Posts here have been in short supply as I have been living life and trying to get a campaign off the ground. But "11 questions to see if Libertarians are hypocrites" by R. J. Eskrow, picked up at Salon , was just so freaking lame that I spent half an hour answering them. In the end (but I'll leave it to your judgment), it is not that Libertarians or Libertarian theory looks hypocritical, but that the best that can be said for Mr. Eskrow is that he doesn't have the faintest clue what he's talking about. That's ok, because even ill-informed attacks by people like this make an important point: Libertarian ideas (as opposed to Conservative ideas, which are completely different) are making a comeback as the dynamic counterpoint to "politics as usual," and so every hack you can imagine must be dragged out to refute them. Ergo: Mr. Eskrow's 11 questions, with answers: 1. Are unions, political parties, elections, and ...
Comments
94% Gary Johnson
I question the Ron Paul number a bit, because he disagrees with me on abortion and it doesn't appear to have counted that difference.
Project Vote Smart has a similar survey, though theirs is not as flexible in letting you choose more nuanced answers or fill in your own. they also include minor party candidates. try it at http://votesmart.org/voteeasy/
They also claim they will have similar surveys for Congressional candidates soon, and that Delaware's will be available Sept. 25th. We should make sure they have accurate info on Scott Gesty's positions by then.
72% Gary Johnson
87% Jill Stein
LOL! 4% Mitt Romney
77% Jill Stein
Gary Johnson 96%
Virgil Goode 80%
Mittens 80%
3rd worst president of all time 33%
that's really weird. i had Romney at 60% & Obama 14%
now i have to wonder what answer(s) could possibly make this survey score you 2% closer to Paul & Johnson than me while simultaneously being 20% closer to Obama & Romney.
also, who do you rank as your two worst presidents? my 3 worst would be 1. Obama, 2. Bush II, and 3. Bush I.
I didn't give many, if any yes or no answers. That could explain the differences.
As for my ranking of the worst presidents, I have:
#1 Lincoln
#2 Wilson
#3 Obama
#4 George W
#5 FDR
Lincoln gets the top spot for:
1. Started catastrophic war in order to prevent freedom to secede
2. Murdered 350,000 Americans
3. White supremacist who did not care about slaves and tried to deport all blacks to Liberia
4. Destroyed 10th Amendment
5. Suspended habeas corpus
6. Imprisoned 15,000 political opponents without a trial
7. Shut down/destroyed newspapers
8. Rigged elections
9. Started draft and murdered its protesters
10. Divided Virginia for electoral advantage
11. Ordered destruction, plundering, rape and murder of Southern civilian towns
12. Nationalized railroads
13. Morrill Tariff
14. National Banking Act
15. Dahlgren Affair
I could go on and on.
As for Wilson, I put the lions share of the 65 million dead of WW2at his feet. As well as:
1. Created Federal Reserve
2. Created Federal Income Tax
3. Created Federal Trade Commission
(Read "In Restraint of Trade" by Butler Shaffer on this topic
4.Created League of Nations
5. Sedition Act of 1918
6. Espionage Act of 1917
7. Prohibition
8. Created Federal Farm Loan Act
I could go on and on.
But most of the acts you cite had full complicity or at least acquiescence of Congress. Many were at least colorably Constitutional, and some were initiated by Congress and merely supported, enacted & enforced by the President.
Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus, for example, arguably meets the requirements set forth in the Constitution; whereas both G.W. Bush and Obama have more than adequately demonstrated that they don't give a rat's ass about habeas corpus and are willing to just ignore it. I would judge that more treasonous.
Also each successive President is, at the very least, an accessory after the fact to any crimes committed by his predecessors that he did not correct (like Nixon's revocation of FDR's gold confiscation order) or at least make a feeble effort to do something about (as with Reagan's posturing about eliminating the depts. of Energy & Education, which were unconstitutionally created by his predecessor & Congress)
Lincoln's, Wilson's and FDR's wars were at least legally declared by Congress (admittedly after a lot of meddling and behind the scenes treachery to trick or force the people to support them). Recent President's, again, prefer to just ignore the Constitution completely if it gets in the way of their wars or pogroms