It may be hard to believe, but some of the Presidents of the United States did not partake in wars during their time in office.Here is a list of non-wartime Commanders In Chief whose military was at-ease, yes, U.S. Presidents who could focus on helping their own people, their own nation, at home:
* John Adams (2nd)(Wikipedia). This is roughly 39% of those holding that office.
* John Quincy Adams (6th)
* Zachary Taylor (12th)
* Millard Fillmore (13th)
* Franklin Pierce (14th)
* Andrew Johnson (17th)
* Ulysses Grant (18th)
* James Garfield (20th)
* Chester Arthur (21st)
* Grover Cleveland (22nd)
* Benjamin Harrison (23rd)
* Grover Cleveland (24th)
* Theodore Roosevelt (26th)
* William Taft (27th)
* Calvin Coolidge (30th)
* Herbert Hoover (31st)
* Jimmy Carter (39th)
Which means that roughly 61% of the time U.S. Presidents are influenced by war, which James Madison (2 yr War of 1812, 4th President) called our greatest enemy.
Equally of note is that since Jimmy Carter left office, on January 20, 1981, we have been involved in wars.
That is about 28 years in a row with presidents involved in war and the war ideology, our worst enemy.
As we proclaim to the world that we are the exceptional nation of peace, our war budgets involve more war money than all of the rest of the nations of the earth combined.
Is it any wonder that we have a serious credibility problem?
nicely put, the rationale for this seems to be if there is any warring going on in the world we need to have a piece of the action, perverse actionism (new word for you Mr Webster) over isolationism. It's nice that someone is still capable of taking an objective look at this. Reading blogs you wonder some times. What drives me crazy is people who want to tell you that James Madison and the like lived in different times and what they had to say about the best way to run this country they created is too outdated to apply in the "new" post apocalyptic 9/11 world. This complete rejection of wisdom from the founders of this nation usually comes from people who identify themselves as conservative, patriotic, etc. Go figure...................
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDelete"This complete rejection of wisdom from the founders of this nation usually comes from people who identify themselves as conservative, patriotic, etc."
Quite so.
Those who fancy themselves to be Christians, then conclude that being a disciple is the end of the matter, are only surface skimmers.
One of the disciples of Christ was Judas Iscariot, a symbolic representation of phony Christianity that seeks only its own wrong headed ideology, covering that malfeasance up with feigned values.
Check out today's post if you get a chance, it has their number all over it.