Ranking the presidents, best to worst

Washington was the first one to say use government money to build up the infrastructure. FDR followed his example. This contrary to the diseased minds of the far right who say it wasn't that way.

 

I have all the respect in the world for FDR. But as for helping build infrastructure, Ike has to take a lot of credit for that. FDR did help build some with his work program, trying to create jobs for Americans during the Great Depression.

 

This is true, but we really cannot attribute this policy to George Washington. It was Alexander Hamilton who believed, in its fledgling state, that the federal government needs to develop an infrastructure program for the creation of roads and bridges. His plans can be found in the famous Report on Manufactures.

At the same time, it is important to remember that the political landscape in the late 18th Century United States was much different than today. Alexander Hamilton was among the pivotal Federalists. Beyond their strong support for American republicanism, the Federalists, particularly Hamilton himself, were much more conservative than there ideological counterparts. Now bear in mind that I am not using the term 'conservative' in its modern context. I am referring to Hamilton as a conservative ideologue of the archaic American republican variety. Although Hamilton's conservatism differed from that of other conservatives from around the world at the time, many of who believed in a divine right of kings, he was still an ardent proponent of robust statism. This includes government economic policy.

Hamilton's government economic policy can be boiled down as being aligned with what is known as the American School of economics. The tenets of this economic framework include protectionism, infrastructure development, and centralized banking. In its infantile stage of development, these measures helped the United States surpass the British Empire in economic productivity by the 1880s.

 

Political Animal - The “Tax Increase” Republicans Used To Like


www.washingtonmonthly.com/.../the_tax_increase_republicans_u03...


Jul 5, 2012 – Oh, yes - let's give them their due - Ike helped build the nations highways using tax money, and Reagan and Bush I raised some taxes to help ...

 

Truman's status has been improving steadily since he left office...

 

Any POTUS that uses a nuke on civilians should stay at the bottom.

 

No he hasn't, he was just the first President and not much more.

And rightwing revisionist history has brought us a failing nation.

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Bottom 5 to be sure.

 

Rightwing politics of personal destruction.
When truth falis you, attack the other person.
raygun did nothing to bring about the fall of the USSR, all he did was hold the office at the time, period.
His outrageous spending has been excused by the nutters this way, but in truth he did nothing.

 

Whoa, do you have shame at all? That is the worst bit of rightwing revisionist history I have ever heard!

Total BS.
He did spend and spend and spend but it had nothing to do with the USSR, it was to fuel the economy here at home. Too bad it was spent on the wrong stuff.
Russia was broke long before the senile old man took office and they were going to fall no matter what. They simply didn't even try to build their military anymore, they couldn't and they knew it.
A statue? Well my goodness, a statue that certainly must be proof of something. what I don't know but....

Yes he did sell weapons to Iran to raise money for the Contras that was was waging a war in Nicaragua against the Soviet involvement and a communist government. A war Congress had been funding for over two years and then cut it off because they got cold feet and thought the Contras would blow up one of their ships in the Nicaraguan harbor, bring America into conflict with the Soviets. What were the Contra suppose to do then, go home to their families? Congress left them out to dry with no place to go and the Communist government left in place.[/QUOTE]

 

An often-overlooked President is James K. Polk. He is one of the few President who ever did exactly what he campaigned he would do.

He annexed Texas, and got Florida admitted to the Union and completely vanquished the idea of a central bank in the US for three generations.


People make much of scandals in Grant's administration. Credite Mobiliere was less than 0.01% of Solyndra even adjusting for inflation. Grant's entire government consumed less than 5% of GDP.

People make much of the Teapot Dome scandal in Harding's time. Adjusted for inflation it was less than 1% of Solyndra. Harding's entire federal government consumed about 7% of GDP of which 1% of GDP went to paying down debt from World War One.

If you cannot get excited about the mega-scandal of Solyndra, how can you get excited about the micro-scandals of Grant and Harding's time?


Coolidge's entire federal government consumed 3.7% of GDP of which 1% was paying down World War One debt.

Between Harding and Coolidge, they had paid down federal debt to the level it was prior to the Spanish-American War. There's a lot to be said for that.

Prior to leaving office in 1837, Andrew Jackson paid down the federal debt to ZERO. His government only consumed 2.7% of GDP.

Too many historians are fans of activist Presidents and big, expensive, overbearing government. Jackson, Polk, Grant, Harding, and Coolidge - all thrifty with the public weal - get unfairly short-changed.

 

I appreciate your knowledge of history. But they were vilified for the bad things they did. Jackson, Polk and Grant all committed genocide on the Native Americans in the name of expansionism. Grant's administration was full of corruption, same with Harding, that is not a short change. The policies of Harding and Coolidge brought about the Great Depression, which is why the republicans were thrown out of power for forty years.

 

"Grant's administration was full of corruption, same with Harding, that is not a short change."

Taxcutter says:
An infinitesimal fraction of the Solyndra scandal of Hussein Obama which you seem more than willing to overlook.



"The policies of Harding and Coolidge brought about the Great Depression..."

Taxcutter says:
No they didn't. The Great Depression was caused by reaction to Germany hyperinflation (due to the Treaty of Versaille) and British monetary policies. Credit had been too easy in the US for a while but that was not due to Harding and Coolidge, but rather the independent Federal Reserve.



"Jackson, Polk and Grant all committed genocide on the Native Americans in the name of expansionism."

Taxcutter says:
That's what people did in the middle eighteenth century. You arrogantly judge historical figures by ahistorical standards.

 

Numb nuts is 39th? You mean there were actually worse Presidents than him? That's difficult to believe.

 

Excellent post. However, Hamilton's writing was in 1791. Washington's was in 1784,5:


"Washington wrote a friend in 1785 that “unless we can connect the new States which are rising to our view in those regions, with those on the Atlantic by interest (the only binding cement, and not otherwise to be effected by opening such communications as will make it easier and cheaper for them to bring the product of their labour our markets, instead of going to the Spaniards southerly, or the British northerly), they will be quite a distinct people; and ultimately may be very troublesome neighbors to us."


http://lehrmaninstitute.org/history/founders-land.asp


Washington surveyed those lands and had his own commercials interests in mind. Hamilton, if my recollection is correct, was working as a lawyer while Washington was working as surveyor and land speculator. But your point and mine are both correct: contrary to what is so often taught by right wingers today, our Founding Fathers did believe that government had a significant role in building up the infrastructure.

 

Yes, we are both correct. Interpreting the quote without context, it seems Washington is speaking about the need to develop some means of connecting the newly acquired territory from the Treaty of Paris.

 

You bring up yet another good point: not only does this promote growth and commerce, it was Washington's way of saying building up the infrastructure strengthens the nation from within and protects against foreign intrusionism.


You can create, say, a model house, put a solid steel roof on top of it as a shield against the elements, but make the foundation and walls of thin balsa wood. If you drop a brick on it, the shield will stay strong, but the rest of the model house will collapse.

What our Founders wanted was to build a solid foundation, refrain from foreign entanglements, and to keep the citizenry armed as a means of warding off foreign interventionism.

Now let's go back to that model house: suppose the top shield made of aluminum while the foundation and walls were made of solid steel, and away from strong winds or other potential threats. How much better would the model house withstand any possible hazards? The shield might be slightly damaged but the foundation would go unharmed. Same for the entire Nation: keep its foundation, its infrastructure strong and all possible threats could be dealt with far more effectively. This is what our Founders intended.

If you are a TRUE conservative, one that is motivated by Foundational principles, one that believes in original intent, then this is what you want for this great Nation. Therefore, you would NEVER vote Republican as they do not believe in strengthening our foundation, our infrastructure the way real Republicans like Eisenhower and Theodore Roosevelt did in the past.

 

Your lack of a grasp of reality and constant whining won't change the truth. In fact it only reenforces the justification of the GOP being thrown out of power for forty years. And it's about to happen again.

 

I concur. Washington's Presidential philosophies were of such impact America passed an Amendment to the Constitution based on them some century and a half after his terms. The man was insightful and his legacy endures as arguably the most prolific of all Presidents.

 

"Dilutional ravings of a disgruntled con. Wah!"

Taxcutter says:
Childish taunt.


"In fact it only reenforces the justification of the GOP being thrown out of power for forty years. And it's about to happen again."

Taxcutter says:
I remember the Republicans with same line in 2005. In both cases, the margins were too slim to justify such an attitude.

 

I agree that Washington's act of bowing out after two terms was an important precedent.

But what else did Washington do as president that in your opinion merit's his number 1 position?

 

Washington kept the federal government small and let the states handles the more detailed and "social" issues.

 

Now, if only Solyndra were a real scandal......and conservatives weren't the biggest spenders.....

 

I would rather see this turned into two lists.

First would be presidents who moved us forward economically, second being socially.

I agree with Dip2.0 though, there is just no non-partisan way to do it.

 

Well and the Grand Coolie dam, the Hoover dam, electrifying the entire South and most of rural America, thousands of miles of hiking trails in the national parks and forests, most of the infrastructure in those same parks, the Manhattan project, the TVA, and so much more, but yeah, Ike built a freeway (that he stole from hitler) so he gets all the credit.

 

No, raygun goes on the bottom because he was a worthless President who rang up more debt that any President before him. He broke his own international law, he armed tyrants with chemical weapons, he lied about everything.
He goes to the bottom becasue thats where he belongs.