Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Periodic Presidents 8: Idealistic Presidents
With Column 8 of the Periodic Table, we head now into the Third Turning, a feel-good time which also features the decay to some extent of societal institutions. The three Presidents in this column, James Knox Polk, Woodrow Wilson, and Ronald Reagan, are the Archetypal Presidents of a Third Turning, and in general they presented ideas or feelings that helped the individual feel good about himself or society; for this reason, all three were popular with the people, and they also are regarded as some of our better Presidents, except maybe Reagan because of scandals. The decay of society is a negative feature of this time, however, and in fact when an Idealistic President is in the White House, a major crisis for this country is coming in 10-20 years.
James Knox Polk made early Americans feel good because he supported the concept of Manifest Destiny at the time, in which America felt destined to go from Atlantic to Pacific and there is enough resources and land for everyone. Texas became a state during his administration, triggering a one-sided war with Mexico which resulted in even more territory being added to America. Polk negotiated with the British over Oregon and settled for 49 degrees, even though his campaign slogan was "54d 40" or fight!" He took the South's side more often than not, but he tried to walk the increasingly tight rope between North and South.
Woodrow Wilson was a college professor by trade. He became President because of a Republican split between Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. Confronted with a major world war, he strived to keep us out of it. When America was offended enough so that it wanted to go to war, Wilson did what was necessary to send the men over there, win the war, and bring them home. He strove afterwards to achieve a world without war safe for democracy, with ideas such as a League of Nations. However, America voted not to join the league, and Wilson's advice was ignored. It was nice to think about, but it would not work in that world, which was destined to explode twenty years later.
Ronald Reagan opened up his Presidency with the slogan, "Are you better off now than four years ago?" He made Americans feel better off by cutting taxes and by saying this was the Morning of America. Of course it was late afternoon instead, but at least he had people feeling good about the country, and they responded with a huge prosperity that lasted in some form until the dot-com bust of 2000. He recently died, and his burial was in an appropriate place and time, in the West at sunset.
Next are the "Laid-back" Presidents, an interlude to the later Turning.
Incidentally, someone else got the same idea as I had… a periodic table of the presidents. This one seems to be more humorous, and there does not seem to be much rhyme or reason to this table. It is interesting that some of the Presidential elements fall in the right place - Franklin Roosevelt (Fr) is in the same place as Francium (Fr) is in the real chemical table. The author of this table has us going off into a rare-earth series - how symbolic. Many resources, including oil, are indeed becoming rare on earth.
James Knox Polk made early Americans feel good because he supported the concept of Manifest Destiny at the time, in which America felt destined to go from Atlantic to Pacific and there is enough resources and land for everyone. Texas became a state during his administration, triggering a one-sided war with Mexico which resulted in even more territory being added to America. Polk negotiated with the British over Oregon and settled for 49 degrees, even though his campaign slogan was "54d 40" or fight!" He took the South's side more often than not, but he tried to walk the increasingly tight rope between North and South.
Woodrow Wilson was a college professor by trade. He became President because of a Republican split between Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. Confronted with a major world war, he strived to keep us out of it. When America was offended enough so that it wanted to go to war, Wilson did what was necessary to send the men over there, win the war, and bring them home. He strove afterwards to achieve a world without war safe for democracy, with ideas such as a League of Nations. However, America voted not to join the league, and Wilson's advice was ignored. It was nice to think about, but it would not work in that world, which was destined to explode twenty years later.
Ronald Reagan opened up his Presidency with the slogan, "Are you better off now than four years ago?" He made Americans feel better off by cutting taxes and by saying this was the Morning of America. Of course it was late afternoon instead, but at least he had people feeling good about the country, and they responded with a huge prosperity that lasted in some form until the dot-com bust of 2000. He recently died, and his burial was in an appropriate place and time, in the West at sunset.
Next are the "Laid-back" Presidents, an interlude to the later Turning.
Incidentally, someone else got the same idea as I had… a periodic table of the presidents. This one seems to be more humorous, and there does not seem to be much rhyme or reason to this table. It is interesting that some of the Presidential elements fall in the right place - Franklin Roosevelt (Fr) is in the same place as Francium (Fr) is in the real chemical table. The author of this table has us going off into a rare-earth series - how symbolic. Many resources, including oil, are indeed becoming rare on earth.
