Ranking America’s Presidents: The “Punters”

In opening post for this series I indicated what I would use as the two fundamental yardsticks for the ranking of presidents. The first was foreign policy, with principled national self-interest as the ideal and standard of measurement. The second was domestic policy, with respect for the individual’s rights to life, liberty, property, and the [...]

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Ranking the Founding Presidents

In tackling the question of presidential rankings for just the Founding presidents I came to realize what an incredibly difficult thing it is to sort out even this small group, let alone all forty-three presidents so far.  With this group, the act of putting one person above another feels like an injustice to the one [...]

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America’s Presidents: Introducing The Powell History Rankings

Everybody has fun with this one, so I decided to try to come up with a complete set of Powell History rankings for America’s Presidents so far, not including Obama.  (I know where I expect him to end up, but I’ll let him prove me right over time.)
Coming up with a complete set of rankings [...]

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The Powell History Person of the Year (2008)

Does getting yourself elected the president of the most important country in the world during a wave of world-wide economic upheavals and in an era of myriad international political crises make you the “Person of the Year”–considering in addition that you are the first black president in that same country, which has an otherwise incomparably [...]

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Columbus and Isabella

I wish I had had time for all the posts I had planned for Columbus Week at Powell History, but these past months of teaching–I’m finally off for Christmas break!–have been wonderfully draining. Only now have I found the time to write about a wonderful new find I made.
Recently, I discovered a fascinating painting by [...]

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Imagine the Moment! (Columbus’s Discovery of America)

…Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,
And peered through darkness.
Ah, that night Of all dark nights!
And then a speck –
A light! a light! a light! a light!
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!
It grew to be Time’s burst of dawn.
He gained a world; he gave that world
Its grandest lesson: “On! sail on.”
–Columbus, by Joachin Miller
The [...]

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A Tribute to Columbus

The following is a passage from Ayn Rand’s novel The Fountainhead.  Although it does not contain any plot spoilers, I still think it advisable to warn readers that it is a very significant passage from a book every person in America should read for themselves.  I quote this passage because it fits the case of [...]

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Columbus Week Returns to Powell History!

Welcome to the second annual celebration of Columbus Week at Powell History!

Columbus Week? Yes. When Ayn Rand was asked “Why do you use the word ’selfishness’ to denote virtuous qualities of character, when that word antagonizes so many people to whom it does not mean the things you mean?” she answered, “For the [...]

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Is the Only Answer Not to Vote?

Like so many people, I have thought over the coming election and studied the field of candidates. As a result of my analysis of the coming vote and especially of its historical significance, I have tentatively switched to the “None of the Above” camp.
I get the sense that most people like myself who believe [...]

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The United States and the New Feudalism (Part 1)

In returning to the history of Saudi Arabia in preparation for my recent lecture on the Islamist Entanglement and struggling to define the precise relationship between the United States and its so-called ally, it finally struck me what the two countries have colluded in creating. In essence the United States has adopted a feudal relationship [...]

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