extraodinary worse about Wilson?

The fed, the income tax, the worst violations of civil liberties up to that time, sabotaging the possibility of a negotiated peace in 1916, pushing the U.S into the war, pushing the Versailles Treaty and the League of Nations after the war, on and on.

His involvement in the war is what bothers me most. In a nutshell, he consciously assisted in the destruction of Western Civilization so that J.P. F-in Morgan could make money on English war bonds.

...and for all these wonderful services which Woodrow Wilson rendered mankind he has been effectively canonized by court historians.

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

cab21 — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 09:20:59 GMT

Jefferson owning slaves in principle breaking to me. the Louisiana purchase was constitution and principle breaking to me.

it's hard for me to think someone has a appreciation for letting people keep their hard earned money when they had slaves.

for the lp, while Jefferson did propose a amendment to the constitution, the land was bought without one, and that was part of precedent for violating the constitution.

i think i am ranking partley in intention here

with fdr, he said he would expand government and he did, so it's consistent with the message, with Jefferson going on a reduce government platform, and expanding seems less consistent.

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

Friedrich Dominicus — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 08:44:17 GMT

Would you mind to tell me what you find so extraodinary worse about Wilson?

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

Friedrich Dominicus — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 08:43:04 GMT

Well I did not fell especially well about Lincoln and Nixon either.

Ending the gold standard was bad but I think the whole war machinery tops this. But wel with Gold he would not be able to finance that war...

So what comes first? Unsound money and after that war or first war and after that unsound money? I guess both things had have happened.

I agree also about the arguments about Hoover, one of the real bad interventionists.

Anyway unders which presidents the first fed was established? I think it was around 1847 or the like, which has crashed soon thereafter,

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

Friedrich Dominicus — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 08:36:21 GMT

Jefferson as a worse president? No I do not agree.

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

cab21 — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:58:08 GMT

Thomas Jefferson for the Louisiana Purchase

george washinton for the whiskey rebelilion

john adams undeclared war

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

Clayton — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:35:01 GMT

I think Truman deserves honorary mention as the mass murderer of peaceful Japanese in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Ronald Reagan is also one of the rank worst Presidents not because his Presidential acts were so relatively evil (he was par for the course and far less bloodthirsty than Bush or Obama) but because he mutilated small-government conservatism in the worst possible way. His hypocrisy is unsurpassed by any President when it comes to the issue of how large a role the government should play. Bush II is a runner-up in this department.

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Clayton -

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

Clayton — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:16:36 GMT

+1 Aristippus on everything

@cab21: Go away, troll

Re: Ranking of the worseness of presidents.

Wheylous — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 06:15:46 GMT

Hurr durr libertarians are anti-freedom.