Posted on 02/21/2011 1:00:39 PM PST by Colonel Kangaroo
On Presidents’ Day, Americans take a day to recognize the office of the presidency – and to reflect upon the country’s best.
FrumForum asked freshman Republican members which president they admired the most, but excluded President Reagan from contention to give the other presidents a fair chance. The fourteen Republican members who responded gave a range of answers, but President Abraham Lincoln came out on top.
Interestingly, these freshman congressmen have something in common with President Obama, who has identified Lincoln as his favorite president. Independent voters also agreed – a new Gallup poll shows that Lincoln was their favorite president.
“President Lincoln’s ability to guide our country through our most difficult period in history stands as a testament to both his leadership, character and patriotism,” Congressman Lou Barletta (PA-11) told FrumForum.
“[H]e served as president during one of the most dangerous and trying times our nation has ever faced and he was able to keep our country from falling apart. Lincoln saved our democracy and is the reason our nation is still thriving today,” concurred Rep. Steve Chabot (OH-1).
That same Gallup poll predictably showed Reagan with a 24 point lead over the second place finisher, George Washington.
The congressmen who favored Theodore Roosevelt, the president who finished second in the FrumForum polling, cited his love for the environment and his respect for states’ rights. “Teddy Roosevelt is one of my favorites because of his can-do spirit, his respect for states’ rights, and his exemplary foresight to ensure that the beauty of our nation was left for future generations,” said Congressman Paul Gosar (AZ-01).
“Teddy Roosevelt… believed in and promoted American exceptionalism. In addition, he was instrumental in introducing the U.S. as a world power,” agreed Rep. Bill Flores (TX-17).
Thomas Jefferson was the non-Reagan favorite of Rep. Rick Crawford (AR-1): “Thomas Jefferson was a Renaissance Man. Not only did he write the Declaration of Independence, but he was an author, inventor, farmer, diplomat, and public servant, only to name a few. A true ‘man of the people.’”
Congressman Michael Grimm (NY-13) told FrumForum that he had served under George H.W. Bush – and that he was his choice for favorite non-Reagan president. “President George H. W. Bush was my Commander in Chief when I served as a Marine during Operation Desert Storm. He has the best experience any president can have from his service in the military, to his leadership as an ambassador, his time as a U.S. congressman, his role as the Director of the CIA, and his two terms as Vice President. President George H. W. Bush is the greatest and most dignified American I have ever had the privilege and honor to meet,” he said.
Rep. Chip Cravaack (MN-8) pointed to the economic accomplishments of the Coolidge administration to explain his choice: “During the Coolidge administration the federal budget shrank, the national debt was cut in half, unemployment stood at 3.6%, consumer prices rose just 0.4% and Americans personal wealth increased 17.5%,” he said.
Congressman Kevin Yoder (KA-3), on the other hand, proudly noted that President Eisenhower was from his home state. “He is a proud son of Kansas and a true American hero. Eisenhower worked his way to the highest level of service in the military and public office yet maintained his strong Kansas principles of humility and hard work… When he left office, he left our country with greater prosperity and through his service he made a lasting impression for future generations,” he said.
According to Gallup, 19% of all Americans view Reagan as the nation’s best president, with Lincoln, Clinton, Kennedy and George Washington trailing behind.
With files from Nicole Glass and Shawn Summers.
But you applauded ronnyquest on his facts so I just assumed that you had established what he said to be true. And you two are so positive on that number. 300 newspapers shut down. Not approximately 300. Not an estimated 300. 300. Surely somewhere along the way you came across a list?
Careful, some Freepers only like the 10th ammendment when it suits them. The fact is that you were presented with a false dilemma, a logical fallacy, stemming from a false analogy. The military is not the same as a Voluntary Confederation of states.
Not only did the Founding Fathers write about what powers, not rights, the Federal Government had, they also gave the very foundation of when a Government was ripe to be thrown out. The same people who will argue that states should challenge the Federal Government now, are aghast at the idea that there was a time when their forefathers did so too.
Slavery was bad, and abolished through a Constitutional amendment. Not the Civil war. The war was not, and will never have been, no matter how many people proclaim it to have been, about slaves. It’s was about Fedzilla, before we knew it to be Fedzilla. It was just the start of baby Fedzilla. It started with the illegal occupation of one sovereign nation by another, over economic (power) issues.
In the momentous step, which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course.
Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery - the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product, which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization.
Or the South Carolina Declaration of Secession?
The General Government, as the common agent, passed laws to carry into effect these stipulations of the States. For many years these laws were executed. But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution. The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enacted laws which either nullify the Acts of Congress or render useless any attempt to execute them. In many of these States the fugitive is discharged from service or labor claimed, and in none of them has the State Government complied with the stipulation made in the Constitution. The State of New Jersey, at an early day, passed a law in conformity with her constitutional obligation; but the current of anti-slavery feeling has led her more recently to enact laws which render inoperative the remedies provided by her own law and by the laws of Congress. In the State of New York even the right of transit for a slave has been denied by her tribunals; and the States of Ohio and Iowa have refused to surrender to justice fugitives charged with murder, and with inciting servile insurrection in the State of Virginia. Thus the constituted compact has been deliberately broken and disregarded by the non-slaveholding States, and the consequence follows that South Carolina is released from her obligation.
We affirm that these ends for which this Government was instituted have been defeated, and the Government itself has been made destructive of them by the action of the non-slaveholding States. Those States have assume the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic institutions; and have denied the rights of property established in fifteen of the States and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery; they have permitted open establishment among them of societies, whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloign the property of the citizens of other States. They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures to servile insurrection.
Or the Texas Declaration of Secession?
We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable. That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states.
Here we go...
Actually more than 300.
Ah, so you’re purposely ignorant. In that case, I won’t waste my time. Every man is accountable for his own actions. I’m not responsible for your ignorance, nor do I feel bad. I’ve provided you with the information you need to begin a quest for knowledge, should you choose it. But your juvenile banter is best reserved for those who are at that level of development.
The problem of providing information to people who don’t want it is that once you waste and wear yourself out giving them what they claim to want, they either still refuse to believe it, or they say, “Well, I’m not changing my opinion anyway.” I’m familiar with that line of tantruming, here we call it liberalism. If you wanted to know the truth, you’d look for it. Obviously you like being ignorant, and it’s your right to do so. But not everyone else is, and for mature people, life, reason, and intelligent debate will go on, with or without your whit and novelty. Have a good day.
You’ve just posted portions of why three States’ governments indicated they had seceded, not why there was a war. If you’d like to make an argument that the North went to war in order to subvert the State’s sovereign governments, overtake them and then free the slaves, that would be relevant, and make a very important point.
However, even that’s not true, because the U.S. president said that’s NOT why he went to war. In Fact he EMPHATICALLY said that’s not what the war was about. Try again.
‘Slavery was bad, and abolished through a Constitutional amendment’
Passed and ratified during the Civil War and Reconstruction period, without confederate states allowed to vote.
Then you should have no problem providing a list then, will you?
In that case, I won’t waste my time.
Nor will I. You've shown your colors.
‘However, even that’s not true, because the U.S. president said that’s NOT why he went to war. In Fact he EMPHATICALLY said that’s not what the war was about. Try again.’
Haven’t read the Gettysburg Address or Second Inaugural Address, I take it? Lincoln’s position was that it was unconstitutional to free the slaves without a Constitutional Amendment, except as part of his power as commander in chief to put down an insurrection.
1. Washington
2. Lincoln
3. Reagan
The conservative picks.
Sweet! No more frivolous pings!
Nor, indeed, the indentures held by Union citizens.
Bingo.
Modern American volunteer military service is a contractual agreement between the two parties. One agrees to serve a set period of time and is not required to remain in past that time, despite what your retention NCO and officer might want.
Also, people conveniently ignore the Declaration of Independence when making the argument that States must remain in the Union. That document makes it pretty clear that is not the case, else that little dust-up back in the 18th century would not have happened.
Here’s a wonderful documentary by Judge Andrew Napolitano. I just watched it for the first time. I’m sure people will criticize this constitutional scholar, but I figure it’s more important people learn the truth then to not get spammed by those ignorant of both past and present.
http://the-classic-liberal.com/treason-tyranny-truth-abraham-lincoln/
And obviously you have not been keeping up with the news. The military can, and does, extend an enlistment beyond the contractual end if it feels the need to do so. The authority comes from Title 10, Subtitle E, Part II, Chapter 1209, § 12305 which gives the president the authority to suspend any enlistment agreement and order a person retained on active duty.
Also, people conveniently ignore the Declaration of Independence when making the argument that States must remain in the Union.
With all due respect the Declaration of Independence is not the Supreme Law of the Land. The Constitution is.
And obviously you have not been keeping up with the news. The military can, and does, extend an enlistment beyond the contractual end if it feels the need to do so. The authority comes from Title 10, Subtitle E, Part II, Chapter 1209, § 12305 which gives the president the authority to suspend any enlistment agreement and order a person retained on active duty. So no, a military person is not free to leave at any time they want to.
Also, people conveniently ignore the Declaration of Independence when making the argument that States must remain in the Union.
With all due respect the Declaration of Independence is not the Supreme Law of the Land. The Constitution is.
The fact that you are unable to support any of the claims you make would seem to render any questions on my part futile. So no. No more frivolous pings.
Hooray!
There is no arguing with slavers.
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