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Who is the best/worst U.S. president in history?

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I wanted to post this and ask everyone, who is your favorite and least favorite POTUS in history.  For me, my favorite president is a little controversial, due to certain things he did that still to this day cause some historians to discount him, but my favorite president and my favorite founding father is without a doubt, John Adams. My least favorite president is by far Woodrow Wilson. I can't stand him. So I was wondering, what do you all thing of my picks. Do you agree? Do you disagree? I am curious to see what everyone posts. 
"If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking...is freedom."-Dwight D. Eisenhower

"It is not strange...to mistake change for progress."-Millard Fillmore

"The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities."-Ayn Rand

"To disagree, one doesn't have to be disagreeable."-Barry Goldwater





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  • all4acttall4actt 305 Pts   -  
    Abraham Lincoln favorite b/c of his agenda 

    Andrew johnson who I believe underminded President Lincoln's goals

    In recent history worst I think was Carter and the best was Regan

    Why Adams and Wilson?
  • MattGouldMattGould 52 Pts   -  
    @all4actt well I like Adams naturally because he is my favorite founding fathers. But also I think he did a lot of good for the country when he was president. He founded the American navy, he kept us out of war with France even after the xyz affair, I also think, even though I completely disagree with the act, that the reasons behind the alien and sedition acts were good. He was simply trying to preserve order in the country due to the pro French sentiment happening at the time of the French Revolution and though the quasi war with France. However, this doesn’t mean I approve of the act, I am simply taking into account the historical context of the situation at the time, which most people don’t do when looking at the alien and sedition acts. 

    As far as Wilson goes, where do I begin. He was an outright racist and southern historical revisionist who screened birth of a nation in the White House. Also, as a high functioning autistic male his support of the eugenics movement that happened in the us during that time astounds and disgusts me. Honestly, there are so many Things I don’t like about Wilson I could write a book about it. But I won’t bore you by doing so in a post. So I would say look up info on him, you might be quite surprised. 
    "If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking...is freedom."-Dwight D. Eisenhower

    "It is not strange...to mistake change for progress."-Millard Fillmore

    "The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities."-Ayn Rand

    "To disagree, one doesn't have to be disagreeable."-Barry Goldwater


  • MayCaesarMayCaesar 5967 Pts   -  
    Best: 
    1. Thomas Jefferson - the only president in the history of the US truly committed to the ideals of individual liberty and political decentralization. I would go as far as to say that he is the only reason Federalists did not win outright and build an authoritarian dictatorship early on.
    2. Ronald Reagan - effectively ended the Cold War by his decisive actions, and reintroduced the free market ideas after many decades of hardcore statism (unfortunately it did not last, and the reforms were turned around as soon as Reagan was gone).
    3. Bill Clinton - the guy recognized the potential of the IT industry when it was still in its primal state, and invested heavy resources into it, plus lifted countless regulations of the industry. Without these actions, the US might have missed this chance and never become the uncontested leader in the hi-tech world.
    4. George Washington - I am not a huge fan of his overall presidency, but I respect him for one thing: he stepped down when he easily could have become a dictator instead - most people seemed to support him staying regardless of the Constitution. He, however, had enough foresight to know that this one decision is likely to determine whether the liberty experiment succeeds or not, and stepped down with an amazing final speech. This created a good precedent of the actual respect for Constitutional laws by the government, that sent ripples across the entire world, and all the modern democracies, to some degree, have him to thank for their success.

    Worst:
    1. Woodrow Wilson - do I even need to say anything? He was the guy who trampled on the ideals of the Revolution and introduced everything that is wrong with the country today: the centralized taxation system, the centralized immigration system, official censorship, foreign wars as a means to distract the domestic population's attention from the political issues, the practice of governmental interventions in the market every time people are unhappy with something... This guy is the killer of the Founding Fathers' ideas.
    2. FDR - took Wilson's ideas to the extreme, introduced abysmally high federal taxes, made the market his property, created countless agencies and regulations that squeezed the life out of both enterpreneurs and consumers alike. I only put FDR at number 2 because he was number 2 chronologically.
    3. Lincoln - likely the most misunderstood person in the history of the US. "Liberator", huh? The only thing he really liberated was millions human bodies liberated from being alive. Sure, he ended slavery - which was already gone from the Union, and was on the way of being gone soon from the Confederation. At the same time, he used his dictatorial power in the military time to suppress all political opposition, introduced countless anti-Constitutional laws that destroyed the system of justice and pretty much annihilated everyone who did not want to give him full control over their property by military means.

    Honorable mention goes to Jackson, Carter and George W Bush. The first one was a genocidal authoritarian, the second one made the US play along with dictators and giving up on their long time democratic allies, and the third one used a minor crisis to push through horrible anti-privacy laws and expand the law enforcement agencies way beyond where they were supposed to be.
  • MattGouldMattGould 52 Pts   -  
    @MayCaesar idk if I agree with Bill Clinton being one of the best. As far as Andrew Jackson goes, even though he wasn’t the best president and he did something’s that today are considered morally questionable if not wrong, I would argue his presidency and his presidential measures in many ways moved democracy forward and was a stepping stone to eventually giving suffrage to everyone in the nation.
    DebateChamp
    "If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking...is freedom."-Dwight D. Eisenhower

    "It is not strange...to mistake change for progress."-Millard Fillmore

    "The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities."-Ayn Rand

    "To disagree, one doesn't have to be disagreeable."-Barry Goldwater


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