List of Presidents

Just for fun and education, I researched all of the presidents and ranked them.

Lutz List of Best and Worst Presidents

The top 20 are what I consider good presidents. 21-30 were ok presidents - more negatives then positives, but qualified for the job. 31-40 are people I think never should have been president, were not qualified for the job and in some cases actually caused the country harm.

No surprise - GW made the top of the worst president list by a wide margin. Also no surprise - Abraham Lincoln made the top of the best president list. JFK surprised me. Despite his short presidency, he did a lot of things. He is basically the model that a modern president should emulate.

I find it interesting that Democrats filtered to the top of the list and Republicans floated to the bottom. I didn't do this on purpose. It probably happened because I agree with Democrats most of the time and find everything Republicans stand for offensive. The only Republicans in the the top twenty were extremely moderate or even liberal. (Roosevelt was unarguably a Liberal Republican,although they used the label Progressive at the time. Eisenhower basically flipped a coin when choosing a party. I don't consider Lincoln a Republican, but at the very least he was Liberal leaning.)

Let me know if You find some surprises or interesting rankings.

President Bush

I often ask myself: How could this country have elected an incompetent fool like GW Bush? Is this country really full of that many clueless people?

I think the answer is fairly simple: In 2000, we did Not elect him. The Supreme Court took advantage of the incredibly stupid electoral college system to choose him for us. In 2004, Bush didn't win, Kerry lost. He was an extremely poor candidate and most likely would have been a poor president. Probably better then Bush, but I wouldn't bet on it. I get an email from him once in while (I signed up for his mailing list during the campaign) and three out of four of these emails reveals him to be an idiot.

Still, a lot of people voted for the incompetent boob. At least they are finally starting to realize the error of their ways, according to polls.

Iraq Election

Iraq is holding an election on ratifying the Constitution this Saturday. Here's my armchair analysis of the ideal scenario:

Large voter turnout, especially in Sunni areas, results in not getting the Constitution ratified. Ideally, it gets turned down by significant portion of all voters, but even if it's only 2/3 of Sunni provinces that defeat it, that would be beneficial as well. Then the Sunni's participate in the elections for a new parliament charged with writing a new draft. With the sting of the defeat of the first draft in their minds, the new parliament provides a better constitution that can be ratified by all of Iraq and ultimately lead to stability.

This would be ideal because the current draft is significantly flawed. This scenario also makes it quite clear that Sunni's will have a voice in the government. The more actively the Sunni's are engaged in government and legitimate politics, the weaker the insurgency becomes. Of course, the extremists would become even more desperate, temporarlily leading to greater violence. But they would truly be last ditch efforts, unlikely to succeed. This scenario also does nothing to bring the date when our troops can come home closer. But ultimately a stronger Iraq is the best way to make sure our troops don't need to return.

Republican Falsehoods

I often hear the Republican Party is the party of limited or small government. HUH? What the hell does that mean? I certainly see no evidence of that. Does it refer to Republican tendency to slash taxes and therefore reduce government's ability to take care of those on the edges of society? Or is just a relative thing- they believe in big government - just not as big as Democrats would like?

Another annoying phrase - this judge won't legislate from the bench. That is complete bullshit. Whenever a politician says that, what they really mean is that this judge won't overturn or overrule the laws I like and support.

Make no mistake - the Republican Party is the party of Moral Superiority. It is a group of people who believes they have all the answers, that they know right and wrong, and that they have the right and duty to force everyone to follow their example. They will do whatever it takes to enforce their moral superiority.