I was watching the Pres. Ford funeral and a few Questions came to mind..?

Question

Using this quote as the basis "In the summer of 1974, America didn't need a philosopher king, or a warrior prince, an aloof aristocrat, a populist firebrand."
Well then what do we need? Since before 1974 the issues have remained the same. ie:
Dependence on foreign oil, wars or Secret military operations with little foresight on the outcome, The class pay gap, Immigration Issues, enviornmental issues etc...
We have then run the gauntlet on these personalities we elect in office, and yet nothing actually gets done! Sure, we may delay the inevitable, but no concrete solutions have been found.
Im talking all of our Presidents, both Left and Right wing.
Your take?

Yes our presidents were responsible for the collapse of the USSR.. Ughh. All they did was sign the paper that said to continue our CIA and other branch's spying.
What did them in was the collapse of their own infrastructure, and their power hungry attitude to the middle east. Who later wanted independence. If It hadn't been for that the USSR would still be around, like China.

Exactly answerman, you got the message I was trying to convey.
The government as a whole.
If you walk into a casino with $1000, and walk out with $1200, your net gain is $200.
Doesn't matter if the first hour you were up 10k or down to 5k the hour after. All you have to show for it is a crummy $200.

Answer 1

What a good question you have asked. And what interesting, and in some cases insightful, responses you have provoked.

But, you know, it seems to me that no one has really answered your basic question: What DO we need? And how do we go about getting what we need? That's what US citizens should be asking, and working together to find answers. Instead, we are much better at playing the blame game. Most of the responses to your question either attack recent presidents or defend them, or point out problems with the system, problems that have NOT been solved. OK, I do the same thing.

But let me take one swing at answering your basic question -- because it is a good one -- and I wish the public would lay aside resentments and begin to educate itself on the issues, not the personalities of our celebrity candidates.

What we need in the White House is a reformer--not just one who wants change for change sake, but one whose ideas for reform address the problems we currently face, problems like those you've outlined in your details. Theodore Roosevelt was such a reformer. He got a lot of things wrong and he made a lot of mistakes, including his decision not to run for another term and consolidate his efforts; but he understood the need for reform and the basic issues of his lifetime (for example, the relationship between big business and entrepreneurship; the need to conserve natural resources). Woodrow Wilson (after the dilly-dallying of Taft) continued the reform with the sensible assistance of that three-time loser William Jennings Bryan--at least until the Great War undermined their efforts. FDR knew the need for reform that he faced in his time, and he addressed those needs, taking many of his initiatives from those that the Wilson/Bryan team had envisioned but had not been able to implement.

The point is these presidents saw the real needs, understood the importance of educating the public, and addressed issues with genuine reform.

Truman did it too, at least on the international front with the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine, securing allies for the US for another half century and initiating a period of unprededented progress and affluence. Then Eisenhower, at the end of his presidency, identified the real need for reform. Too bad he realized it too late, and did not go far enough in educating the public. In his final speech, he did warn about the dangerous growth of what he called the "military-industrial" complex. He saw a problem that Truman (as a Senator from Missouri) had helped forestall during World War II, but that no president or Congress since has confronted at all, much less, applied reform to.

Oh, there have been some significant achievements in the interim, and we should recognize those, even when they came from the efforts of presidents that otherwise we may not admire. LBJ did -- at great sacrifice to his party, a sacrifice that he was well aware of -- negotiate meaningful civil rights reform. That was a need he saw and addressed vigorously, even unselfishly. Nixon did open up communication with China (Nixon, of all people!), and, truth be told, that eventually may have had more to do with the fall of the Iron Curtain than anything else any other president did. He saw, and acted upon, that need for international reform. Jimmy Carter did achieve a peace in the Middle East that has lasted; that is, between Egypt and Israel. If only someone else could have followed up with Syria, Lebanon, . . . well, pick one! And, of course, if his attempt to rescue the Iran hostages had succeeded, he would have gone down in history as one of the heroes of the 20th century. Poor guy! It was not to be. So he had the elder Bush maneuvering to have the hostages held until after the election of Reagan and Teddy Kennedy doing everything he could to undermine Carter's efforts in the US.

So we could go on and on. Achievements, yes. Even courageous, unselfish, thoughtful, unexpected reform. But not the big issues of their own time. No any one yet since FDR. The military-industrial complex has kept growing and accumulating power, until it has now virtually accomplished its goal: the US as an imperialistic oligarchy with the underlings held in tow by a subservient press and fundamentalist religion. Ike was right.

So what can we citizens -- voters, writers, contributors, participants, protesters -- do? (1) Educate ourselves and others on the big issues of our own time. (2) Seek out candidates who are perceptive at identifying these issues for us, articulate in communicating them, and experienced in the kind of statesmanship required to address them. (3) Focus on issues, not celebrity. (4)Understand that reform may cost us in the short term but reward us in our future and the futures of our children and grandchildren. (5) Insist on recognizing statesmen (sorry, I don't know a non-sexist term for that) who lead us in the reform that's needed and honor them for their positive achievements even when we may disagree with them on many, many points.

What's been enouraging about this week, in the honoring of Gerald Ford, is the widespread recognition of his unselfishness in pardoning Nixon and healing the nation. (Actually. I'm dubious about that, but I rejoice in the bipartisan recognition of his intention and the honoring of his efforts. The best eulogy that I have heard was Jimmy Carter's.)

Sorry, I have rambled on and on. But I've tried to answer your real question. "Well then, what do we need?" A reformer for our times. That's what.

The newly elected senators from Virginia and Montana just may point the way. Now if we can come up with presidential candidates of the same caliber. I don't see them yet among the headliners: not McCain, not Hillary, not Giuliani, probably not Barak Obama, at least not yet.

Well then, what else do we need? Citizens. Voters. Thinkers. Who demand reformers, not celebrities. Who study issues rather than slurping over personalities.

In the election of 2008, America will not need a philosopher king, or a warrior prince, an aloof aristocrat, a populist firebrand. Nor will America need a sexy celebrity, a good ole boy to have a beer with, a corporate patsy, a namby-pamby middle-of-the-roader, a politically correct precedent, a spinmeister with the press, a fund-raiser par excellence, a machine or the tool of a machine. What America needs is a genuine reformer, one who can identify, articulate, and address the BIG needs for reform in our time?

That's what I think we need. Right now. Before it's too late!

Thank you for asking.

Answer 2

Hummmm...Big Business has consistent been only 15% of the American economy since ... forever. The little businessman is the American economy. Liberal Myth #1 'Big Business' busted again.

The problem is the tax code. Anyone who can pay off a Congressman/Congresswomen can get a tax break. Ask that Congressman who had a ton of money in his freezer. (Democrat by the way, just saying...)

If we kill the moronic tax system and switch to a simple fair tax several good things happen.
1. The poor pay no taxes.
2. There is no incentive to pay off a Congressman because he can't help anymore.
3. We eliminate the IRS. Yippeeeeee!
4. Congress people are forced to face Americas real problems.

Ok I lied about #4. It will not happen as a result of the Fair Tax but it's nice to dream!

Answer 3

I cant Speak for everyone but if I say what I feel is honest and true some ignorant bastu** always gets their feeling hurt and I get reported to the Answers community who ever they are and after that happens a few times they wont let me come back until I makeup another profile I have been to level 4 three times and that's because I gave good answers but like Babe Ruth and when I miss the ball, I miss big, and I send someone crying

Answer 4

you know america is a very young country, the foundation barely dry......before 1974 or the year Ford took office Vietnam war was happening...and before that Korea, ww2, ww1...all within one century...and between all these conflicts, the great american depression, black americans still lacked total equality(still happens today), missle crisis with cuba, eathquake in california, hurricane in new orleans....mexico struggling with itself and still to this day.....the issues you mention, yes important, and maybe soon there will be answers to solve them...but to say all of this country's Presidents have done nothing....I beg your pardon, you are very wrong...we didn't get to where we are today..leading the world in democracy because our leaders did nothing.......europe, china, middle east, asia, they've been around the block a few times and they still don't get it right.....be happy you don't live south of the border or war torn africa, suspicious china, and backward middle east...soviet is not all that great or their former territories just now trying to rebuilt.....you take too much for granted I think to quick to judge...not all presidents are perfect but I like to believe they took the initiative to keep this great country moving forward in the right direction....every road has a pothole...

Answer 5

Being that Carter and Clinton are the biggest failures in history, this president is having to play "catch-up" due to Clinton's miserable lies and ignoring of the fact of terrorism. Presidents need to work together instead of worring about image (Clinton) And no Bush has not done everything right.

Answer 6

Politicians make money by staying in office and feeding from the public trough. The longer they can root around in slop and convince voters in their home state that they are bring back tons of wasteful pork barrel spending for their benefit, the longer they will be re-elected and thus be able to root in the public trough and eventually retire with millions of taxpayer dollars yet to come.

Thus, it is in the politicians' best interest NEVER to solve anything, just to nudge it around all over the bottom of the slop bucket and suck it dry. So the problems of a decade or two ago are the same as today and will continue to be the same in ten, twenty, orr thirty years. Nothing will change. It's all about the politicans maintaining the status quo so their big paychecks can keep coming in for the rest of their lives, and it has NOTHING to do with ever finding any solutions to anything.

Answer 7

Not any single president, but the AMERICAN PEOPLE have built and maintained the greatest free country on the planet. To me, a great deal has been done. Too many people take on a negative attitude during wartime (past and present). It is not hard to be negative. That is the easy way out.
Once a person looks at life half full, the load will lighten on their heart.

Answer 8

I'm thinking that maybe Clinton came the closest to achieving anything, welfare reform, a booming economy, many infrastructure improvements, shrinking government, are among his and congress's achievements. We have taken many steps back since then, bigger government, higher spending, budget deficits, ect. So as you say little improvement in our everyday lives and our country as a whole.

Answer 9

Totally agree. Unfortunately for us, we are given a choice between Tweedledee and Tweedledum when it comes to our elected officials. Mostly they are self serving lawyers who view the presidency as a means to not only cement their names in the annals of history, but also to make certain their futures, their childrens futures and their childrens children futures are secure, both financially and socially. The real issues, many of which you mentioned above are not even touched upon. The powers that be

Answer 10

Yes, nothing got done.

The fall of the Soviet empire and the liberation of tens of millions, the unshackling of the American economy and the creation of great wealth for all, and the fighting of Islamofascist murderers were just a sideshow.