THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, September 16, 2010
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MY LEARNED FRIENDS WEIGH IN: WHO IS THE WORST? My survey
by Niel Young Advocates Columnist
to a few of my learned f r i e n d s : Woodrow Wilson, FD Roosevelt, LB John- son, Teddie Roosevelt, RM Nixon, J i m m y
Carter, Barack Obama? Which one of these pres-
idents have done or about to do the most harm to the United States? Feel free to suggest others if you think of any them. MERRIMACK COUNTY: “1. Obama 2. Wilson and Colonel House - very close second. 3. LBJ (incompe- tent New Dealer) 4. FDR (competent New Dealer) 5. Carter (he was just a tool, his error mostly corrected by his successor) “I do not agree with Beck
and others on their assess- ment of TR. He was a good reformer for the times he lived in, and I am a huge fan of big stick, gun-boat diplomacy. I think the na- tional parts were and are a good thing.
“Also, Nixon was more
complicated than ‘bad.’ Did not agree with his wage and price controls of course, but his big govern- ment EPA business sound- ed necessary at the time when sewage was being pumped into every brook in the country, including the Winnipesaukee and Merrimack. This thing, however, has turned into one big unintended con- sequence, but our main attention was centered on the war and the Soviets, so a lot of domestic stuff was not thought through well enough in those days. Nixon was mainly an old Cold Warrior. His problem there was sometimes lis- tening too much to the de- vious Kissinger. Anyway, lumping these two with the others is a big stretch in my mind is unfair.”
************ BELKNAP COUNTY: “In-
teresting question. I don’t qualify as a historian and I tend to be more interested in the history that I’ve at least had some experience with. So with those cave-
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ats, I’ll give my two cents worth. “I was raised in a work-
ing class family and re- member as a young kid hearing first hand stories from parents and grand- parents about the depres- sion. FDR was seen as a savior by many in those generations whose lives had been deeply hurt by the depression and who saw FDR as doing concrete things for working class families who had no work. My stepfather left home as a teenager for CCC camps and sent home his meager earnings to help keep the family together. Certainly, there were ‘sea changes’ in the role of government and it’s easy to see how government never shrinks itself after dealing with a crisis. But the crisis was real in terms of what it did to ordinary folks and what the government did in response was critically important for millions of families. “LBJ was, of course,
an FDR protege and he missed no opportunity to build the ‘great society,’
BLS TOURS GONE
BANANA’S
which was anything but. I think subsequent gen- erations of black people can ‘thank’ LBJ for insti- tutionalizing dependent on government and stripping people of self-initiative and self-responsibility. That legacy is among the most negative/destructive that I can think of. “Nixon was destructive
for the party but not for the nation. He was a crook, a petty, insecure man but did no long term harm to the country. “Carter was just incom-
petent and, fortunately, didn’t have the ability to bring any long lasting change to the country. Sure, the economy stunk but we got beyond that with Reagan. “Obama is probably the
most dangerous progres- sive who could have been elected. The country had no idea what they were getting, a problem in and of itself. But his efforts and achievements in less than two years are the most destructive remaking of the American way that I can identify. Thankfully,
it hasn’t taken 4 years to figure this out. By comparison, I yearn for Bill Clinton and believe the country would have been much better off with Hillary at the helm. I actually find it difficult to write about Obama with- out throwing in a bunch of expletives, so destructive has he been. “Let’s pray that Novem-
ber does bring the degree of change we need and that in another two years, the end of the Obama re- gime will be in sight.”
********** HILLSBOROUGH COUN-
TY: Oh, my! That question makes me realize how many poor leaders we have had! “I do believe that Obama
is attempting to do the most harm of any Presi- dent in my memory. “That being said, I must
add that he would not have been able to advance his agenda without the ground work that was laid by some of the previ- ous presidents. I know
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