An interesting thought

Submitted by Peter Herz (United States), Feb 18, 2012 at 09:33

Jacques, we in the United States haven't done to badly with former military men in power. George Washington was the guy who set a long-standing precedent that no president would serve more than two terms, partly out of his fear that he would come to be seen as the "indispensable" man in American politics. This precedent was not broken until the genial, noblesse-obligee Franklin Roosevelt, whose policies helped prolong the Great Depression. Eisenhower was the last to preside over real prosperity in our country. Granted, Grant's administration was corrupt, and Zeke Taylor died within his first year in office.

Also, throughout most of its history, China has seen dynasties that were founded by men on horseback, including the Tang, which was an era of cultural brilliance. Mao himself was simply a successful warlord who bamboozled a Leftist intelligentsia into supporting him (and probably he did China a great service by killing them off once he was in power). But, then again, the Chinese also say that if you're successful, you're a king; and if a failure, a bandit.

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