Is it possible that a president or a VP of the USA is evil? Others very inteligent, great leaders have been.?

Question

Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (listen (help·info); 7 October 1900–23 May 1945) was the commander of the Schutzstaffel (SS) and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany by being second in power to Adolf Hitler in the Nazi hierarchy.

Martin Bormann (June 17, 1900–May 2, 1945) was a prominent Nazi official. He became head of the Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei) and private secretary to German Führer Adolf Hitler. He gained Hitler's trust and derived immense power within the Third Reich by controlling access to the Führer.

Hermann Wilhelm Göring (listen (help·info)) (also Goering in English) (January 12, 1893 – October 15, 1946) was a German politician and military leader, a leading member of the Nazi Party, second in command of the Third Reich, and commander of the Luftwaffe.

Tracy P
In the first 4 years in power Hitler did not commit any great crime. In that period no one could have told the moster Hitler was going to become later. During that period Hitler was trading widely with the USA.

Anon E. Mouse
The question suggest that anyone, including a VP or a P is capable of evil.
Just as Susan wrote.

Thank you all for answering.
Thank you Valac Gypsy and Shabarak for coming over to the dirty side of life to answer my question.

Answer 1

I hope people appreciate Fun's satire.
I'd ask, is it probable, or, isn't it a fact? One is evil & crafty, the other is evil & stupid. The people you mentioned didn't necessarily start out that way. When Bush was first elected, oops-he wasn't--he certainly didn't "seem" as bad as he has been in the last four years or so. Not that he's really running things, he hasn't got the brain for any kind of strategy. Perhaps we could call him a co-conspirator with a pathological fixation on not only Iraq, but the entire Middle East. He is precisely the kind of person who would love to rule the world, as long as he had others tell him how to do it. As to the Nazis wanting to reshape the world in their image--isn't that what we're doing in the Middle East? They MUST have democracy! At the cost of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis lives, which I mentioned first since people seem to overlook THAT. What democracy? Have we got it? NO. The oil industry, the pharmaceutical companies--oh, stop me!--we know who pulls the strings. When we KNOW (those of us who are informed) that our troops are fighting a CIVIL WAR that will never end, & keep grinding out our troops like sausages to be killed, wounded, psychologically damaged, & THEN when people with a tad of wisdom want to bring them back, they are called unpatriotic, & don't respect or admire all those who have died & dying still. But it gets worse. All that rhetoric about being "proud" of them, & there isn't even adequate care for them when they return. Something to be proud of. It is absolutely ludicrous to say that Bill Clinton was the worst president in 50 years. We never had it so good. Bush has undone just about every good thing Clinton did, not the least being a debt I can hardly comprehend. Can they be evil? Is a bluebird blue?

Answer 2

It is possible to vote in an evil president or vice president but in America we have a balance of power. Meaning that eventually the legislative or judicial branch could out do the executive branch or we could impeach. This is also why we vote in our presidents, to have someone who will resemble what the American people want. While the Nazi party is a good example of how a country can go evil (most of the leaders you mentioned had very high IQ's), there is more protection against this in America than there was in war torn Germany.

Answer 3

Um, I'm not really sure what you're getting at with the Nazi info, but I will respond to the first line of your question. I believe that a US President or VP can be evil, in the sense that they really don't care about the majority of Americans, only about a select few. I feel very strongly that Bush/Cheney fit into this category. They make a lot of pretty speeches that end in "May God bless America", but at the end of the day all they care about is helping their rich cronies get richer. If that means shifting more of the tax burden to the middle-class and the poor, oh well, you shouldn't be poor then.

Does that make them like the Nazis? Not at all. The Nazis were determined to rule the world and re-shape it in their own image at the point of a gun, and wipe out an entire race because of bigotry. There are those who would argue that America is trying to "rule the world" too, but it's nothing like what the Nazis wanted to do.

Answer 4

Just because these people were Nazis doesn't make them evil.
They did things what are morally objectionable, but at the time, it was improving the economy and helping the lives of millions of millions of people.

The usa did pretty much the same thing with the Smallpox ridden blankets and the indians, then comes the slaves.

People have done things that on retrospect seem morally flawed, but they did them for what they thought to be good/selfish intentions.

But I don't believe that people do things SOLELY to be evil and SOLELY to harm others in some sort of way.

Answer 5

We're all capable of doing evil things. But doing them requires a fair modicum of stupidity and lack of insight. Getting power doesn't necessarily signify intelligence of the kind required to use it wisely. Ambition, cunning, and persistence will often do instead. I think one of the wisest of leaders, now generally forgotten was Jan Masaryk, first president of the brief Czechoslovak Republic b4 World War 2. There have been others, including Mandella - and a couple of them were even Americans. But even the best can only do what they can against the opposition of the stupid. Sadly the wise mostly don't want power, and one can hardly blame them. But somebody has to do it - and for evil to triumph it's only necessary for good men, and women, to do nothing.

Answer 6

Wow, comparing one of our Presidents to Himmler, Bormann, or Goring...no, I don't think so. Bill Clinton was by far the worst President we have had in the last 50 years; but even he doesn't come close to the German Leaders you cited.

Answer 7

I won't say Pres or VP is NOT evil but to compare them to the examples you give is blatantly unfair. Why not compare Bush to Bin Laden then???? Do you honestly believe these are fair comparisons?

Answer 8

Yes, I just won't say which ones I think you'll have to email me to find out

Answer 9

Yes. Cheney is evil. Bush is his willing dupe.

Answer 10

Cool. Thanx for the info.