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The greatest military leaders in American history elected President were George Washington and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
How quickly those who desire the military to replace a democratically elected civilian government forget the warnings of both of these men.
Perhaps its more likely that they never knew the warnings issued by either of them.
Wonderful post. The OP makes the claim that military leaders made the best Presidents but doesn't substantiate this claim at all. I hate the military, I find it utterly the lowest form of human organization. Its purpose is not defense but destruction, its basis is fear not love. The military is the biggest mind control operation in the world. It is soulless and anti-life in every way imaginable. And THIS is where we got our best leaders? I think not. Leadership has nothing to do with a call to arms or bowing to the will of another. Here's a shocker: it doesn't involve the concept of following (a la "follow the leader") at all. True leadership is when the leader empowers everyone to lead themselves. Why? Because ultimately we are all sovereign only to ourselves, not to the whims and fancies of "greater" men. So far, only Presidential rhetoric has hinted at this but Presidential action has never even come close.
FDR had no military exprience, but I suspect it would be difficult to call his presidency a failure. The same could be said of Abraham Lincoln, whose only military experience was to march off to the Blackhawk Wars with the Illinois militia, only to find the war ended before they got there. Woodrow Wilson comes to mind too.
In the reverse, we have a plethora of old generals in the late 19th century who, as President's, raised graft and corruption to new heights. Nixon was a former Naval officer and, though his foreign policies were pretty good, domestically he was a total failure and is still the only President literally driven from office. G.H.W. Bush was a heroic Naval flyer, but I guess the Navy didn't teach him that when he said, "Read my lips," people actually would.
On the whole, I don't think your thesis holds much water.
You might as well say Reagan had no military experience either, he had a rank of Captain in the USAF but had no combat experience and made movies durring the war. However, I think you would have to agree he was a very strong president, perhaps more so than Eisenhower.
Wonderful post. The OP makes the claim that military leaders made the best Presidents but doesn't substantiate this claim at all. I hate the military, I find it utterly the lowest form of human organization. Its purpose is not defense but destruction, its basis is fear not love. The military is the biggest mind control operation in the world. It is soulless and anti-life in every way imaginable. And THIS is where we got our best leaders? I think not. Leadership has nothing to do with a call to arms or bowing to the will of another. Here's a shocker: it doesn't involve the concept of following (a la "follow the leader") at all. True leadership is when the leader empowers everyone to lead themselves. Why? Because ultimately we are all sovereign only to ourselves, not to the whims and fancies of "greater" men. So far, only Presidential rhetoric has hinted at this but Presidential action has never even come close.
Whoa, little bitter I guess...Dont forget that the Military is your Govt in action, not talk...be it war, defense, or DISASTER RELIEF....Soulless? WHO: Washington, Monroe, Jackson, WH Harrison, Tyler, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Harrison, McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, and Bush 1.
You might as well say Reagan had no military experience either, he had a rank of Captain in the USAF but had no combat experience and made movies durring the war. However, I think you would have to agree he was a very strong president, perhaps more so than Eisenhower.
Oh please. No comparison. Most of these politicians are creations of marketing, and marketing was around when the earliest Presidential campaigns began, they are one and the same. Reagan was as much mythology and savvy marketing as he was effective. And never do you hear about Reagans dirty wars in Central America, his funding and training of rightwing death squads down that way and military dictatorships. How about his funding of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan that blew up in our faces on September 11th (actually many years earlier, but not on American soil)
And, no mention of the deficits he created. Just "Tear Down This Wall!" replayed on a single, never ending loop.
All Presidents use their military experiences in their political campaigns, but some Presidents intentionally use their time in the military to gain awards that will make Americans vote for them. They often are also awarded decorations they never earned and praised for risks they were never ordered to actually undertake and their privilege spared them much of risks that others took in their place. Teddy Roosevelt knew the value of a "valiant charge" in politics
Lyndon Baines Johnson was awarded the second highest military honor, the Silver Star, for going on a ride aboard a B-24 in WWII and often referred to this award in his campaigns.
Washington and Eisenhower were true battlefield geniuses who took their expertise to the Oval Office. Both of them were very gifted Presidents, and offered salient warnings that are being ignored by today's Presidents.
Looking at past history, Presidents with past military leader experience, stand out as being the best Presidents in history.
The worst Presidents all have no, to very little military backgrounds.
Is it the military leadership, that is exercised at the helm and that leadership is a driving force, to get things done that are good for the country, as a whole.
While those with little to none, are high powered lawyers, or political machines, with a power trip, trying to control some aspect of human life in America and abroad.
What do you think is the cause for better leadership, among X-military leaders, being our President?
One of the president's chief responsibilities is to function as commander in chief of the armed forces. So it only makes sense that you would want someone who had some military qualifications in such a position. He is, after all, over all the military generals..
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