Posted on 01/16/2017 4:11:17 PM PST by KingofZion
For all their noise and news dominance, presidential elections typically don’t change the country all that much. That isn’t a bad thing but a sign of how strong American democracy is. It rarely veers far from the center, where successful policy usually lies. But on rare occasions, deep historical currents and extraordinary political talents produce an entirely new order. It happened in the presidential elections of 1828, 1860, 1896, 1932—and, quite probably, 2016.
Denied the presidency in 1824 by what he called a “corrupt bargain” in the House of Representatives, Tennessee’s Andrew Jackson swept to a landslide four years later. He was the first president from west of the Appalachians—indeed, the first from anywhere other than Virginia or Massachusetts. Born dirt-poor, Jackson was also the first president to rise to affluence solely by his own effort.
*** Jackson created the modern Democratic Party, and the intense opposition to his policies coalesced into the Whig Party, establishing the two-party norm that prevails to this day. No wonder the great 19th-century American historian George Bancroft considered Jackson the last of the Founding Fathers.
*** It would take the greatest war in American history to reunite the country. By the time the Civil War was over, the nation had been transformed. The South, impoverished and politically crippled, would be effectively a Third World country inside a First World one for 100 years. The North, with its rapidly expanding industry and growing population, was politically dominant. More than half the antebellum presidents had been Southern. In the century after the war ended, only two Southerners were elected to the White House: Woodrow Wilson, a Virginia native who made his career in New Jersey, and Texas’ Lyndon B. Johnson.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Publius wrote:
“First Republic, roughly 10 years
Created by the Articles of Confederation; vitiated by a lack of a coin of the realm; destroyed by Shays’ Rebellion and its aftermath.
Second Republic, 72 years
Created by the Constitution.
Argument: Federalism, i.e., the correct balance between state and federal powers.
Founding President: Washington.
Affirming President from same party: Adams for 1 term.
Transformative President (32 years after term of Founding President ends): Jackson.
Follower President from same party: Van Buren, who loses re-election due to economic depression.
Failed President (16 years after term of Follower President ends): Buchanan, who fails because the nostrums of his republic cannot handle the current issues, i.e., slavery and disunion.
Third Republic, 72 years
Created by the Civil War.
Argument: Who will control that all-powerful federal government? An early and primitive form of corporate fascism, where the country is run by Big Business in general and Big Railroads in particular.
Founding President: Lincoln.
Affirming President from same party: Grant for 2 terms (I don’t count Hayes because the 1876 election was probably stolen).
Transformative President (32 years after term of Founding President ends): Theodore Roosevelt, who achieves office via assassination.
Follower President from same party: Taft, who loses re-election due to TR’s ego.
Failed President (16 years after term of Follower President ends): Hoover, who fails because the nostrums of his republic cannot handle the current issue, i.e., depression and the collapse of the banking system.
Fourth Republic, 84 years
Created by the New Deal.
Argument: Who will control that all-powerful federal government? In theory, the people, via alphabet agencies that are part of the Executive while Congress abdicates its right to make law. Big Government replaces Big Business, and democratic socialism replaces corporate fascism.
Founding President: Franklin Roosevelt. His election to 4 terms throws the calculations off and lengthens the time line of the republic.
Affirming President from same party: Truman for 1 term.
Transformative President (32 years after term of Founding President ends): Reagan.
Follower President from same party: the Elder Bush, who loses re-election due to a post-Cold War depression.
Interesting Note: The Younger Bush, a descendant of Franklin Pierce via his mother, takes the same slot in one of his terms as his ancestor.
Failed President (16 years after term of Follower President ends): Obama, who fails because the nostrums of his republic cannot handle the current issue, i.e., depression, deflation and the loss of jobs abroad due to globalization. Surprisingly, the Failed President wins a second term because the opposition party nominates someone who refuses to address the issues because of his own penchant for globalism.
Fifth Republic
Created by – good question. The dominant issue should become clear within the next 12 months. It’s too soon to figure out the crisis that will define the era.
Argument: We’ll watch it fall into place in the next 12 months.
Founding President: Trump.
Interesting Note: The Second (Washington) and Fourth (FDR) republics were formed in electoral landslides. The Third (Lincoln) was formed when the winner didn’t have a popular vote majority, and there were questions about popular mandate and political capital; Fort Sumter provided Lincoln with what he needed. If the Fifth (Trump) follows the pattern of the Third, some crisis, perhaps an internal rebellion, will provide Trump with the political capital to sweep everything before him.”
Excellent analysis!
Interesting parallels....
Where there are two or more gathered in my name, there I shall be also.
People have so much work to do and weekends are the only time they have. Also finding a church can be very difficult. I no longer go to church. I find it easier to speak to God every day when the sun rises. I speak to Him every day throughout the day.
I can’t argue with that, but Jesus did talk about attending services. I’m not here to convince you of anything. It’s up to you.
I appreciate the comments.
Good one!
George Galloway
***
Honest, you say? Isn’t he one of the ones encouraging the destruction of the UK by taking in the mohammedan invaders?
Or do I have him mixed up with some other Brit politician?
I agree. The guy puts forth an interesting theory, or two. But there is a lot of hard work to be done.
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Make America Great Again
Where there are two or more gathered in my name, there I shall be also.
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Look at the context of that Scripture quote. It is Church discipline. Extremely important to get the context right if you are going to apply individual verses.
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BTW - totally understand about finding a Church where God’s Word is taught and defended. Don’t give up on looking.
When I talk to God about America, I remind Him that America has millions of Christians who love Him. I ask him to put down the hellions so His people can dominate society.
“I’d like to see a good solid religious revival in this nation.”
Same here. But IMO, it’s going to take a national calamity of death and destruction before people wake up.
You have to hear Newt Gingrich’s speech on this subject to the Heritage Foundation where he declares Trump the leader of a new political revolution, which will be sustainable if enough of the folks who voted for change remain active.
Newt’s a pretty good historian and political analyst.
Sounds like a reasoned request.
I hope not, because those are merely temporary.
Look at 09/11 and how fast folks moved on.
The Left has no concept of the followers of Islam being terrorists to this day.
Interesting. But so far the country is still 50-50 deadlocked.
* * *
The big sea change IMHO will be the blue-collar vote shifting permanently to the GOP. They were a huge part of the Democrats’ identity (the Party of the working man), if that goes away, all they’ll have left are the minorities, and the Elitists on both coasts, can’t win national election with only that.
*bump*
Wrapped up a lot of stuff very nicely there.
That’s why they are puckering up, especially after the Trump/Labor union love fest the other day. Trump can flip their leaders.
The Blue Collar vote that used to be known as “Joe Sixpack” was ready to go to the Republicans during the Reagan years because of social values and black rioting in the sixties.
Bush Sr. was too blue-blooded to really appeal to them while Clinton was seen as one of them, talked their language (remember his joke about blankets in the PU).
As the Dems move further and further left and away from social values they like such as guns, religion and no political correctness, they could become the permanent base of the Republican party.
And the “Country Clubbers” better get used to it.
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