James Madison

Further Reflection On Trump’s Destruction Of “The People’s House”! :(

Ronald 11 Comments

With another 24 hours having passed, and the destruction of the East Wing of the White House, “The People’s House”, in full swing, without any hearings or approval by a Washington Landmarks Commission, this author and blogger is feeling more outraged and disgusted by the hour, and blood pressure is rising.

Who gives any President the right to abuse his position, and destroy a landmark historic building without any intervention to delay it and consider it carefully, instead of just charging ahead as if he is the Emperor, who makes decisions unilaterally?

Imagine if such destruction was to take place suddenly at the Vatican in Rome, or the Parthenon in Athens, or Buckingham Palace in London, or the Louvre in Paris, or a multitude of other historic and significant sites of history!

To create a 90,000 square feet (more than two football fields) Ballroom that will be larger than the rest of the White House structure, is a monstrosity that will harm the reputation and significance of the residence where the American President lives while in office!

What would Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Jacqueline Kennedy, all involved in throughtful renovations over the past century and more, say if they were here?

What would John Adams, the first President to occupy the White House, or James Madison, who fled during the War of 1812, when the White House was heavily damaged by the British, but began the needed renovation on the building, say?

What would Abraham Lincoln, who was always concerned that the Confederate States of America might attack the White House, think about his distant successor who had no regard for History and Architecture, and just wanted to glorify himself?

This is a travesty of injustice, and will condemn Donald Trump for all time, as the absolute worst American President, no matter what else occurs!

It is a disgrace that as we are about to commemorate, not celebrate sadly, the 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, that we are seeing the complete reshaping of an historic building which should have been left as it was for the long haul of history!

The Evils Of Gerrymandering: Texas Plans To Create Congressional Districts That Could Insure Republican House Majority Despite Fewer Voters Supporting The Party!

Ronald 6 Comments

Gerrymandering has been a curse since it was first created in the early 1800s by Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, who was also Vice President under James Madison for less than two years before his death in 1814.

Both political parties, and earlier named parties, used the political tactic to promote redistricting to favor their party fortunes, but now Texas is seemingly ready to redistrict in the middle of a decade, rather than when new census figures come out at the beginning of a new decade.

Their purpose is to make the Republican Party keep control of the House of Representatives by creating more Republican House districts, from three to five more, which likely would insure Republican continued control of Congress, at a time when the margin is just a few votes.

Those few votes make all the difference in passage of legislation and of President Donald Trump’s agenda, so clearly, the Democratic Party is trying to resist it, and may, at the end, utilize the same tactic in California, and possibly in other “Blue States”, such as New York and Illinois, and possibly even elsewhere.

Massive Abuse: Trump Invocation Of Alien Enemies Act Of 1798!

Ronald 9 Comments

In the early days of the Republic, during the administration of John Adams (1797-1801), the Federalist Party majority in Congress enacted the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, an action against French nationals who had migrated to America during the French Revolution.

President Adams signed the legislation’s four laws, which violated the recent enactment of the Bill of Rights in 1791, and the “Quasi War”, undeclared naval war against France went on from 1798-1800, until the coming to power of Napoleon Bonaparte, led to an agreement to end the undeclared war.

The controversy over the Alien and Sedition Acts led to the defeat of John Adams by Thomas Jefferson in the Presidential Election of 1800, and the repeal of three of the four laws passed in 1798 was the result, but what remained was the Alien Enemies Act.

The law was used during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, under President James Madison, but after that, ignored for a full century.

That law was utilized by Woodrow Wilson in World War I, against nationals of German and other nationals of enemy nations during that war.

And then, again, that law was utilized to justify internment of Japanese nationals after the Pearl Harbor attack that brought America into World War II.

In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation that led to an apology to survivors of the Japanese internment, and financial compensation to those individuals.

But the law remained in the background, and now, eighty years after World War II, Donald Trump has utilized it as a method and justification to accelerate the deportation of millions of immigrants. Trump is first starting with Venezuelan migrants who have been involved in crimes, but also promoting the removal of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan refugees who had been given Temporary Protected Status by President Joe Biden, and face potential threats if they are forcibly returned to Venezuela, where they faced likely imprisonment or death.

And invocation of the Alien Enemies Act will be used as justification for deportation of millions of other undocumented immigrants, which have come to America to escape persecution and violence in their homeland, and now face a threatening future to their health and safety.

This is perceived as a massive abuse of power, and as the most nativist action by the US government in modern American history!

An update, that despite a federal judge ordering to stop removal of some 250 undocumented Venezuelan immigrants and to return those on the way to El Salvador, which has agreed to accept them, that the Trump Administration has ignored the restraining order, and such immigrants have arrived in El Salvador.

Lack Of Respect For Kamala Harris By Republicans Based On Race And Gender

admin 22 Comments

It is very clear that Republicans, led by Donald Trump and JD Vance, but including many others, are demonstrating a lack of respect for Kamala Harris, based on race and gender.

The purposeful refusal of Trump, Vance, and other Republicans to pronounce Kamala Harris’s first name correctly is one sign of disrespect that is inexcusable, as that has never happened to any other candidate before now.

Also, the issue of Trump making an issue of Harris’s race identity is an insult, with his claim that he thought she was Asian Indian, until he discovered she was black, an outrageous racist comment, and utilized by other Republicans.

Also, the issue of Harris not having had her own biological children has become an issue, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Arkansas Governor and former White House Press Secretary, has just employed that issue as a personal attack on Harris.

The fact that Harris has step children with her husband, Doug Emhoff, and that his former wife is very supportive of Harris as a step parent to her children, is ridiculed.

But it is also an attack on the millions of women who are unable to have children of their own, including by choice, but also by the fact that many are not married or have medical issues that make it impossible to bear children.

To make it out that women without biological children are somehow inferior or to be ridiculed is heartless, when having children or not having them should not be a judgment of them, anymore than the millions of men who do not have children for whatever reason.

It should be pointed out that we have had five Presidents who never had biological children, but were never ridiculed or attacked for that fact. They include George Washington, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, and James Buchanan (who never married). Washington, Madison and Jackson had step children since their wives had children with an earlier husband.

Also, Warren G Harding has been proved to have had an illegitimate child out of marriage, and many of the slave owning Presidents before the Civil War are believed to have had slave children, but difficult to prove.

The ultimate point is that race and gender discrimination of any kind is inexcusable in a Presidential campaign or otherwise!

APSA Presidential Greatness Poll 2024: The Next President On Mt. Rushmore, And Most Polarizing And Least Polarizing Presidents!

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The American Political Science Association Presidential Greatness Poll 2024 also asks participants who they would consider should join George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt on the Mt. Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota.

The overwhelming choice was Franklin D. Roosevelt by a wide margin (65.4%), with Barack Obama second with 11%, and a three way tie at 4% among Dwight D. Eisenhower, James Madison, and John F. Kennedy.

And the most Polarizing Presidents were Donald Trump, Andrew Jackson, Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush in that order, with the least Polarizing Presidents being George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, Franklin D.Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy in that order.

Joe Biden Becomes A Wartime President

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Joe Biden has become a wartime President, alongside James Madison, James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush.

At this point, he looks more like Lincoln, Wilson, FDR, Truman, and George H. W. Bush than the rest of the group.

If fortune goes against him, he might look more like Madison, who saw the nation divide during the War Of 1812 and the White House being burned; like Polk, who caused a split over slavery expansion during the Mexican War that helped to lead to the Civil War a decade later; like LBJ, who divided the nation over Vietnam just as he promoted the Great Society; like Nixon, who continued an unpopular war in Vietnam that ended up in a tragic loss; and like George W. Bush, who started two wars based on poor tactics and planning, and dominated by lies and deception in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Afghanistan Crisis Likely Insures A One Term Joe Biden Presidency

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Only about one of every three Presidents historically (14 of 44) through Inauguration Day 2021 has served two terms:

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
Andrew Jackson
Ulysses S. Grant
Grover Cleveland
Woodrow Wilson
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ronald Reagan
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Barack Obama

Additionally, 7 others served more than one term, but not two complete terms:

Abraham Lincoln
William McKinley
Theodore Roosevelt
Calvin Coolidge
Harry Truman
Lyndon B. Johnson
Richard Nixon

And only Lincoln, McKinley, and Nixon were actually elected to two terms, so a total of 17 Presidents elected twice, while TR, Coolidge, Truman, and Johnson succeeded after deaths of their predecessor, and were only elected once to the Presidency.

So a total of 21 Presidents served more than four years, although Lincoln and McKinley for just a few months more, and Coolidge, Johnson and Nixon only months more than a year. So only TR and Truman were very close to two complete terms. Ultimately, 16 out of 44 basically served two terms.

Now we can add Joe Biden to the list of those who will not serve two terms or even be elected a second time, as with the Afghanistan debacle, it seems certain that he will not run again in 2024!

Twice There Have Been Three Presidents With Two Terms Of Office: Are We Likely To Have This Record Broken In 2020?

Ronald 5 Comments

The years from 1993-2017 saw three consecutive Presidents serve eight years in office, with Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

This was only the second time that this had happened, with the first being under Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe from 1801-1825.

So the question arises what are the odds of Donald Trump winning a second term, and serving eight years in office?

One would think that it would be highly unlikely that Trump, after such a divisive and unconstitutional Presidency, the worst in American history bar none, could possibly accomplish that feat.

But the fear is that it could indeed happen, if the following conditions occurred;

Donald Trump takes us into a major war, as divisive as that might be, because never has a sitting President lost reelection in the middle of a war.

The Democratic Party splits and divides, and is unable to be unified around a nominee.

A major international terrorist attack takes place shortly before the election, having the tendency to unite people around the sitting President in a fit of patriotism.

An independent candidate with money, such as Howard Schultz of Starbucks fame, or Tom Steyer, runs a campaign and gains a substantial percentage of the popular vote, denying it to the Democratic nominee.

The economy continues to flourish, which seems unlikely as this entry is being written, as already, it is the longest economic expansion in American history, and cannot go on forever. But if there are no clear signs of a recession before the election, the President in office invariably gains the edge in the election results.

So with these five scenarios, it is clear that Donald Trump, despite all we know about his shortcomings and abuse of power and corruption, could be the fourth straight President to win two terms in the Presidency, breaking historical record.

The “Achilles Heel” Of Ten Presidents: What Harms Their Historical Reputation

Ronald 1 Comment

When one studies the Presidency, it always comes down to one issue that can undermine their historical reputation.

So for John Adams, for example, it is the passage and enforcement of the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.

For James Madison, it is the burning of the White House and Capitol Hill in 1814 by the British during the War of 1812.

For Andrew Jackson, it is the forced removal of five Indian tribes to Oklahoma in the 1830s, the so called “Trail of Tears”.

For Franklin Pierce, it is the signing of the Kansas Nebraska Act in 1854, bringing the nation closer to the Civil War of the future.

For Woodrow Wilson, it is the violation of civil liberties during the First World War, and immediately after, during the Red Scare of 1919-1920.

For Franklin D. Roosevelt, it is the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

For Lyndon B. Johnson, it is the escalation of the Vietnam War in the mid 1960s.

For Richard Nixon, it is the engagement in the Watergate Scandal in the early 1970s.

For George W. Bush, it is the provoking of the Iraq War in 2003 and after.

And for Donald Trump, it is the collusion with the Russian government Vladimir Putin, which is going to bring down his Presidency.

Latest Presidential Ranking Survey For Presidents Day Changes Ratings Of Several Presidents Upward And Downward

Ronald 1 Comment

The game of Presidential rankings is one always changing, and the newest survey of scholars, including this author as a participant, does not disappoint in that regard.

The Siena College survey, now done six times since 1982, once for each new President being considered in the rankings, has some surprises.

157 experts, questioned by the Siena College Research Institute, raised two of the Founding Father generation to the top ten, with James Madison number 7 and James Monroe, his successor at number 8. In so doing, two modern Presidents were dropped out of the top ten, with Ronald Reagan at number 13 and Lyndon B. Johnson at number 16.

A rare occurrence was that Abraham Lincoln was number 3, when usually he is on top, although in earlier Siena College surveys, Franklin D. Roosevelt had been number one, now number two, with George Washington moving up to number one.

Barack Obama, number 8 in the American Political Science Association survey in 2018, and number 12 in the C Span 2017 survey, ended up number 17 in the Siena College survey, so below such Presidents as Woodrow Wilson, James K. Polk, John Adams, and Bill Clinton.

And Donald Trump, who was dead last in the APSA poll, was number 42, above James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson, with Johnson ending up below Buchanan, the opposite of both the C Span and APSA surveys.

Of course, the game of Presidential ranking is a never ending and highly debatable one, and the way that Presidents are ranked is purely in the eyes and expertise of the beholder.

Should a great man, such as Madison or Monroe, but not as accomplished as more modern Presidents, such as Reagan or LBJ, be higher in the ratings?

That is left up to how people perceive Presidents, and whether they include the whole life, or just the actual years of the Presidency, in their judgments.