Top Ten Presidents

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The comparison of presidents from different eras is highly problematic due to the different social, political and economic climates in which they've had to operate. Having said that....

1.  Abraham Lincoln
2.  Teddy Roosevelt
3.  George Washington
4.  Harry Truman
5.  Dwight Eisenhower
6.  Grover Cleveland
7.  James Madison
8.  John F. Kennedy
9.  Bill Clinton (The last three are pretty much interchangeable for me.)
10. Franklin Roosevelt


(I'm very mixed on FDR. I don't like his economic interventionism, nor his heavy-handed use of executive power, his attempt to stack the Supreme Court and his internment of citizens of Japanese descent. However, he did "save captialism," meaning that if it weren't for his actions, the country probably would have turned closer to fascism or socialism. Plus he handled WWII well. I felt that for those last two reasons he had to go in the top 10, so I equivocated and stuck him on the tail end.)

[RScannix]

Top Ten? Bleh...

1. George Washington
2. Grover Cleveland
3. Abraham Lincoln
4. Calvin Coolidge
5. Andrew Jackson

Those are the greatest ones.

Can't say I agree with Jackson. Indian Removal is enough for me to vote no. Plus, I think he went too far with the Bank and hard currency reforms, helping usher in that little panic in 1837.

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1   Ronald Reagan
2   Thomas Jefferson
3   Calvin Coolidge
4   Andrew Jackson
5   George Washington
6   Grover Cleveland
7   James Madison
8   Martin Van Buren
9   Dwight Eisenhower
10 James K. Polk

And my top 5 worst, just for fun...

1  Woodrow Wilson
2  Lyndon Johnson
3  Abrahan Lincoln
4  Jimmy Carter
5  George W. Bush

Why Jefferson and Madison?

Thomas Jefferson:

-advocate of "American Exceptionalism" and personal liberty, father of republicanism
-cut taxes
-opposed the national bank
-made slave importation illegal
-Louisiana purchase
-maintained American neutrality during Napoleonic Wars

James Madison conversely expanded the government more what with supporting the Hamilton national bank, but he also was excellent on civil liberties and is often credited with creating the bill of rights.

Eh....I liked Madison, but I'm lukewarm on Jefferson's presidency because of the embargo.

Why Polk? I know he accomplished all his goals and such, but he was one of the most aggressive expansionist presidents in history. The Mexican War was completely baseless save for the purpose of territorial aggrandizement.

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Madison didn't really create the Bill of Rights....before changing his mind and helping push it through Congress in amendment form, he was dead set against it. He thought that by explicitly defining what rights were, it would encourage government to work around the legal definitions to violate individual liberty.

[RScannix]

I will certainly take Jefferson before I accept Woodrow, that's for sure.