The Worst of the Worst of the Worst

In keeping with my current political theme, and in response to my Tues post, "My Favorite Presidents", I will now be giving a Mt Rushmore of my least Favorites and short descriptions why. Now, these are effective, powerful Presidents that I think did it wrong, not worthless space fillers such as McKinley or Harrison, they did nothing to offend me. So, they are, in order from 4th worst to the absolute worst:

Abraham Lincoln

Woodrow Wilson

Lyndon B Johnson

 

John Adams

            Impressive list isn't in? I'll start with the top, the least worst of the 4. Abraham Lincoln, Honest Abe (sure), possibly the greatest swindler in American History. I could write 1000 words why his name is on this list, and Tuesday's post will be devoted to a related topic (The Civil War, why was Lincoln to blame?), but I'll sum up here. He believed that He (with a capital H) could do whatever necessary to accomplish his pet goals. From inauguration to assassination, he had one driving fire - to end slavery. He knew what it would cost, but he didn't care. He believed in a lesser of two evils ethic, and it SCREAMS out from his administration.The South gave him an ultimatum before he was even sworn in, but did he listen? Did he compromise to maintain his precious "union" for which he is often credited with saving? No, he spat on their ultimatum, called their bluff (turned out they had four Aces named Robert E Lee), and presided over the bloodiest years in American History. More American soldiers died in the Civil War (counting the CSA) than Frenchmen in the Napoleonic Wars (~646,000 to ~371,000). More Americans died in the Civil War than in WWII (~417,000). Famously, at Antietam, on Sept 17, 1862, more Americans died in battle than in any day yet in American History. At Gettysburg, the turning point of the war, more than 46,000 Americans died, more than in the entire Revolution and Mexican-American War combined. This is not "good." I do not endorse slavery, I believe in equality for human kind, but did 646,000 Americans (not including the subsequent riots and unrest) need to die to abolish it? Where is William Wilberforce's body count? How many men died to help him abolish slavery? I'm rambling, let me get back to summing up. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation is heralded as a hallmark of justice and equality, so will Barack's "Gun Control Proclamation" and they will be equally illegal and equally horrendous. I was pleased to find, while watching the new "Lincoln" movie last night, that Spielberg addressed my concerns. In Scene 7, Lincoln states his defense of the Proclamation. An easy to read script can be found here. The character admits that what he has done is slippery, which is a humorous way of saying its cheating. Read the argument, I think its wrong, it was a cheap trick to help the North win the war, and to keep Lincoln's power in place so he could further his agenda, however good that agenda may have been. In next week's post, I'll address the immediate response of "ask any black man if it was worth it." Enough on Abe, suffice to say, I don't like him. The movie was awesome though, go watch it.

                  Next worst, Woodrow Wilson. This guy was bad stuff, as Progressive as FDR and as isolationist as his times would allow. Granted, he entered WWI, but only after being reelected on the slogan "he kept us out of the war." Yikes. He signed the Federal Reserve Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act among other scary Federal Acts, in short he loved the Fed. A brilliant man, he believed that brilliant people should be in charge and take care of the not-so-brilliant. That is definitely overstating it, but you get the point. If Teddy had beaten him in '17 we might have territory in France today, which would be amazing. In all, I wouldn't have voted for him and I hope you wouldn't have either.

                  3rd worst, and in many ways the least likable, is Lyndon Baines Johnson. LB was a stinker if there ever was one. Once again, do not think I dislike Racial Equality because Lincoln and Johnson are two of my least favorite Presidents, I just don't like how they got it done. Johnson created the "Great Society" which is a real rip off. All those nice things that get ripped out of your check each week, I blame this guy. His handling of Vietnam was an epic disaster and he ran a campaign ad suggesting Barry Goldwater would start nuclear war (that voice sounds like Bob Uecker). His Presidency ended as Robert Kennedy and MLK Jr were shot and the USS Pueblo was captured (which interestingly, is still in captivity). In all, this guy's actions affect us more negatively than possibly any other President (although Big O is gaining fast). But, the next guy's crowning achievement is the WORST federal action in our nation's history.

                 The worst President is our 2nd, John Adams, always a bad decision. He was THE Federalist. The motives and actions of his administration were devoted entirely to the strengthening of the central government. While I agree that providentially this may have been critically to the forming of our fledgling nation, that doesn't mean I don't think Jefferson could've kept us together without being such a doofus. Yep, just called John Adams a doofus. XYZ, Quasi War and Fries Rebellion were all disasters. Hamilton's Bank was a disaster. In 1798 the worst law in the history of laws that have been was passed. The Alien and Sedition Acts (I'm abashed, I just spent 5 min looking for a good t-shirt with a little green guy and something funny about the laws to link to, I guess I'll have to design one) were passed and said, in Saxonian paraphrase: "If you oppose the government, or aren't from around these parts, you have no rights." Yep, he signed it, it was law, and it was NULLIFIED. BOO-YAH! But, it was still the worst law ever to be enacted, and if you're planning on trying to equate it to the Patriot Act, stop it. Yes, the Patriot Act is a bad law, but not even close buddy.

       Phew, just clicked a wrong button and nearly lost every word you see above this. Relax, breathe. Ok. There you have it, numbers worst, 2nd worst, 3rd worst and 4th worst. Runners up include: FDR (I know, both lists he was immense), Obama, Monroe and US Grant. Next time, Why the Civil War is Lincoln's fault.

Braves took 2 of 3 from Colorado, next up Detroit. 14-6 looks nice...real nice.