United Liberty
Ranking the Presidents from a libertarian perspective
Mon, 02/20/2012 - 1:19pm | posted by Ron Davis
I remember some time ago – maybe as far back as a couple of years ago – I saw a link pointing to a list ranking the presidents on a libertarian scale. I did some digging around tonight, and I believe that this is that list I saw.
Of course, it’s all subjective. There are several lists like this one, and they all vary a little bit depending on the views of the person who wrote the list. I say that to stress that while I’m linking to this list, I didn’t write it, so don’t assume that I endorse everything in it.
His top five U.S. Presidents:
- Martin Van Buren
- Grover Cleveland
- John Tyler
- Calvin Coolidge
- Zachary Taylor
And, of course, no “best of” list is any good without an accompanying “worst of” list. Here are his list of the worst 5 presidents:
- George W. Bush
- Abraham Lincoln
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Ronald Reagan
- Harry S. Truman
A few of my thoughts on the list:
- Make sure you see the note on that post that says if the list were updated, Obama would be at the very bottom.
- I’ve never been a fan of Lincoln – not even a little bit, and it was interesting to see him ranked better than GWB. After seeing the reasons why, I understand, but before looking at this list, I would have argued that Lincoln was our worst President.
- Bush was awful for liberty. I’d say he’s accurately portrayed in this list with an overall score of -332. Not good.
- I’m still trying to swallow having Reagan as one of the worst. I know he wasn’t perfect, but that’s a tough pill for a Republican to swallow.
- Remember, that’s a ranking based on a libertarian mindset. That means that things like provoking war and interfering in free markets are generally frowned upon (which is probably why Reagan isn’t higher on the list).
It’s an interesting list, to say the least. I’ve enjoyed reading through it to see what he has to say about all of these men. Take a look and see what good and bad was said about each President. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts and how well (or poorly) your favorite President was ranked.
The link to the story is not working for me, but in my opinion, Reagan is there because they knew that it would make waves.
FDR and Lincoln are clearly in a class by themselves as both basically held a gun to the head of the Supreme Court to railroad through a number of unConstitutional acts. But, how can a list be complete without LBJ, who ramped up the dependancy on the entitlement state that fellow citizens have become the rightful owners of our labors?
I would also add Woodrow Wilson to the mix, since he had a vision of world government that was unsettling. World Government advocates need to realize the resultant government would not be like what we have in the USA, it would generally end up like what most of the rest of the world has, where we could likely be all arrested and executed for such treasonous writing.
LBJ and Teddy Roosevelt aren’t in the five worst?
I would rank the top five U.S. Presidents like this:
1a.Martin Van Buren
1b.John Tyler
2.Grover Cleveland
3.Zachary Taylor
4.Calvin Coolidge
5.Warren Harding
I would tie for the “Greatest” Presidents Martin Van Buren and John Tyler.
I would rank the top 5 worst like this:
#1 Worst President of all time: Harry Truman
2.Abraham Lincoln
3.Woodrow Wilson
4.Franklin D. Roosevelt
5.Barack Obama
Lincoln was a racist. The Emancipation Proclamation was a political war tactic. Reagan talked a good talk. These presidents took the oath to defend the Constitution, not defile it.
It’s not surprising why everybody hates libertarians. Idolizing the worst possible presidents (some of them slave owners in John Tyler’s and Martin van Buren’s case, some of them against civil rights for African Americans in Grover Cleveland’s case) and bastardizing Abraham Lincoln. Woodrow Wilson, FDR, LBJ, Harry Truman (but not for the Atomic Bomb; you libertarians show your modern liberalism by bastardizing American technology and the military) and Barack Obama certainly deserve their positions, but Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan should be right next to each other. They were staunch, pro-business conservatives. This is why no one can ever get behind you guys. You’re all neo-confederates and slavery sympathizers. I’m assuming you like John Tyler because he vetoed a bunch of bills proposed by whigs and joined the Confederacy in 1861. Grover Cleveland was against liberty as well and vetoed even more bills (is that what turns you guys on? Vetoing?), seeing reconstruction as “failed.” How can you claim to love liberty and then bastardize liberators while placing those who violated liberties on a pedestal? You guys have more in common with the liberals/progressives that you claim to hate than you do with any conservative.
In my opinion, I would rank the Presidents from a libertarian perspective like this:
NEAR GREAT:
1a. Martin Van Buren
1b. John Tyler
2. Grover Cleveland
3. Zachary Taylor
4. Calvin Coolidge
ABOVE AVERAGE:
5. Warren Harding
6. Rutherford B. Hayes
7. Andrew Johnson
8. Millard Fillmore
9. Chester A. Arthur
AVERAGE:
10a. William Henry Harrison
10b. James A. Garfield
BELOW AVERAGE:
11. Thomas Jefferson
12. Gerald Ford
13. John Quincy Adams
14. Ulysses S. Grant
15. James Monroe
FAILURES:
16. George Washington
17. Andrew Jackson
18. John Adams
19. James Madison
20. Franklin Pierce
21. James Buchanan
22. Benjamin Harrison
23. William Howard Taft
24. John F. Kennedy
25. Dwight D. Eisenhower
26. Jimmy Carter
27. Herbert Hoover
28. William McKinley
29. James K. Polk
30. George H. W. Bush
31. Richard Nixon
32. Bill Clinton
33. Ronald Reagan
34. Theodore Roosevelt
35. Lyndon B. Johnson
36. George W. Bush
37. Barack Obama
38. Franklin D. Roosevelt
39. Woodrow Wilson
40. Abraham Lincoln
Worst President of all time:
41. Harry Truman
Odd that William Henry Harrison isn’t atop everyone’s list, having spent but a month in office. On the article list I think Nixon could EASILY replace Reagan. Tricky Dicky gave us an expanded SE Asian war, senselessly bombing additional countries and killing tens of thousands of innocents (Nixon’s bombs continue to explode in Laos today), the near-Marxist “price board,” allegedly created to “control” inflation created by government, yanked us off the gold standard, calimed the President was an emperor whose word was law and who, by virtue of being in office could do nothing illegal, AND gave us the DEA and the War on Drugs (and people).
As to the later list, lumping Jefferson on with Ford and Grant is a horrible thing to do. Jefferson has a gallant efender of state’s rights, even going as far as to affirm that a state could “interpose” itself between FedGov and the state’s citizens.TJ wasn’t perfect, but he hardly deserves to be so far down on the list.
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