American Villians

Recently, Bernard Goldberg wrote a book about who's screwing up America. It is a list, with an explanation for each character. He picks those from the left, and those from the right. I have not read it yet, but do not know if I will.

However, with my knowledge of history, I can tell you who screwed up America. Since the founding of the country. And here is my list:

1. John Randolph (of Roanoke).
Our first character was once well known by American school children. Of course, today, he had to be removed to make way for things like gays in American history. He wouldn't have fit, because, well, he was impotent.

That is not why he is a villian. He is here because he socially codified American race codes. He was the first to argue that some races were inferior to others - in Congress. At least he was the first to devote energy to it. As such, he made sure that the problems of slavery would last way, way beyond it's abolition. Which is curious, because, as a descendent of Pochahantas, he would fail any racial purity test.

America's perpetual issue has been over race. It even predates it's discovery - the Spanish introduced black slavery in the Canary Islands - or whereever. The point is, it was brought here, and the racial issue has yet to be resolved.

2) Andrew Jackson
Our first president on this list. For a couple of reasons.

First, he hated free markets. So he had to destroy the Bank of the United States. To destroy American credit - and create a paradise for small, white American farmers - as was his ideology of his day.

Secondly, he was the first to massively remove millions of Native American's to reservations. Thus, creating a blot on American history. Later, some Indians on "the rez" would get mad, rise up, and demand reparations, or something. And talk about how wonderful things were before Columbus came (which history shows otherwise). And get gambling monopolies, and then try to abuse their power over everyone else.

Finally, he founded a redistributionist organization known as the Democratic Party. Which is the source of most of our problems in America today.

He was a slaveholder, too. But so were most founders. That is nothing more than a character flaw (given the time and historical context, for those of you who are ignorant of history and are shreiking), but at least another reason to make him a bad guy.

3. John Calhoun
Another southerner. Another slavocrat. He was the first to argue that slavery was not some kind of "peculiar institution," but a positive good. And hence, it needs to expand, like anything that is good.

It was his efforts that created the so-called "fire-eaters", who helped fuel the flames of the Civil War.

4. Charles Sumner
While I have bashed southern slaveholders, it's now the time to bash the other side - the militant abolishinists.

Charles Sumner, Senator from Massachussets, was as big a jackass as the previous two. He helped lead to the disputes in Congress that made any business impossible - and lead to the Civil War.

He and his partner in crime, Thaddeus Stevens, then decided to punish the "traitors'." Never mind that the south was completely destroyed, and Lincoln called for a more concilitory peace. As such, he made southerners very resentful - and they still remember the Civil War. They also sought revenge by going after freed African Americans, denying them civil rights.

Also, by doing such, he helped to make sure the southern economy did not recover for a very, very long time - leading to the populists.

In the 1850's, a militant fire-eater (and a Congressman, too) nearly cracked open his head with a rubber cane. American would have benefited had it been a wooden (or iron) cane - or if that fire-eater had been stronger.

5. Nathaniel Bedford Forrest
Founded the Klan. We all know it's bad. While merely annoying today, it was pretty threatening in the 1870's - and the 1920's.

Not only was he in it for the revenge, but he truly hated blacks - which is what one would expect from a former slave trader. Unlike Robert E Lee, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, he was not one of the honorable men that the Confederacy produced in large numbers, but truly a jackass.

6. "Wild Bill" Cody.
What is he doing on this list?

For those of you who do not know, Wild Bill Cody pioneered the Wild West shows. Which appear innocous enough, right?

Well, no. He was the first who made entertainment not frivolity, but a virtue. As such, with the advent of Hollywood around the time of his death, it would gradually eat away at America's civil society framework. Rather than be devoted to what Robert Putnam called "social capital" activities, like running neighborhood committies, or charity groups, Americans would not "have time" for this. Because their time was devoted to frivolous activites - err, entertainment. So something had to fill the gap - big government. And big taxes. And since individuals do a much better job at determining charitable need than some bureaucrat, those in need would be less able to pull out of their situation.

Also, entertainment would lead to a dumbing down of America's intellect. The decline in education did not start in the 1960's, it started in the 1910's, when entertainment set different expectations. As such, people would be highly schooled, not highly educated (as Russell Kirk would put it)

Quite a bit for a man who played cowboys and indians, huh?

7. "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman
He was governer of South Carolina, then Senator. Pledged to poke the "Old bag of beef" (President Grover Cleveland) in the ribs with a pitchfork.

He started out as a populist who wanted to use essentially redistributionist schemes to bail out poor whites. When he found that was not possible, he turned to something easier to do - racial hatred. Of course, he was an uber-bigot, and truly, really hated black people. He was alleged to be a member of a group of people who massacred black Republicans in 1876 (of course there are people who wish to massacre Republicans today, but that is another story for another time). His hatred was such that, when the debate over Phillippean annexation came to the Senate floor, he opposed annexation, not because imperialism is bad, but because it would be very easy for a group of non-white people to enter the US. And he said that he did the best to prevent African Americans from voting, including shooting them (and yes, this is from his own words).

After the civil war, while the south was not an ideal place for African Americans, Jim Crow certainly was minimal. It was he who replaced left-wing rhetoric with aparthied. And he made southern politicians obsessed with race for three generations.

8. William Jennings Bryan
He attempted to become President three times - and fortunately failed. Never held office since his 33rd birthday - but he became much, much more influential after that.

He was the man who turned the Democrat party away from a free trade party, into a redistributionist, big government, interest group. He did this thru a speech, the "Cross of Gold" speech. He wanted to inflate the currency. That failed, he pushed for anti-imperialism. That failed, some other Democrats decided to pick someone who could actually get elected, and elected Wilson.

So he became Secretary of State - since he was the only one who "qualified". He was dogmatically pacifist, so was in no position to prevent WWI. He was our worst ever Secretary of State. Wilson helped to make up for it, a bit, by appointed J. Mitchell Palmer as Attorney General (our best Attorney General ever), but that still doesn't make up for Bryant's damages.

He pushed for many bad, bad ideas, like nationalization of industries, prohibition, and other nutty schemes. He also was a creationist, and humiliated others of his stripe in the "Scopes Monkey" Trial.

9. Mary Hunt
The first women here. She was a leader in the Women's Christian Temperance Union. If you don't know what "temperance" is, here is a clue - prohibition.

She pushed for the criminilization of alcohol. Which succeeded. Prohibition lead to many more problems that it solved, such as the birth of organized crime. And a disdain for the law, too. America never recovered from Prohibition.

10. Teddy Roosevelt.
Our second President on this list. So why him?

Do you like big government? Then you will not agree. However, if you do not, you will understand.

Teddy Roosevelt was a man of action, who didn't like to be bothered by inconvient details. Like the cost of big government. It was he who led government from a passive mode to an activist mode. To be activist, it needed to grow. And grow it has done over the past 100 years.

The president most like him is William Jefferson Clinton.

This was the essense of the so-called Progressive movement. When you want to point your finger at who is responsible for unnecessary goverment, point to him.

11. Woodrow Wilson
Our third President on this list. Why is he mentioned here?

First, he made Jim Crow national policy. Which of course is bad. But there is more.

He pushed for a "League of Nations." Rather than have a peace modeled after that of Vienna 1815, which was more successful. He was so obsessed with this, that he essentially threw Germany to the dogs, leading to Hitler. And the League of Nations led to the United Nations, an Orwellian Parliament (which fortunately has yet to succeed in implementing much policy).

12. Herbert Hoover.
Another President on this list. For obvious reasons.

He probably let a recession become the Great Depression. By trying to "keep up prosperity." Many historians sympathize with him, stating he did what he could to avoid a Depression. The case may be more like he did what was possible to worsen the Depression, by inflating the economy (when not possible) and by signing Smoot-Hawley. His New Deal threw good money after bad.

He set the stage for the real New Deal. And he discredited "capitalism". It would take a long time before market economies would regain the lustre they had before the Depression.

13. Gerald Ford
Oh no! Not another President! But I list him not for acts he did in the Oval Office (and, no, what Bill Clinton literally did there does not have much effect on our history - you perverted sickos. In any case, I don't know if any women would want to sleep with him, even if he were President). Instead, of shameful things he did in his 20's.
Instead, he was a founder of America First. The organization devoted to keeping America out of any future war.
Had America entered earlier, Hitler would have been kicked off his keister before killing millions more. And probably no cold war would have happened.
Of course he was an incompetent President. But that is not enough to land someone on this list. Doing things leading to the death of millions does.

14. Rachel Carson
She was a woman who essentially founded the environmental movement (although a book I am reading about influential books does not list her, partly because the author wants to lists lots of feminists in the hopes of bagging more chicks. Another story for another time).

She was hysterical because DDT was, like, destroying wildlife, or something. I don't know. In any case, this led to a massive exaggeration of every single enviromental problem, such as the questionable dogman - er, law - that man is 120% responsible for all global warming whatsoever.

Sure, freeway litter got picked up, city air is somewhat cleaner, and waterways are no longer being set on fire. But there were much greater costs. Like environmental terroist groups, kooky theories that must automatically be accepted without any academic debate whatsoever (i.e., global warming), and, the banning of DDT.

I know a bit about these products, having used them. Well, I can't use DDT, of course, as Home Depot does not sell it by the concentrate-quart. But here is what happened.

Quite simply, many an animal developed a resistance to DDT. So higher concentrations were developed (like is being done for RoundUp today, for example). RATHER THAN develop alternatives to DDT, to be used in alternating years, they kept strenghening the dose. And then bird and bees and other creatures got sick. So DDT got banned, mosquitoes around the world had a hey-day, and feasted on humans. Which explains the huge malarial outbreaks throughout the turd world.

I have a solution, which should at least be considered. The USDA can put out bulletins as to the "chemical of the year" to be used. Most farmers, nursuries, etc comply. The USDA can work with other agricultural agencies - and NGO's, too - to pick the lucky chemical. Not everyone will comply, but most will. As such, the various critters who develop somewhat of a resistance may pass it on to their offspring - but the next generation has a weakened version of this resistance, and by the time that chemical comes around again, the resistance will be negligible or gone altogether.

Enough of the science talk. What I indicate here is that someone with a paranoid mindset managed to create the modern environmental movement, which has led to massive problems that are with us today - and cannot be solved.

15. Elijah Muhammed.
He founded the Nation of Islam. At a time when black-white relations were beginning to thaw, he introduced hatred of whitey, that some whites have currently adopted (an example of useful idiots). As a result, many in the African American community now harbor views of whitey that mirror those, exactly, of the old segregationists.

As a result of what he did, he made it more difficult for many African American to enter the mainstream, and whenever someone like Bill Crosby denounces one of these thugs, he gets denounced as a "Tom". Which is too bad, in that African Americans may lose their status soon as America's chief victim - to Hispanics. Much to their detriment.

16. Lynden Johnson.
A double whammy. First, he created the Great Society, to whom much of the blame - err, credit - goes. As such, while government was merely big before his term of office, it got to the out-of- control status after his term of office. So much so, in fact, that the executive could no longer control the executive branch - and often, limbs in the executive branch fued with one another.

And he let Vietnam get out of control. Leading to protests in the streets, and the spoiled brats threatening revolution. It was Vietnam that introduced them to far left ideologies, which were cleansed of their communist elan and repackaged as something else. They then took over the culture.

Finally, his hyperactivity in these two areas led to massive inflation that did not calm down until the 1980's. But that is merely a minor point, compared to the other two.

17. The Chicago Seven.
I can't name them. All I can say is that the leaders of the New Left invaded our cultural institutions and flipped everything on it's head. Such that common sense was made to be alien, that that which is poisonous because virtuous.

They were the "1960's" collectively. And America never recovered from the "1960's" and probably never will.

18. Daniel Ellesburg.
He was disenchanted from the Vietnam War. So he became interested in "peace". Whicd let him to steal documents. then get them published, "The Pentagon Papers". Eventually, leading to Nixon's paronia, leading to Watergate, leading to Carter, and intelligence restrictions (that led to 9-11), and also leading to Jimmy Carter. Also, leading to 1/4 of Cambodia being slaughtered, as well as millions of other Indochinese. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr, once alluded to the fact that "hard headed peace lovers" are more effective in creating/maintaining peace than "soft-headed pacifists." Daniel Ellesburg certainly proves his point.

The only other villian still alive - at the cost of several millions of deaths. How he can sleep at night, I do not know.

These are the villians before I was born. I have written that one really isn't qualified to make historical judgements on events that are your contemporary. But I will give a couple of honorable mentions, who I think will make future lists:

1) Frank Church (responsible for all those intelligence barriers leading to 9-11)
2) Jimmy Carter (a terribly incompetent President, leading to the Iranian revolution, and all those problems in the Middle East we face today)

There are a few not mentioned here, either. Alger Hiss, while bad, did eventually lead to the purging of communists in American government. Also lead to the complete discrediting of communism in this country (it was not completed discredited in 1945). And the damage he did was really not that much. The Rosenburgs, while traitors, only speeded up something that would happened eventually (the Soviets getting nukes). And the two Wallace candidacies (1948 and 1968) did not lead to any long-term damage in American society. Instead, their movements fizzled out shortly after their candicies did.

Speaking of the latter Wallace, his successor in his party's nomination was John Schmidt - one who really didn't give a rat's ass about race, increasing his appeal amongst young conservatives. He was a Bircher who ran against Nixon in 1972, and got a million protest votes (from right-ringers who knew Nixon was going to humiliate McGovern anyway; I probably would have voted for him in 1972). Later was about the only person kicked out of the John Birch Society for making stupid comments (which has to be quite a feat, given they are a shade away from being the Republican version of the LaRouch PAC). In any case, he was the father of Mary Kay LeTournou - that hot teacher who had sex with a former student. Thus, he literally gave us her, also. But, this really did not lead to an epidemic of this type of activity, so no long-term damage is here, either.

And speaking of California, neither does Jacko make this list. That is because his influence today is only over about 100 losers - er, "fans". All of whom have no influence whatsoever.

Ok, I'm getting off topic. In any case, I thought it was about time someone who knows something about history make a list of bad guys, so here you go.