Categories
FYI

Numbering the Presidents

The re-​election of an out-​of-​office president, for the second time, brings to mind an oddity of the convention of the ordinal numbering of the United States Presidents — those under the Constitution.

George Washington was the first; John Adams the second, and so on the list runs until we get to the curious case of one man, Stephen Grover Cleveland, who is regarded as both the 22nd & 24th presidents. All because the 23rd president, Benjamin Harrison, served between his two presidencies.

Now it is happening to Donald John Trump. He is listed as the 45th president of the United States, having served from 2017 through January of 2021. Now, re-​elected after an “interregnum” of the 46th president, Joe Biden, Trump is slated to serve as the 47th president. 

It is apparent that, according to this convention, what is being ordered with numbers is the presidencies, not the presidents as such. And it is assumed that a second (or third, or fourth) term in office is the same presidency as the first term of a president, unless broken in sequence by the term of another president.

An odd convention.

Categories
Thought

Aristotle

ἔστιν ἄρα ἡ ἀρετὴ ἕξις προαιρετική, ἐν μεσότητι οὖσα τῇ πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ὡρισμένῃ λόγῳ καὶ ᾧ ἂν ὁ φρόνιμος ὁρίσειεν. μεσότης δὲ δύο κακιῶν, τῆς μὲν καθ᾽ ὑπερβολὴν τῆς δὲ κατ᾽ ἔλλειψιν:

Virtue then is a settled disposition of the mind as regards the choice of actions and feelings, consisting essentially in the observance of the mean relative to us, this being determined by principle, that is, as the prudent man would determine it. And it is a mean state between two vices, one of excess and one of defect. 

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, translated by Harris Rackham. The illustration of the philosopher is a line engraving by P. Fidanza after Raphael Sanzio.

Categories
Today

A First in Washington

The United States Congress held its first session in Washington, D.C., on November 17, 1800.

Categories
Update

The Pass-​Over Was Policy

Last Monday, Paul Jacob covered the brewing story of Federal Emergency Management Agency supervisor Marn’i Washington, who told FEMA workers on the ground in Lake Placid, Florida, not to help households with Trump signs in the yard. Since then we’ve learned more. The problem wasn’t just a rogue supervisor.

The next day, the New York Post offered a juicy headline: “FEMA worker accused of telling staff to skip hurricane-​ravaged Trump homes claims it was common practice: ‘This is not isolated.’”

The Post article relied heavily on an episode of the Roland S. Martin podcast on YouTube:

Her explanation may not be what you have seen reported, however. The idea at FEMA, Ms. Washington says, is a policy of “avoidance and de-​escalation.” The trouble with Trump supporters, FEMA lore has it, is that they tend to be rude or otherwise resistant to FEMA help. So the agency, to avoid conflict, avoids some natural disaster victims as a policy. Washington says she did nothing wrong, or out of the ordinary.

FEMA is a controversial agency within the federal government, with a bad reputation amongst many Americans, not just Trump supporters. That hardly needs verification. Ms. Washington insists that the logs of FEMA workers will justify her claims.

Categories
Thought

Murray N. Rothbard

The culprit solely responsible for inflation, the Federal Reserve, is continually engaged in raising a hue-​and-​cry about “inflation,” for which virtually everyone else in society seems to be responsible. What we are seeing is the old ploy by the robber who starts shouting “Stop, thief!” and runs down the street pointing ahead at others.

Murray N. Rothbard, The Case Against The Fed (1994), as quoted by Douglas French, “The Case Against the Fed: How Do We Eliminate Inflation and the Boom-​Bust Cycle” (FEE, November 1, 1995).
Categories
Today

The Fed Begins

On November 16, 1914, the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States officially opened.