Was President John Adams liberal or conservative?
As a member of the Continental Congress and advocate of American Independence, Adams was a Classical Liberal, and would be considered to the left of the political spectrum. But by the time he became president, Adams had become far more conservative. He did not believe in Democracy ( and said that all democracies die by suicide). Moreover, he believed in strong federal government, distrusted the people, and was far to the right of the contemporary liberal, Thomas Jefferson.
Why did Ben Franklin hate Germans immigrants?
Ben Franklin was against German immigration. He is quoted as saying: Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion. Seems oddly similar to what some Neocons say nowadays... Anyways, why did he hate German immigrants so much? http://www.dialoginternational.com/dialog_international/2008/02/ben-franklin-on.html
Who is or was the most morally upstanding President of the United States?
I’m late to the party but I’ll still throw in my two cents.Politically…very few.We can count out the presidents that had scandals during their presidency that would ruin their credibility.Reagan with the Iran-Contra ScandalKennedy got us into VietnamLBJ escalated the war in VietnamNixon escalated the war in Vietnam further before pulling out, after explicitly promising to pull out (plus Watergate)FDR tried to add six justices to SCOTUS so he could pursue a more liberal agendaHarding was a KKK member and gambled away the white house chinaHoover handled the Depression poorlyEisenhower had the U-2 incidentAndrew Johnson was almost impeachedMost of the presidents between Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt (Grant, Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley, Hayes, Arthur) were in the pockets of big corporations like Standard OilAndrew Jackson was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Native AmericansWoodrow Wilson got us into World War I after running on the basis staying outDubya got us into IraqObama promised to get us out of Iraq, but still hasn’tHerbert Walker raised taxes after promising not toBill Clinton got caught in the White Water scandalFranklin Pierce encouraged the South’s secession, plus he was a huge drunkA lot of people have mentioned John Adams, although I will point out that he tried to make it illegal for people to speak out against the government. George Washington also, who stepped down after two terms, although he likely would have been elected to at least one more if he had ran again. He spent his entire presidency trying to keep the people free of tyranny, and released his slaves upon his death. John Tyler fulfilled all of the goals he set at the beginning of his presidency. Lincoln and Truman never did anything particularly wrong or dishonest either as president. If I had to choose, I’d probably take Washington, as he really worked to help the American people keep their liberty, and would have been shocked at all the hatred between the Democrats and Republicans now.In private, it’s a little more general. We can count out Jefferson, Clinton, FDR, Eisenhower, Harding, LBJ, and JFK, who all cheated on their wives. There are unconfirmed rumors that Richard Nixon beat his wife at least once. Most of the other presidents were good, moral, decent men, and it would be difficult to pick out one who was more morally upstanding than the others
Thomas Jefferson said a free press was essential to a free country. Trump calls the press the enemy of the people. Who is right?
This is being blown out of proportion. First, he did not direct his comment at the entire press generally as has been portrayed. He was speaking about a few large, for profit companies who are biased and target him. Clearly, he meant that there are manifestations of the free press which are not smearing him and his party whom he doesn’t count among the enemy of the people.I’m inclined to agree with him. Some outlets are clearly skewed against him and omit relevant facts to distort news. A lying news media is the enemy of the people. We live in a society where it is necessary to seek out news from one outlet to acquire facts that the others misrepresented. Conveniently left out or chose not to report.For example, the media has made much of the necessity to separate children from families of accused illegal aliens. The truth is that there is a standing court ruling that will not allow families to be detained with their children. The only choice at that point is to allow the illegal aliens to enter the country by letting them go or attempt to release the children to a legal family member or find another place for children to stay. This does not even address the issue of non-family members who lie about their relationship to bring children to this country.The media have presented this situation as his administration’s policy to separate children. In the past, when Obama was in the same situation, he chose to allow illegal aliens to enter the country rather than enforce our laws. By separating children, Trump has drawn public attention to a problem that requires a congress to resolve. This is a Congress, which left to its own devices chooses repeatedly not to address the problem.Those who oppose enforcing immigration laws are using the horrible plight of the children as a bludgeon and an excuse for why we can’t strongly enforce our immigration laws. It’s the job of congress to insure that we can try illegal aliens and deal with the children they brought in order to force us to release them from jail. Congress is the problem.