"United States' claims at being a democracy seriously threatened"

[Guard Dog]

 

 

 

FDR isn't in my presidential wheelhouse, but he is ranked extremely highly in every major academic list, so I'm going to go ahead and disregard everything you are saying.  

 

 

Of course FDR is ranked high by most academics. Most modern academics are communist/socialist/statists, FDR was like a godsend to them.

He also presided over WW2, and many historians are enamored with war leaders of all types throughout the ages, no matter how evil they really were.

 

 

So you dismiss the majority of highly educated scholars.  Brilliant.  

 

 

Yea.. actually I do. I've spent enough time in Universities to realize that the academics there don't magically have a higher intelligence than those not there, that to an extent many of them live in a bubble that has little to do with reality (especially those who never left academic life, which is a sizable amount of academia), there are agendas that don't meet the average eye by those financing academia, and there are egos amongst academia that drive agendas and squash real scholarship. My apologies that I don't look at academia as a group of clergy as so many do. Professors are just as fallible as the rest of humanity, especially when considered as a group.

 

In regards to FDR specifically. The guy was an evil MFer, who had zero respect for the Constitution and served the financial interests in New York and London first and foremost. I have a great deal of respect and desire for the liberty of man, FDR did not, and neither do a great many modern academics in the US (who I already mentioned are socialist/communist/statists).

 

I think history has been unusually kind to FDR. As big government statist presidents go I can't think of many who were worse, preset occupant included. That is not to say that the times he lived in did not justify unusual actions, or that he was all bad, but trampling on the rights and freedoms of Americans is never a good thing and no end could ever justify that as a means.

[Tsuga C]

The drunken halfling in the caravan in the Shadows of Undrentide expansion pack for NWN1 was a cameo, but I can't remember his name.

[Hurlshort]

Every year I teach my students about Habeas Corpus and how important it is, and every year I surprise them with the fact that Abe Lincoln suspended it during his presidency.  So it's pretty hard to find a President that is perfect.

[Leferd]

Speaking of cameos, I always figured Bishop in NWN2 was a stand in for Sawyer. He kinda looks like him and "Bishop" was his old handle back in the day. Plus Bishop had an extreme, chaotic evil bent to his personality, greatly exaggerating Josh's posted libertarianistic political views.

[ravenshrike]

 

 

 

 

FDR isn't in my presidential wheelhouse, but he is ranked extremely highly in every major academic list, so I'm going to go ahead and disregard everything you are saying.  

 

 

Of course FDR is ranked high by most academics. Most modern academics are communist/socialist/statists, FDR was like a godsend to them.

He also presided over WW2, and many historians are enamored with war leaders of all types throughout the ages, no matter how evil they really were.

 

 

So you dismiss the majority of highly educated scholars.  Brilliant.  

 

 

Yea.. actually I do. I've spent enough time in Universities to realize that the academics there don't magically have a higher intelligence than those not there, that to an extent many of them live in a bubble that has little to do with reality (especially those who never left academic life, which is a sizable amount of academia), there are agendas that don't meet the average eye by those financing academia, and there are egos amongst academia that drive agendas and squash real scholarship. My apologies that I don't look at academia as a group of clergy as so many do. Professors are just as fallible as the rest of humanity, especially when considered as a group.

 

In regards to FDR specifically. The guy was an evil MFer, who had zero respect for the Constitution and served the financial interests in New York and London first and foremost. I have a great deal of respect and desire for the liberty of man, FDR did not, and neither do a great many modern academics in the US (who I already mentioned are socialist/communist/statists).

 

I think history has been unusually kind to FDR. As big government statist presidents go I can't think of many who were worse, preset occupant included. That is not to say that the times he lived in did not justify unusual actions, or that he was all bad, but trampling on the rights and freedoms of Americans is never a good thing and no end could ever justify that as a means.

 

The only reason that the current resident is not worse is because he has to deal with the ramifications of fast information dissemination over the intertubes. FDR had his fireside chats and a bunch of cooperating newspapers.

Edited April 22, 2014 by ravenshrike

[Gromnir]

Every year I teach my students about Habeas Corpus and how important it is, and every year I surprise them with the fact that Abe Lincoln suspended it during his presidency.  So it's pretty hard to find a President that is perfect.

you can get a nice fugly LONG list o' extra-constitutional actions by a President and most folks will thinks you is speaking of the younger Bush. don't attach a name to the President and just show list o' actions such as suspending habeas corpus, using military tribunals to convict US citizens, confiscation of property without compensation, etc. when you reveal that Lincoln were the villain responsible for the list, you will no doubt spark debate.

 

am not a fan o' how history is taught in US schools. sorry. is too much right and wrong. Brown v. Board was right. Japanese Internment was wrong. Shay's Rebellion gets a footnote or a paragraph? Revolutionary War were a battle o' justice for oppressed colonists who were denied rights by the English Crown... forget the fact that the Crown had effectively capitulated to pretty much all colonist demands, and that the famous tea tax were actual little more than pro forma, 'specially as price o' tea had effectively been lowered. etc. issues is typical more complex and much more significant if students were compelled to looks for deeper meaning. instead, in a rush to meet nclb standards, we miss the opportunity to actual teach kids.  kinda sad.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Guard Dog]

 

 

 

 

 

FDR isn't in my presidential wheelhouse, but he is ranked extremely highly in every major academic list, so I'm going to go ahead and disregard everything you are saying.  

 

 

Of course FDR is ranked high by most academics. Most modern academics are communist/socialist/statists, FDR was like a godsend to them.

He also presided over WW2, and many historians are enamored with war leaders of all types throughout the ages, no matter how evil they really were.

 

 

So you dismiss the majority of highly educated scholars.  Brilliant.  

 

 

Yea.. actually I do. I've spent enough time in Universities to realize that the academics there don't magically have a higher intelligence than those not there, that to an extent many of them live in a bubble that has little to do with reality (especially those who never left academic life, which is a sizable amount of academia), there are agendas that don't meet the average eye by those financing academia, and there are egos amongst academia that drive agendas and squash real scholarship. My apologies that I don't look at academia as a group of clergy as so many do. Professors are just as fallible as the rest of humanity, especially when considered as a group.

 

In regards to FDR specifically. The guy was an evil MFer, who had zero respect for the Constitution and served the financial interests in New York and London first and foremost. I have a great deal of respect and desire for the liberty of man, FDR did not, and neither do a great many modern academics in the US (who I already mentioned are socialist/communist/statists).

 

I think history has been unusually kind to FDR. As big government statist presidents go I can't think of many who were worse, preset occupant included. That is not to say that the times he lived in did not justify unusual actions, or that he was all bad, but trampling on the rights and freedoms of Americans is never a good thing and no end could ever justify that as a means.

 

The only reason that the current resident is not worse is because he has to deal with the ramifications of fast information dissemination over the intertubes. FDR had his fireside chats and a bunch of cooperating newspapers.

 

Oh yes a media monopoly definitely helps. But as little love as I have for Obama the truth is it will be a years after he leaves office before it becomes clear what his legacy really is. Heck we are just now getting a sense of what Clintons legacy is.

 

With FDR there is a tendency to gloss over his worst acts, trying to ruin the SCOTUS, the imminent domain seizures with no compensation for the TVA, the internments, ignoring the Japanese to concentrate on the war in Europe when Japan was a greater threat, deliberate currency manipulation, sending german jewish refugees home to Germany knowing what awaited them. But on the  flip side the did provide stable leadership and an optimistic vision when it was needed most, he is partially responsible for the FDIC, Emergency Banking & Glass Stengal acts, the March of Dimes and the virtual eradication of polio had a lot to do with him. 

 

Like most Presidents he is a mixed bag of good & bad. Some of the bad was really bad though and history seems determined to forget that.

[Gromnir]

Speaking of cameos, I always figured Bishop in NWN2 was a stand in for Sawyer. He kinda looks like him and "Bishop" was his old handle back in the day. Plus Bishop had an extreme, chaotic evil bent to his personality, greatly exaggerating Josh's posted libertarianistic political views.

you could be right. motb bishop were probable more significant as we know how curious josh is 'bout... faith, or perhaps Faith. has him find resolution and oblivion in wall o' faithless is seeming appropriate and disturbing. sounds about right.

 

HA! Good Fun!