Hello

BenjaminFranklin · 18-02-2008, 06:56 PM

Hello.

I am an American, but I am interested in international politics--and democracy in particular--and I've always liked the British style.

As for political philosophies... I try to avoid "ism's" and instead just try to be rational and moral about things.

...so if you could come up with a label for that, that would be me. Maybe... "the honorable rationalist".

Some things I value, and expect a government to value, are:

>> truth, justice, freedom, and efficiency <<

OK, it's good to be here.

Akria · 18-02-2008, 07:02 PM

Hello. Welcome to the forum.

mkpdavies · 18-02-2008, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenjaminFranklin

Hello.

I am an American, but I am interested in international politics--and democracy in particular--and I've always liked the British style.

As for political philosophies... I try to avoid "ism's" and instead just try to be rational and moral about things.

...so if you could come up with a label for that, that would be me. Maybe... "the honorable rationalist".

Some things I value, and expect a government to value, are:

>> truth, justice, freedom, and efficiency <<

OK, it's good to be here.

Welcome aboard. Good name!

Hartlepool · 18-02-2008, 07:33 PM

Good Nationality you have too,welcome.

Roland · 18-02-2008, 07:40 PM

Quote:

As for political philosophies... I try to avoid "ism's" and instead just try to be rational and moral about things.

...so if you could come up with a label for that, that would be me. Maybe... "the honorable rationalist".

Libertarian. I don't think their is such a thing as Libertarianism.

Welcome.

Roland · 18-02-2008, 07:46 PM

Handy actually I wanted to ask an American a question.

Wher your at school/education etc... I'm intrested to know what you get talt about President Andrew Jackson ?

I know that's an odd question.

BenjaminFranklin · 18-02-2008, 09:17 PM

I think my history classes were much less biased then most, as what I learned was largely the "encyclopedia" version of the history (I often used my Funk & Wagnols Encyclopedia when writing papers for class)... which I think by and large is a very good way to learn things, as a good encyclopedea strives to be objective about things. However, I can't speak for all students of the American education system (I'm sure some people got bad teachers and were fed bs), but I think, by and large, there was a good level of objective scholorship in my classes. It also helped that all my classes were "college prep" or higher.

Historically, in terms of presidents, my classes treated the former Presidents as to be respected but not faultless. (I had some good history teachers.) We acknowledged, for example, how the overall pre-20th century treatment of groups like women (couldn't vote), blacks (slavery), and American Indians (any excuse to take their land) would be unacceptable today.

Ok, Andrew Jackson... Andrew Jackson is a controversial president. That's my overall impression of him from what I've read and heard. He seems to be a mix of good and bad... I can't really say more then that without looking deeper into it.

Maybe this will help answer your question... My Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia has an "Evaluation" section for each president. Here is the evaluation it gives for Andrew Jackson:

Quote:

Evaluation

Modern historians are skeptical of the Jackson legend. They note that Jackson and his party did not so much expand political democracy as they used and benefited from it. They observe that Jackson was a large slave owner and that his party was the enemy of free blacks and their rights. They point to Jackson’s willingness to deny antislavery pamphlets the use of the U.S. mails. They decry the cruelties, illegality, and hypocrisy of his Indian policy, which forcibly removed southern tribes from lands guaranteed them by federal treaties and U.S. Supreme Court decisions. They observe that for all of Jackson’s talk of helping working people, Democratic policies accomplished little. They are dismayed by Jackson’s addiction to violent confrontation in foreign policy, as in 1835, when he brought the country to the brink of war with France over that nation’s delay in paying its debt to the U.S.

Jacksonians called their political opponents aristocrats, themselves the party of the people. In fact, Jacksonian leaders were almost everywhere as atypically wealthy, as unrepresentative of the common people, as were the Whigs. Many Jacksonian civil-service appointees were notorious not for being commoners but for their inefficiency or their flagrant corruption.

Jackson did help revolutionize and strengthen the presidency. He vetoed more bills, for example, than had all his predecessors combined. Furthermore, in vetoing bills merely because he disliked them, he repudiated the tradition originated by George Washington that the veto was a hangover from monarchy, rarely to be exercised by presidents in a republic. Since Jackson’s time it has been commonplace for presidents to repeat the Jacksonian assertion that the president represents the will of the people better than does Congress. Jackson’s chief legacy to the nation was what political scientists call the strong presidency and a tradition whereby leaders and parties constantly proclaim their love of the people.

Roland · 18-02-2008, 10:09 PM

So you never got taught how he took on the banking cartels paid off the last installment of the American debt to European bankers and nearly got shoot for his trouble and how he saw his biggest success as being "I killed the banks".

That comes as no great surprise.

BenjaminFranklin · 18-02-2008, 11:34 PM

Acutally, I remember this quote as being in my history book:

"The bank is trying to kill me... but I will kill it." - Andrew jackson

And he did. But I don't see why you care about that in particular. I will have to brush up on that bit of history...

Hartlepool · 19-02-2008, 08:55 AM

Ben,were you taught World History at school?

I ask this because my kids went to American schools for quite a few years and one of them graduated,but not one lesson in World History was available or taught to them in all that time.

I think this is/was a general practice and a big mistake in my opinion.

18-02-2008, 06:56 PM	#1 (permalink)
BenjaminFranklin Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: New Jersey, USA Posts: 19	Hello Hello. I am an American, but I am interested in international politics--and democracy in particular--and I've always liked the British style. As for political philosophies... I try to avoid "ism's" and instead just try to be rational and moral about things. ...so if you could come up with a label for that, that would be me. Maybe... "the honorable rationalist". Some things I value, and expect a government to value, are: >> truth, justice, freedom, and efficiency << OK, it's good to be here. __________________ ---------- "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." ---------- Last edited by BenjaminFranklin; 18-02-2008 at 06:59 PM.

18-02-2008, 07:02 PM	#2 (permalink)
Akria Uber Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Grimsby, NELincs Posts: 2,456 Party: None	Hello. Welcome to the forum. __________________ I am getting very tired of people not reading my posts properly. Please do not reply to me unless you are sure you have not missed out the key points I am making and key words I am using. http://real-democracy.co.uk \| Admin and proud The commonality of mankind: If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?

18-02-2008, 11:34 PM	#9 (permalink)
BenjaminFranklin Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: New Jersey, USA Posts: 19	Acutally, I remember this quote as being in my history book: "The bank is trying to kill me... but I will kill it." - Andrew jackson And he did. But I don't see why you care about that in particular. I will have to brush up on that bit of history... __________________ ---------- "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." ---------- Last edited by BenjaminFranklin; 18-02-2008 at 11:40 PM.

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18-02-2008, 07:33 PM	#4 (permalink)
Hartlepool Uber Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: North East England Posts: 6,660 Party: Free England Party	Good Nationality you have too,welcome.

18-02-2008, 07:46 PM	#6 (permalink)
Roland Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 857	Handy actually I wanted to ask an American a question. Wher your at school/education etc... I'm intrested to know what you get talt about President Andrew Jackson ? I know that's an odd question.

18-02-2008, 10:09 PM	#8 (permalink)
Roland Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 857	So you never got taught how he took on the banking cartels paid off the last installment of the American debt to European bankers and nearly got shoot for his trouble and how he saw his biggest success as being "I killed the banks". That comes as no great surprise.

19-02-2008, 08:55 AM	#10 (permalink)
Hartlepool Uber Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: North East England Posts: 6,660 Party: Free England Party	Ben,were you taught World History at school? I ask this because my kids went to American schools for quite a few years and one of them graduated,but not one lesson in World History was available or taught to them in all that time. I think this is/was a general practice and a big mistake in my opinion.