Greatest American?

Did any of you all vote in the Greatest American contest?

http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican

I voted for Thomas Edison. Then I also voted for Albert Einstein. You can vote for up to three. (So for instance, you can vote for George W. Bush AND Ronald Reagan AND Billy Graham -- they are all in the final 25.)

I wasn't sure about Einstein, because he wasn't really an American (born in Germany). But then I thought, well, what has made America great is all the people who came here from all over the World, each with their own unique contribution. So maybe choosing an immigrant who became a naturalized citizen late in life is the most appropriate choice after all. Einstein singlehandedly brought about a complete revolution in our understanding of the physical principles upon which the universe is organized. So that's pretty big -- maybe even bigger than Bob Hope.

Mathman

and why did no one nominate me? LOL

hmmmmmm I will have to see who is left to vote for...

Wow, there are some terrible choices on that list. Clinton, Bush and Oprah shouldn't be anywhere near that list.

Oh well, it reminds me of the list for the Greatest Canadian from last year. There were some crappy choices there as well.

mike79 said:

Oh well, it reminds me of the list for the Greatest Canadian from last year. There were some crappy choices there as well.

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Who won?

Oprah Winfrey? Lance Armstrong? They couldn't find anyone more worthy in all of American history? No woman in history was more important than these two people??? :sheesh:

I had a hard time choosing. I was looking for people whose contribution was so unique that it was more than a coincidence of history and timing. I, therefore, selected Abraham Lincoln over George Washington and Thomas Jefferson--but I really had to think about that. Not to belittle Washington, but if he hadn't been our first president, someone else would have been. I realize that's a major oversimplification of his contribution. On the other hand, the decisions Lincoln made were truly made at the forks in the road of history, thus greatly determining its course. The myth of JFK is greater than his actual successes as a President. Same goes for FDR. As for Neil Armstrong and the Wright Brothers, well, someone else could have taken that first step on the moon, and I believe that the course of aviation would have been altered around the same time because others were close behind with their experiments in flight. I came down to Edison and Einstein and could have selected both easily (but chose Edison), but I wanted to include ML King because by sheer force of his personality and determination, he altered the course of history for the better.

Mathman said:

Did any of you all vote in the Greatest American contest?

http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican

I voted for Thomas Edison. Then I also voted for Albert Einstein. You can vote for up to three. (So for instance, you can vote for George W. Bush AND Ronald Reagan AND Billy Graham -- they are all in the final 25.)

Mathman

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So who was your 3rd choice?

RealtorGal said:

So who was your 3rd choice?

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Thomas Jefferson. I thought, in the founding fathers/politicians category that Jefferson contributed the most ideas of lasting value.

So it's down to the final five now: Benjamin Franklin (I kind of like this choice, actually. In the true American spirit he was a jack of all trades, master of none), Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and George Washington.

So for instance, you can vote for George W. Bush AND Ronald Reagan

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Piel said:

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uh oh... Piel's having some sort of attack breathe hun, breathe

just so you know I didn't vote for BOTH Bush and Reagan...

but I did vote Regan, Washington, and Lincoln for the top 5 round

Martin Luther King

mike79 said:

Oh well, it reminds me of the list for the Greatest Canadian from last year. There were some crappy choices there as well.

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Don Cherry tenth greatest Canadian? kill me now

I'm sorry but who in their right mind is up in arms about oprah being on the list? How is that possibly less appropriate than having Michael Jackson on there? Lets see...she is a successful icon, role model, philanthropist and advocate... he on the other hand is possibly not from our planet.

I heart Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

RealtorGal said:

Who won?

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Tommy Douglas, the man who Canadians consider to be our 'Father of Medicare', i.e. our universal healthcare system. He was a pretty good selection, as was Terry Fox who came second.

Mathman said:

So it's down to the final five now: Benjamin Franklin (I kind of like this choice, actually. In the true American spirit he was a jack of all trades, master of none), Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan and George Washington.

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I like all the choices except for Reagan. I don't think he belongs in that group. I think there are too many presidents in the list, but if there had to be a third president I'd pick Kennedy. I'm surprised that Edison didn't make the list. I would've chosen him.

I'm trying to decide between MLK and Abe. Both were leaders under a time of great duress in our nation - both continuing battles related to civil rights and both coming from poor backgrounds. In some sense, Abe's battle wasn't just about civil liberties for all - a lot had to do with states' rights and the emancipation proclamation was partially about rallying the blacks to fight for the union - IMHO. Both may have had greater impact with their deaths - impossible to tell since they didn't get to lead the rest of the way.

Reagan may have helped the downfall of communism, but I think it would have fallen eventually. If anything, it may have happened slower, which may have actually ended up easing the break up of the USSR.

As someone else mentioned, George Washington was one of several founding fathers and just happened to become our 1st president. If I recall correctly, other presidents also signed the Declaration of Independence and served in a governing position.

Ben Franklin was also a great man and of importance in history. I just don't feel that he was as strong an image of leadership as the others.

It's very interesting that Americans seem to associate greatness with leadership. The only scientist in the final 5 is Franklin; and even he, I believe, was chosen for his participation in politics rather than his scientific and social achievements. Yet this was the man was invented a cast iron stove, bifocals, and the lightning rod. He was also instrumental in bringing services to communities (fire company, library, insurance company, academy, hospital).

RealtorGal said:

Not to belittle Washington, but if he hadn't been our first president, someone else would have been. I realize that's a major oversimplification of his contribution.

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Had Washington not been the first president, there may not have been a second. We take the success of the American experiment for granted, but throughout both of Washington's terms, there were fears that there could be a civil war, as well as war with Britain and France, whose government, after the revolution, was in a constant state of flux and whose ships were pirating US ships. There was little manufacturing in the US, which was still dependent on Britain for most goods, at disadvantageous trade terms. The Constitution was approved by New York kicking and screaming, as the state, a Tory stronghold during the Revolution, gave up much economic advantage by joining the union. The war debt was still scattered among the states, with the regions that bore the brunt of the fighting left with the greatest proportion of debt.

Washington was a centrist and a proponent of strong federal government, which made him a pariah among his almost uniformly anti-Federalist Virginia neighbors. He was in essential agreement with Alexander Hamilton, who, as Secretary of the Treasury, with Washington's support, established a national bank, fought for assumption -- the consolidation of state war debt into an amortized federal debt -- created a tax system to reduce the debt, and masterminded the much hated tax inspection force to impose tarriffs.

Political rifts, soon to form into factions and then formal parties, were already present at the beginning of the US. Newspapers in support of both parties were vicious and libelous in their characterizations of their opponents. Hamilton and Madison, who, along with John Jay, wrote the Federalist Papers in support of a strong federal government, split politically as soon as that power began to be exercised, and Madison, the original behind-the-scenes congressional force, became a fierce opponent of federalism. Plus, until an amendment changed this, the vice president was the person with the second highest number of votes, and could be a political opponent of the President.

Washington was such a unanimous figure, that it was political death to oppose him. There wasn't another figure who didn't polarize the country politically, at least explicitly.

I'm with hockey fan. Because Washington was our first president, we've had 2 centuries of constitutional rule. Because he was the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, we held on long enough to be free from Great Britain. Washington was not one of our great orators or great writers or philosophers, but he was the epitome of a great leader -- he worked quietly and efficiently to build consensus, as a general and as president of the constitutional assembly and first president under that constitution. He could have become a king or emporer. He could have become a very rich dictator. He could have set many bad precedents as our first president. He didn't. HE is the model our best leaders try to emulate. He is the original "let-George-do-it" George!

I thought that Abraham Lincoln had made a great contribution to American history. I was going to vote for him, but I didn't get a chance to get the phone number to vote. He was also the first Republican and he tried to stop slavery. I really respect him a lot. When are the results being aired, or have they already aired?