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KC
08-25-2012, 01:17 AM
Mine would have to be Thaddeus Stevens, one of the radical Republicans of the post-civil war reconstruction era. Was one of the loudest and most powerful voices in the reconstruction of the south, for which he advocated strict adherence to political and social equality for the freedmen, but ultimately his goals came into conflict with President Johnson's. From what I got from his bio, he stuck to his egalitarianism through and through and most of his values are widely held today.

Inb4 Ronald Reagan

roadmaster
08-25-2012, 01:31 AM
I liked R. Reagen, not saying I agreed with everything he did. Carter was not much as a President, but I did like the man. Would have loved to seen Ross P. as President but knew the right and the left didn't like him and did everything including posting his daughters head only in a nude mag, the rest was fake.

Conley
08-25-2012, 01:38 AM
I liked R. Reagen, not saying I agreed with everything he did. Carter was not much as a President, but I did like the man. Would have loved to seen Ross P. as President but knew the right and the left didn't like him and did everything including posting his daughters head only in a nude mag, the rest was fake.

Ross Perot did that?

This might sound a little wacky but I liked how Ross broke it down for the American people with his charts...he took a lot of flack for it, and graphs can be manipulated, but to his credit he actually spoke to main street America in a national address...I don't think it has happened since.

roadmaster
08-25-2012, 01:47 AM
Ross Perot did that?

This might sound a little wacky but I liked how Ross broke it down for the American people with his charts...he took a lot of flack for it, and graphs can be manipulated, but to his credit he actually spoke to main street America in a national address...I don't think it has happened since.

Ross got upset by the tactics of the left and right. His daughter never poised in the nude. At least the man did break it down for all Americans to see and he was for all Americans and knew what was needed to fix things that were broken.

Conley
08-25-2012, 01:50 AM
Ross got upset by the tactics of the left and right. His daughter never poised in the nude. At least the man did break it down for all Americans to see and he was for all Americans and knew what was needed to fix things that were broken.

And when a 3rd party candidate (not that it has happened that much) gets a decent percentage of the vote, that candidate had delivered swing states to the duopoly and wrecked it...Nader and Perot. It makes me not even want to follow politics.

roadmaster
08-25-2012, 02:09 AM
And when a 3rd party candidate (not that it has happened that much) gets a decent percentage of the vote, that candidate had delivered swing states to the duopoly and wrecked it...Nader and Perot. It makes me not even want to follow politics. I would love to see an Independent like him make it and he sure had my vote but the odds were against him from the start. He warned of many things that came to pass. The man had wisdom that many lack today.

Trinnity
08-25-2012, 02:26 AM
This a toughy....I'll be back. Maybe. Prolly.

URF8
08-25-2012, 09:16 PM
I think Trinnity should run for political office. Seriously.

roadmaster
08-25-2012, 09:23 PM
I think Trinnity should run for political office. Seriously.

The way she thinks, she would get my vote.

Chris
08-25-2012, 10:13 PM
Goldwater.

KC
08-26-2012, 02:08 AM
@Chris

Nice choice. I found one of the original issues of Conscience of a Conservative at a library book sale for a buck in an old bin. Good stuff. Get the feeling he was a politician of principle, not just a sill for special interests.

Carygrant
08-26-2012, 05:02 AM
I think Trinnity should run for political office. Seriously.


Do you not have anti extremist legislation in your country?

Carygrant
08-26-2012, 05:06 AM
It's a good job that the whole world consists of the one failed country .
And that they have never had politicians in the German rain forests or the deserts of the UK .
Stain was cute . He didn't ever know what failure was .

Trinnity
08-26-2012, 05:58 AM
I think Trinnity should run for political office. Seriously.


The way she thinks, she would get my vote.How kind of you both. Thank you.

I'm tempted to run against my congressman then. He needs to go. Seriously.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/G._K._Butterfield%2C_Official_Portrait%2C_112th_Co ngress.jpg/220px-G._K._Butterfield%2C_Official_Portrait%2C_112th_Co ngress.jpg
G. K. Butterfield (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._K._Butterfield)


He disgusts me. Some of you may have noticed him. He's often in close proximity with Obama, and he helped write ACA.



I liked AuH2O too, btw.

Captain Obvious
08-26-2012, 06:44 AM
Looks like a meathead.

Could be the basis for a Pink Floyd song.

Peter1469
08-26-2012, 07:55 AM
Goldwater.

Chris beat me to it.

MMC
08-26-2012, 09:39 AM
Ditto! With What Pete Said. :wink:

Trinnity
08-26-2012, 09:40 AM
Looks like a meathead.

Could be the basis for a Pink Floyd song.Cap, he looks like that cuz he's got his head up Obama's ass most of the time. Eeewww :snorting:

Chris
08-26-2012, 09:45 AM
@Chris

Nice choice. I found one of the original issues of Conscience of a Conservative at a library book sale for a buck in an old bin. Good stuff. Get the feeling he was a politician of principle, not just a sill for special interests.

I found the book initially on cassette tapes and listened driving to work and back. I'd pretty much sat on the fence till then. He changed my whole political outlook.

wingrider
08-26-2012, 10:17 AM
pontius pilate,, he washed his hands of the whole affair.

Conley
08-26-2012, 10:22 AM
pontius pilate,, he washed his hands of the whole affair.

Is that the guy who invented Pilates? He did us a great service. :grin:

http://www.bestofyoutoday.com/sites/default/files/pilates.jpg

Shoot the Goose
08-26-2012, 11:30 AM
I see folks who seem to be associating one as being highly "principled" as being then also to be highly commended, if not a favorite, as a politician.

I would submit that such standard comes up way short. If one essentially cannot get things done, change the discourse, by influencing enough others so as to get those principles into society, typically by passing or repealing laws, then what is "political" about it ?

I realize that is not a prerequisite for liking someone who was a politician, or making them a favorite, but I did want to infuse the notion of "success" as being very noteworthy.

Looking just at Americans, clearly Reagan, who took many of Goldwater's mantras, then crafted his own rise through politics, to include a very successful bi-partisan Presidency, is arguably the greatest politician of the 20th Century. He changed people's minds to his way of thinking by the tens of millions.

Of the 19th Century, it is a bit tougher. But Andrew Jackson, directly or indirectly, got his entire agenda accomplished. He essentially enabled the expansion that occurred under Polk. He went against his own party's good-old-boys more than once, and won. Some note Lincoln, but I submit that his wizardry was getting elected. After that he pretty much sucked. All his accomplishments came at the bloodiest possible expense.

And then there is George Washington. The most perfect President ever matched to his time. A most honorable man of most considerable talent, who did not seek to be President, only to do his duty.

Goldie Locks
08-26-2012, 12:08 PM
George Washington hands down the best this country has ever had and possibly the best it will ever have.

MMC
08-26-2012, 12:14 PM
Is that the guy who invented Pilates? He did us a great service. :grin:

http://www.bestofyoutoday.com/sites/default/files/pilates.jpg


Ya knows at a Quick glance.....that kinda looks like Keenu Reeves :laugh:

IMPress Polly
09-02-2012, 10:06 AM
Great topic!

I find it impossible to limit myself to just one absolute favorite (or even close), so let me list several of those I consider the most inspirational. In no particular order (because I cannot decide):

-The (current) Dalai Lama
-Lucretia Coffin Mott
-Elizabeth Cady Stanton
-Mohandas Gandhi
-Martin Luther King Jr.
-Mao Zedong (admittedly)
-Hugo Chavez (unashamedly!)
-Gloria Steinem
-Bernie Sanders

As for U.S. presidents (since so many people are mentioning those), my favorite would have to be either Abe Lincoln (on the Republican side) or FDR (on the Democratic side).

There is no one definite quality that measures the greatness of a political figure aside from generally being progressive and a leader in some sense. It's pretty subjective for me. Some of these people have accomplished a lot of great things, directly or indirectly. Others did not or have not (as applicable). But they've all played what I consider an inspirational, unique, and leading role in moving social dialogue forward.

Peter1469
09-02-2012, 10:21 AM
Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward killed ~45M Chinese. Of course, those were "undesirables"-- is that why the left worship this guy?

IMPress Polly
09-02-2012, 11:02 AM
Peter wrote:
Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward killed ~45M Chinese. Of course, those were "undesirables"-- is that why the left worship this guy?

Realistically it was about 30 million that died, but obviously that's not one of my reasons for my stated certain degree of admiration. Mainly I speak of Mao's brilliant and populist revolutionary campaigns against Japan and foreign control of China generally, of the positive effects of many of the policies crafted under his leadership (e.g. increasing the literacy rate from 15% to 85% by establishing a free education system, doubling life expectancy by establishing relative social peace and a low-cost-to-free health care system, establishing previously foreign-exploited China as a respected world power, etc.), which were often accomplished through similarly brilliant means (e.g. the barefoot doctors program). Mao wasn't exactly a great economist or a very democratic leader, but he was very smart and a lot of his ideas and policies yielded positive results that even a lot of the most optimistic at the time did not imagine possible. His policies, despite their share of serious faults, were also some of the most feminist on Earth at the time. Comparing China before Mao took up the call to arms in the 1920s to after his death is no comparison at all. China was far better off as a result of Mao.

wingrider
09-02-2012, 11:36 AM
Realistically it was about 30 million that died, but obviously that's not one of my reasons for my stated certain degree of admiration. Mainly I speak of Mao's brilliant and populist revolutionary campaigns against Japan and foreign control of China generally, of the positive effects of many of the policies crafted under his leadership (e.g. increasing the literacy rate from 15% to 85% by establishing a free education system, doubling life expectancy by establishing relative social peace and a low-cost-to-free health care system, establishing previously foreign-exploited China as a respected world power, etc.), which were often accomplished through similarly brilliant means (e.g. the barefoot doctors program). Mao wasn't exactly a great economist or a very democratic leader, but he was very smart and a lot of his ideas and policies yielded positive results that even a lot of the most optimistic at the time did not imagine possible. His policies, despite their share of serious faults, were also some of the most feminist on Earth at the time. Comparing China before Mao took up the call to arms in the 1920s to after his death is no comparison at all. China was far better off as a result of Mao.
yes population wise a decrease on 30 to 45 million would lessen the burden of feeding the masses

Shoot the Goose
09-02-2012, 11:40 AM
Realistically it was about 30 million that died, but obviously that's not one of my reasons for my stated certain degree of admiration. Mainly I speak of Mao's brilliant and populist revolutionary campaigns against Japan and foreign control of China generally, of the positive effects of many of the policies crafted under his leadership (e.g. increasing the literacy rate from 15% to 85% by establishing a free education system, doubling life expectancy by establishing relative social peace and a low-cost-to-free health care system, establishing previously foreign-exploited China as a respected world power, etc.), which were often accomplished through similarly brilliant means (e.g. the barefoot doctors program). Mao wasn't exactly a great economist or a very democratic leader, but he was very smart and a lot of his ideas and policies yielded positive results that even a lot of the most optimistic at the time did not imagine possible. His policies, despite their share of serious faults, were also some of the most feminist on Earth at the time. Comparing China before Mao took up the call to arms in the 1920s to after his death is no comparison at all. China was far better off as a result of Mao.

I do not see any merit in almost all of what you assert. His policies caused the deaths of 30-45 million of his own people. Meanwhile, we can compare his "progress" to that of other countries in the region, and see that Mao actually retarded China's growth by decades.

IMPress Polly
09-02-2012, 12:08 PM
yes population wise a decrease on 30 to 45 million would lessen the burden of feeding the masses

During the Mao period (1949-76), the Chinese population size increased by hundreds of millions overall, indeed by a factor of about 50%. Partially that was due to the rapidly increasing life expectancy resulting from vast improvements to the country's health care system, as well as partially being the result of the cessation of war (which previously had been perpetual in China), but it was also in part the product of something else more insidious. Mao was hardly an advocate of eugenic population control. Far from it. Too far from it, in fact. He called on the Chinese people to have as many children as possible in order to maximize the 'people power' of the society. This policy was an oppressive burden to women and a rationale justifying male entitlement mentality.

wingrider
09-02-2012, 12:14 PM
During the Mao period (1949-76), the Chinese population size increased by hundreds of millions overall, indeed by a factor of about 50%. Partially that was due to the rapidly increasing life expectancy resulting from vast improvements to the country's health care system, as well as partially being the result of the cessation of war (which previously had been perpetual in China), but it was also in part the product of something else more insidious. Mao was hardly an advocate of eugenic population control. Far from it. Too far from it, in fact. He called on the Chinese people to have as many children as possible in order to maximize the 'people power' of the society. This policy was an oppressive burden to women and a rationale justifying male entitlement mentality.
that does not change the fact that 30 to 45 million people died under his rule.. no matter how you spin it the man was a mass murderer along the same lines a stalin and hitler...

IMPress Polly
09-02-2012, 12:25 PM
You talk as if the Great Leap Forward was INTENDED to fail as a policy. That's just not true. It failed and miserably and Mao was stubborn as hell in regards to admitting being wrong and changing course and that stubbornness cost millions of lives, but this was NOT some deliberate extermination policy. It WAS intended to vastly improve the lives of the masses, however badly this particular policy went.

wingrider
09-02-2012, 12:29 PM
You talk as if the Great Leap Forward was INTENDED to fail as a policy. That's just not true. It failed and miserably and Mao was stubborn as hell in regards to admitting being wrong and changing course and that stubbornness cost millions of lives, but this was NOT some deliberate extermination policy. It WAS intended to vastly improve the lives of the masses, however badly this particular policy went.
yep.. I have heard it said the road to hell is paved with good intentions,,

Savitri Devi
09-05-2012, 06:15 AM
I don't think I could pinpoint a single favourite. In fact, I am overly critical of most politicians. Even the ones I like the most do things I dislike.

Ivan88
09-10-2012, 11:29 AM
I don't think I could pinpoint a single favourite. In fact, I am overly critical of most politicians. Even the ones I like the most do things I dislike.

Thank You, Savitri Devi for posting. As your quote indicates:


“A 'civilization' that makes such a ridiculous fuss about alleged 'war crimes' - acts of violence against the actual or potential enemies of one's cause - and tolerates slaughterhouses and vivisection laboratories, and circuses and the fur industry (infliction of pain upon creatures that can never be for or against any cause), does not deserve to live.”
- Savitri Devi


We are a very hypocritical society that enthusiastically follows the mandate of Lincoln and Sherman:
"We are not fighting against enemy armies, but against an enemy people, both young and old, rich and poor, and they must feel the iron hand of war in the same way as organized armies."

Canadianeye
09-10-2012, 02:31 PM
Tough call, there are so many. Francis Bacon probably. Not that any really exist anymore, but I think he inspired/generated classic liberalism at a most crucial time, was also a philosopher, and, a man who later pushed scientific methodology, that became foundational to our cultures.

Ivan88
09-15-2012, 04:26 AM
How bout der Natzee Fuhrer?

http://static.fjcdn.com/gifs/Natzee_68d0da_1552230.gif

-

Ivan88
09-17-2012, 10:07 AM
http://static.fjcdn.com/gifs/nathzee_af7a12_2326456.gif

image that was supposed to appear in previous post.

KC
09-17-2012, 01:21 PM
http://static.fjcdn.com/gifs/nathzee_af7a12_2326456.gif

image that was supposed to appear in previous post.

I still can't see it, Ivan. Maybe Funnyjunk won't let you link to any of its specific content?

IGetItAlready
09-17-2012, 01:27 PM
James Madison
Thomas Jefferson
Ben Franklin
Ronald Reagan
Abraham Lincoln

...In that order.

Deadwood
09-17-2012, 02:22 PM
Theodore Roosevelt.

His inherited a mess through the assassination of McKinley and turned it around; broke down the conglomerates and put the United States on the world stage by building a Navy that rivaled the British fleet itself, opened Asia and united a nation that was still divided by issues five decades old.
He was the first environmentalist president, creating the US Parks Service and set aside more wilderness land in one term than any other president.

Thank Teddy for such things as Yellowstone Park...


and, Oh, he also took over the failed French attempt to build a canal across the Central American Isthmus and finished in time and under budget finding a prevention for malaria [mesh] along the way.

Stuck_In_California
09-17-2012, 02:25 PM
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ouQLSQLZQfk/Tq41rBpGMgI/AAAAAAAAFvM/D4hMlP2iYEc/s400/Ronald+Reagan.jpg

Deadwood
09-17-2012, 02:26 PM
Do you not have anti extremist legislation in your country?

Only a totalarianist would even suggest it. The US and Canada have what is called "civil rights", allowing people to believe what they believe and express it. I guess you want everyone to be alike, a sign of pathological insecurity

Deadwood
09-17-2012, 02:27 PM
It's a good job that the whole world consists of the one failed country .
And that they have never had politicians in the German rain forests or the deserts of the UK .
Stain was cute . He didn't ever know what failure was .



In future it would be helpful if you at least tried to make sense...

Deadwood
09-17-2012, 02:29 PM
Looks like a meathead.

Could be the basis for a Pink Floyd song.


Far side of the Goon?

Deadwood
09-17-2012, 02:31 PM
I see folks who seem to be associating one as being highly "principled" as being then also to be highly commended, if not a favorite, as a politician.

I would submit that such standard comes up way short. If one essentially cannot get things done, change the discourse, by influencing enough others so as to get those principles into society, typically by passing or repealing laws, then what is "political" about it ?


I agree with all of that, but add there is a reason Teddy Roosevelt is one of the faces on Mount Rushmore....



I realize that is not a prerequisite for liking someone who was a politician, or making them a favorite, but I did want to infuse the notion of "success" as being very noteworthy.

Looking just at Americans, clearly Reagan, who took many of Goldwater's mantras, then crafted his own rise through politics, to include a very successful bi-partisan Presidency, is arguably the greatest politician of the 20th Century. He changed people's minds to his way of thinking by the tens of millions.

Of the 19th Century, it is a bit tougher. But Andrew Jackson, directly or indirectly, got his entire agenda accomplished. He essentially enabled the expansion that occurred under Polk. He went against his own party's good-old-boys more than once, and won. Some note Lincoln, but I submit that his wizardry was getting elected. After that he pretty much sucked. All his accomplishments came at the bloodiest possible expense.

And then there is George Washington. The most perfect President ever matched to his time. A most honorable man of most considerable talent, who did not seek to be President, only to do his duty.