BEST Leaders

[Mike the Progressive]

Wasn't Ronald Reagan governor of California?

[Wamitoria]

Wasn't Ronald Reagan governor of California?

Yes.

[Chan Huix]

Ronald Reagan

Isn't that how it is?

[Verdeguay]

(Image)

Not quite accurate. The U.S. didn't recognize the government of the ROC anymore, and Reagan had pretty good relations with the PRC.

[Mike the Progressive]

Jimmy Carter. I mean his re-election says it all.

In all seriousness, probably Richard Nixon, at least one of the better presidents in the last 50-60 years. Clinton wasn't bad and neither was Kennedy or Truman.

[New Kereptica]

Brock is my favourite Leader.

[Olthar]

Brock is my favourite Leader.

Brock? Nah, he sucks. I mean, he's only got two Pokémon. What kind of a leader only has two Pokémon?

[Mike the Progressive]

Brock is my favourite Leader.

Brock? Nah, he sucks. I mean, he's only got two Pokémon. What kind of a leader only has two Pokémon?

Gotta catch them all, Pok-e-mon!

God, I use to play that in 5th grade, also use to sell packets at church.

[Nova Caeli]

Ron Paul all the way!
Paul for 2012!

[Wamitoria]

Ron Paul all the way!
Paul for 2012!

He's 75. That's too old.

[Nova Caeli]

He's 75? damn we need a new libertarian and please dont mention his son he really is a sellout to the mainstream Republican Party. I am guessing its going to be Rons last run for election then Rand is going to take his place.

[Worvland]

Gandhi, George Washington, Elizabeth I, and Thomas Jefferson, in my humble opinion.

[The Chelbrusitan]

Ronald Reagan

I have a counter:



You can see it closer here for full effect...: http://snappedshot.com/turbo/1026-World ... Obama.html

[Occupied Deutschland]

He's 75? damn we need a new libertarian and please dont mention his son he really is a sellout to the mainstream Republican Party. I am guessing its going to be Rons last run for election then Rand is going to take his place.

Ayn Rand is still alive?

[Conserative Morality]

Coolidge, Vespasian, TR, Napoleon, Mansa Musa, Kublai Khan, Genghis Khan, Augustus, and Otto Von Bismarck. Yes, I know I'm all over the map here.

Ayn Rand is still alive?

Yes, she finally perfected her perpetual motion machine and has come back from the grave to lead the fight against the government.

Or something like that.

[Ragnarsdomr]

Churchill, Vlad Tepes, Trudeau, and Danny Williams are my top four, personally. And coming in at number five as a ompletely fictional character is...



Lord Castellan Usarkar Creed.

Because only a tactical genius of superlative skill could have caused his own existence through the dominance of the British Empire and therefore the creation of Games Workshop.

[The Electronic Future]

Gandhi, FDR, MLK, Fredrick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Salvador Allende, Mozi, Confucious, etc. etc.

[Laerod]

You should read up on the guy so you can see just how wrong you are.

No, seriously. You didn't even manage to spell his name right, which is below par even for this thread.

[Georgism]

Attlee, Ashoka the Great, Gladstone.

Ignoring the various others because I can't be arsed to write them out.

[New Kereptica]

he really is a sellout to the mainstream Republican Party

i liked rand before he was popular

when he had integrity

[Georgism]

i liked rand before he was popular

when he had integrity

I saw him with, like, 10 other people, man.

[Occupied Deutschland]

i liked rand before he was popular

when he had integrity

I saw him with, like, 10 other people, man.

My god, indy politics

[Risottia]

YAY! I make mods cry! I'M POWERFUL!!!

(poor Arch... I'm joking )

Dunno, Gladstone seemed a bit less effective in enacting his policies - from what I remember since... uhh... the last history class I took. That is in 1995.

I may be biased because I'm currently writing a book chapter about the archaeology of Gladstonian Britain, but I'd argue that while both Disraeli and Gladstone were substantive figures, Gladstone was the single most substantive British politician of the Victorian era. His extraordinary series of accomplishments and reforms in his period of high power from 1859-1874, first as Chancellor of the Exchequer, then as Prime Minister, arguably make him the most substantive Western European politician of his day; yes, ahead of Bismarck. His second term as Prime Minister from 1880-1885, while not as effective as his first, still featured a record of reform that would be honourable by any other standard (not least of which was the Married Women's Property Act of 1882, which gave married women both separate property rights and legal recognition as individuals for the first time). Only his short third premiership in 1886 and final premiership in 1892-94 - both dominated by the issue of Irish Home Rule - were relative failures.

The most important difference between Disraeli and Gladstone is that where Disraeli more often than not enacted policies (many of them admittedly good ones) solely out of cynical political calculation, Gladstone was a conviction politician (though not always a consistent one). No wonder they hated each other; Disraeli saw Gladstone as a priggish hypocrite, and Gladstone saw Disraeli as an unprincipled opportunist. I don't know... maybe you're more used to the latter in Italy? Stern Victorian High Anglican moralist politicians of deep personal principle are out of fashion in this more cynical age, but I'd still choose Gladstone over Disraeli any day.

Gladstone's greatest failure was his inability to pass Irish Home Rule through the Conservative-dominated House of Lords. But that the Lords defeated him over the issue that dominated the last decade of his extraordinary political career didn't make him any less right as regards the policies he wanted to enact over Ireland.

Edit:

With help from both Wiki and the Roy Jenkins biography of Gladstone, I offer a brief list of just some of his domestic accomplishments in his first two terms as Prime Minister - which excludes his equally successful period as Chancellor (and note that from 1882-1885, he was both Prime Minister and Chancellor):

- Disestablishment of the minority Protestant Church of Ireland (1868)
- Introduction of national system of public education (1870)
- Introduction of the secret ballot for local and national elections (1872)
- Establishment of the High Court and Court of Appeal (1873)
- Gradual enactment of the Cardwell Reforms to the British armed forces, which - among other things - ended flogging and the sale of commissions
- Granting of property and legal rights to married women (1882)
- Series of additional electoral reforms to stamp out corruption and grant the counties [rural areas] the same rights as the boroughs [towns and cities] (1883-1884)

Really, Arch. You know how to rekindle my interest about British history (which is often a bit dull if compared to the amount of sex and violence we get on the continent!)

Disraeli saw Gladstone as a priggish hypocrite, and Gladstone saw Disraeli as an unprincipled opportunist. I don't know... maybe you're more used to the latter in Italy?

Well, no. In Italy we're used to politicians who are both. Hypocrites AND opportunists at the same time, generally. So we've given up hope and we at least look for a bit of efficiency. Maybe that's why my preferences went to Disraeli.

[Snablast]

LENIN

[Pantera]

Well in no particular order:
Otto von Bismarck
Margaret Thatcher
Winston Churchill
Oda Nobunaga
Tokugawa Ieyasu
FDR
Gaius Julius Caesar
Duke of Wellington
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Without Thatcher and Ghandi, this would be pretty much my own list.

Put in Metternich and Alexander Romanov.