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Posted on 04/05/2020 5:58:20 PM PDT by Ozguy1945
Fair play in the Olympics or in politics means balancing freedom and discipline: https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/2020/04/06/please-stay-free/
What do Freeepers have to say about evaluating presidents through their use (or overuse/underuse?) of the veto. We want leaders to protect freedom while being disciplined (i.e. not too free ) themselves.
The first thing I noticed was POTUS 45’s low rate of use of the veto compared with other eras. How do Freeepers evaluate Trump’s use of the veto?
Here are some facts:
298 years ago, on April 5, 1792, President Washington exercised the first presidential veto.
He blocked legislation that would have given Northern states more seats per head of population than Southern States. I believe he protected democracy from a gerrymander before the word “gerrymander” even existed.
This was one of only two vetoes exercised by Washington.
FDR holds the record for the most, having vetoed legislation 635 times over his record period in office. Two term president Cleveland comes second with 584 vetoes. Next in order are Truman 250, Eisenhower 181, Grant 93, Teddy Roosevelt 82, Reagan 78 and Ford 66.
The era has a lot to do with it. The first 13 presidents had a total of 36 vetoes to their names and 29 of these were by only three presidents: Jackson(12), Tyler(10) and Madison(7). There was a peak after the civil war and from FDR to Eisenhower.
Trump is the first president since Lyndon Johnson not to have a veto overturned. The record for most overturned vetoes goes to Andrew Johnson with 15 (out of only 29 exercised – more than half overturned). Truman and Ford are second with 12 overturned. Reagan and FDR had 9 overturned each.
Trump has the lowest number of vetoes since Harding (also 6) and you have to go back to Garfield to find a president with fewer vetoes than Trump.
POTUS 43 & 44 both had 12, which is 6 per term putting them approximately at par with Trump at this stage. Unless 2020 is a very fractious year. Coronavirus might make it very bipartisan.
But what effect will the election year have?
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