Monday, February 03, 2020

Who were the progressive revolutionaries among the presidents?

Who were the most "progressive" presidents? 
I would argue they were:
Abraham Lincoln --- came to power with only 40% of the vote due to the weird 4-way political mess of 1860. Thank God, US Grant, and William Tecumseh Sherman for his re-election. His legacy: an end to slavery.
Theodore Roosevelt --- came to power because he was s'posed to be buried in the vice presidency, then McKinley got murdered. His legacy: the busting of trusts.
Franklin Roosevelt --- came to power because of a national disaster - the depression His legacy: Social Security, Rural Free Delivery,
Lyndon Johnson --- came to power because of another murder. His legacy? The Voting Rights bill, Medicare and Medicaid. And, unfortunately, the Vietnam quagmire.
Barack Obama --- came to power because of the Great Recession. His legacy includes the Affordable Care Act, including Medicaid expansion, and inspiration for a wide diversity of folks nationwide and even worldwide.

The other Democrats of our time:
Truman --- FDR died and then he just BARELY got re-elected
JFK --- ran and governed as a cheerful moderate progressive and BARELY squeaked by Nixon
Carter --- Ran as a cheerful moderate progressive and BARELY squeaked by Ford.
Clinton --- Ran as a moderate progressive and got in by virtue of Perot splitting the other side.

I believe Trump is actually a bigger national emegency than the two assassinations and the two economic disasters, but does the country realize that? I want the largest possible defeat for Trumpism. I want it forever destroyed. Biden is our best shot at that. Klobuchar next. With Sanders as our nominee we'd be hard put to make him even competitive in Georgia. He might not carry Delaware, never mind being competitive in Iowa or Ohio or Texas. Biden puts more red 2016 Trump states in play than any other candidate, IMO.

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