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Worst president ever?

Posted: March 22, 2022 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

“Worst. President. Ever.”

That’s the engaging title of Robert Strauss’s biography of James Buchanan, who is generally considered among the most experienced politicians to reach the White House yet the perhaps the most dreadful leader of the country.

Buchanan may have some competition from the current incumbent of the White House.

Ironically, the two Democrats have many similarities.

Buchanan came from a small town near Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Joe Biden was born in nearby Scranton—a fact he repeatedly made during the 2020 election.

Buchanan spent much of his life in government service as a diplomat, U.S. senator, U.S. House representative, and president. In the U.S. Senate, he chaired the Judiciary Committee.

Biden, too, has spent much of his life in government and chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee.

As president from 1957 to 1861, Buchanan meddled in the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the justices reach a terrible decision in the Dred Scott case that extended slavery before the Civil War.

Biden has advocated a makeover of the U.S. Supreme Court by either expanding the number of justices or nominating people because of their race and gender.

Only months after his inauguration, Buchanan oversaw one of the worst economic crises in the nation’s history.

The Panic of 1857 saw the collapse of 1,400 state banks and 5,000 businesses after a horrendous increase in inflation.

The Panic of 2022 may not see the collapse of banks because of subsequent federal laws, but many businesses have shut their doors under Biden’s economic oversight.

In a divided country between North and South, Buchanan made matters worse.

Biographer Jean Baker wrote in 2004: “He was that most dangerous of chief executives, a stubborn, mistaken ideologue whose principles held no room for compromise. His experience in government had only rendered him too self-confident to consider other views. In his betrayal of the national trust, Buchanan came closer to committing treason than any other president in American history.”

In a divided country between Democrat and Republican, Biden is making matters even worse.

Fortunately, Abraham Lincoln followed Buchanan into the White House.

I hope someone of such stature follows Biden.

The last Democrat

Posted: March 15, 2022 by chrisharper in politics
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By Christopher Harper

For the past few months, I’ve been reading biographies of U.S. presidents, starting in chronological order. I’ve made it to Nos. 22 and 24: Grover Cleveland.

That’s right! Cleveland served two terms, but they were interrupted by the election loss in 1888 to his opponent, Benjamin Harrison.

Cleveland, the last conservative Democrat, was a particularly interesting leader. Unfortunately, the Democrats turned toward progressive politics after Cleveland left the White House.

Cleveland served two terms, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897. He won that election in the popular vote in 1888, but he lost in the Electoral College because he angered the corrupt politicians in New York and lost the state. Therefore, Cleveland was the only president to serve two terms that were not consecutive. Furthermore, he and Woodrow Wilson were the only Democrats elected between 1861 and 1933.

The son of a Presbyterian minister, Cleveland was known for his honesty and integrity. In 1881, Cleveland was elected mayor of Buffalo and later governor of New York. He opposed high taxes, imperialism, and government subsidies to businesses, farmers, and veterans. He fought corruption in New York and elsewhere, implementing civil service examinations rather than political patronage.

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Cleveland in 1932, historian Allan Nevins wrote, “[I]n Grover Cleveland, the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities. He had no endowments that thousands of men do not have. He possessed honesty, courage, firmness, independence, and common sense. But he possessed them to a degree other men do not.”

After being elected president in 1884, he faced a distinctly partisan Republican Congress. Keep in mind that the Republicans were much more progressive than the Democrats back then.

Cleveland vetoed dozens of bills passed by Congress; his supporters sustained them. Perhaps his most famous veto occurred when he refused to support $100,000—today’s equivalent of $2.9 million—to buy seed grain for Texas farmers, who had lost their crops during a drought.

In his veto message, he outlined his desire for limited government. “I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the general government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering …. The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character.”

Cleveland nailed it. Look at how dependent so many people have become on federal money!

Cleveland often ranks outside of the top 10 of American presidents despite his many accomplishments. To me, he deserves to be near the top of the list right behind Washington and Lincoln.

No fly, no oil, no kidding

Posted: March 8, 2022 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

Americans may disagree on many things, but it’s clear they take the war in Ukraine seriously.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows an overwhelming majority of Americans (74%) support establishing a no-fly zone over Ukraine, banning U.S. imports of Russian oil (80%), and imposing further penalties on the Russian economy (81%).

It’s time for Brandon to realize he’s leading from behind. Again.

The Russian invasion poses a significant threat to various countries, including Poland, a NATO member and key American ally.

If Russia had invaded Ukraine 20 years ago, there is little question that the United States would be helping as much as possible. But the disasters in Afghanistan and Iraq have made U.S. leaders reluctant to engage in the world.

It feels a lot like America in the late 1970s and early 1980s after Vietnam when the United States was reluctant to engage in world affairs. America was tentative and fearful; Ronald Reagan changed that.

Although I support Donald Trump and DaTechGuy on most issues, I think they’re wrong about keeping out of this battle. I firmly believe that despite the troubles Putin and his military have faced in Ukraine, they’re likely to keep pushing their weight around in other places, such as the Baltic States.

Here’s what I think we should do:

–Remind Americans that the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances of 1994 pledged that the United States, Russia, and others not to invade Ukraine, in exchange for that country giving up its vast nuclear arsenal. Putin has violated that promise. While America did not commit to defending Ukraine, the United States is morally obligated to do so.

–Impose sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas industry. Even though oil exports have dropped because of nervous shippers and insurers, Putin is still getting the product through to European and U.S. consumers. This move would likely push up gasoline and heating prices, but it will also have Brandon and his minions reconsider the need for American energy independence. [Update: Brandon imposed sanctions. Now he needs to open up U.S. drilling].

–Help to create a no-fly zone with NATO over Ukraine to allow an acceleration of weapons deliveries and humanitarian supplies. Some analysts and government leaders are concerned that such a move would result in battles with Russian aircraft. That is certainly a possibility, but Russians have steered clear of Western fighter jets in places like the former Yugoslavia and Iraq.

Audentes fortuna iuvat. Fortune favors the bold.

The Germans get on board

Posted: March 1, 2022 by chrisharper in Uncategorized

By Christopher Harper

One of the most important developments from the invasion of Ukraine is the apparent change in Germany’s government toward Russia.

The Germans have played footsy with the Russians for years, expanding economic ties with Moscow and weakening military forces, particularly with NATO.

In neck-snapping changes, Germany said it would send 1,000 antitank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles to Ukraine. That’s a reversal of Berlin’s policy since World War II of not supplying lethal weapons to other countries.

After the reversal, Chancellor Olaf Scholz went even further, announcing a massive overhaul of German security and defense policy. Berlin is stepping back from its decades-long entente with Moscow and is going all-in on NATO.

“Putin wants to establish a Russian empire,” Scholz said Sunday. The critical question, he said, is “whether we can summon the strength to set boundaries to warmongers like Putin.”

Scholz vowed to increase defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product, as all NATO members are supposed to do, and added $113 billion to the defense budget. The money will purchase weapons such as F-35 fighter planes and Israeli drones. 

Germany had slashed the number of main battle tanks from 5,000 in 1989 to 300 currently while reducing its armed forces from nearly 500,000 personnel to around 180,000.

It’s worth noting that Donald Trump called upon all NATO members to bump up their spending dramatically while he was in office—an action most European leaders rejected.

In an editorial, The Wall Street Journal noted: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a shock to German politicians and voters who assumed diplomacy alone would secure Europe’s borders. It’s been an embarrassment to a government caught flat-footed by Mr. Putin’s marauding.” 

And that’s not all. Scholz vowed to cut Germany’s reliance on Russian energy, a reversal of a decades-long policy that enabled Berlin access to cheap energy but tied it ever closer to Moscow. Berlin gets more than half of its natural gas and a quarter of its oil from state-controlled Russian exporters.

Earlier this year, Joe Biden and Scholz removed all restrictions to constructing a new pipeline, the Nord Stream 2. Since the invasion, all work on the pipeline has stopped.

The next important step for Germany and other European members of NATO will be to insist on the provisions that an attack against one member is an attack against all.

Although Biden has said the United States will back any country that is attacked, it is critical to make sure troops are available to fight any Russian advances on any NATO country. 

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