And the results are in! The person DU most wants removed from history is:

[Grave Grumbler]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1119935

It's interesting to see which historic figures are despised the most (at this forum, at least!).  I'm not including obvious joke votes, but am including posts where someone says "+1000" or words to that effect.  Here they are, in order (as of 329 responses).

At #1, the person whose removal from history would benefit humanity more than that of anyone else is:

(drum roll)

Ronald Reagan

The rest:

#2:  Adolph Hitler

#3:  Various members of the Bush family

#4: (tie):  Adam, Constantine, the Apostle Paul
#7: (tie):  Abraham, Milton Friedman
#9: (tie):  Lee Harvey Oswald, Ayn Rand, James Earl Ray, Phyllis Schlafly, Joseph Stalin
#14: (tie):  Dick Cheney, Jesus Christ, Christopher Columbus, Oliver Cromwell, JC Bancroft Davis, Franz Ferdinand, Muhammed, Richard Nixon, Gavrilo Princip, George Washington

Bringing up the rear and fighting it out for 23rd place with a single vote each are:

Edward Bernays, John Wilkes Booth, Johnathan Edwards, Thomas Edison, Alexander Hamilton, Katherine Harris, Rush Limbaugh, Gengis Kahn, the father of the Koch Brothers, Vladimir Lenin, Moses, Thomas Midgley, Grover Norquist, Sarah Palin, Mitchell Palmer, Pol Pot, Maximilien de Robespierre, Joseph Smith, Theodosius, Theophilus of Alexandria, Hong Xiuquan, Mao Zedong

[russspeakeasy]

1. That was fun, thanks.

[coalition_unwilling]

2. Great thread and even the joke responses (My boss, my ex-wife and

others) were great!

Thanks!

[madokie]

3. I have to agree with this

St ronnie fucked us six way to Sunday

[cali]

5. WWII resulted in the deaths of 60 million worldwide

That overshadows st ronnie's horrible record by leaps and bounds. Not in the same ball park.

[madokie]

13. in your opinion that is

But yeah he's not in the same ball park, I agree.
With the policies coming out of st ronnies reign I have to wonder just how many lives were lost world wide

[cali]

15. I'm certainly not defending Ronnie

but more lives have been lost world wide under President Obama than under Reagan and far more were lost under bushco.

[madokie]

32. I'm not so sure of that but I have no way of knowing

due to the fact that many of the policies of the Reagan administration cost many their lives here and abroad. Many in south America alone. Many in our streets here in America also. I guess the numbers of ill and unable to care for themselves here that were turned out into the streets by Reagan when he chose to shut down the mental hospitals pales in comparison but someone has to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves.
Again I'm sure it doesn't compare to Hitler or some of the other nuts throughout history. But yet I cry for those of our own citizens who can't help themselves for what ever reason, those are the ones that concern me the most.

The deal with Hitler is its easy to point to and say where as with Reagan it isn't or wasn't so clear cut

[jonthebru]

36. Hitler was terrible, WWII was terrible.

Don't misinterpret my statement please. But Hitler by starting a World War and the US involvement in said war ended the Depression and stimulated a great amount of scientific research, put Women in the workplace beginning their emergence in our society along with many other things. It is of course an imaginary suggestion but changing Hitler and WWII would change a lot in our current culture... For better and worse.
It happened, we are where we are.

[Dreamer Tatum]

70. American progress, fueled by one Jewish murder at a time.

Shameful.

[Uncle Joe]

42. Hitler must have raised his approval rating with this video.

[Dreamer Tatum]

4. So on average, people would be willing to accept the Holocaust

if Reagan never existed.

Wow.

[cali]

6. wow indeed. and not just the 6 million in the Holocaust but the 60 million who died

in WWII.

Pathetic and ignorant. It doesn't say much for us here.

[sadbear]

11. This wouldn't have been a fun game if everyone stated the obvious.

Of course Hitler is #1. That goes without saying. I suspect this game was really about #2.

[cali]

17. no, Hitler is not #1. And I thought it was an honest question not

a "fun game". I can't imagine it being viewed as such.

[sadbear]

26. Did everyone take this as serious as you?

Wow! And remember, this wasn't about killing someone. It was about keeping someone from ever existing. Is that the same to you? A little thought experiment.

[Posteritatis]

27. Yeah. I was struck by how provincial and myopic the results were. (nt)

[Ganja Ninja]

7. I like to take this opportunity to give dishonorable mention to Rupert Murdock and ...

J Edgar Hoover

[Brother Buzz]

8. Thomas Edison?

Who let the Luddite sneak under the tent?

[Duer 157099]

21. this

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

[white_wolf]

22. Didn't Edison steal all of his ideas from Nikola Telsa?

I'm assuming they just wanted Telsa to get the credit he deserves.

[Brother Buzz]

24. There was an AC DC war....

and Telsa won.

[bongbong]

33. Ideas

Edison stole almost nothing from Tesla. The only possible thing MIGHT be some improvements in Edison DC motor design after Westinghouse started making AC motors.

Tesla fanatics are mostly limited to people who read a lot about him, and whose grasp of electricity is limited to (maybe) being able to write V=IR.

[NYC_SKP]

72. Yes, also screwed Tesla out of an agreed-upon $50,000 fee.

For working on AC for Edison.

[gollygee]

9. Can't imagine Hitler coming in second to Reagan

Maybe it was because people wanted to choose someone who wasn't in your example.

[cali]

12. well that's a good illustration of mindless.

[cali]

10. So DUers are American exceptionalists. How ironic. How sad. How small. How parochial.

[AngryAmish]

18. I was the jerk who said Hong Xiuquan

I suppose I stand by my point. I can see the point of those who said Ghengis Khan - but no Khan, no easy silk road, no world exploration, etc.

[KG]

14. Franz Ferdinand? for what? crime against rock n roll?

[coalition_unwilling]

46. The original post asked not who was the worst malefactor in history but

instead the one person we would like to see removed from history.

I voted for Archduke Ferdinand (and Gavrilo Princip by extension), b/c without Ferdinand's assassination in 1914, there would have been on World War I, no Hilter and World War II and no Holocaust.

But then I saw that someone had indicated Paul of Tarsus which I thought was also pretty fucking astute.

[KG]

49. I was just goofing on the name of a rock band.

[coalition_unwilling]

74. Old fart here, which is probly why I didn't catch the reference. Altho

now that you mention it, seems I have heard of the band FF. Don't know the first thing about them, though. Are they any good?

[hfojvt]

65. I am pretty sure that would not help

Even if there was no Franz Ferdinand, there would still be a Habsburg heir to the Austrian throne.

Removing his assassin would make more sense. But again, removing one guy might not mean that another Serbian crackpot would not try it and succeed.

Maybe if there was some way to go back and ensure that Napoleon won the war of 1812 a whole lot of trouble could be avoided, but that probably would not hinge on just one guy.

[HappyMe]

16. Good grief!

I can't believe that Hitler lost to Raygun!

Wow.

[Archae]

19. I didn't vote in this because of this reason:

Removing just one guy wouldn't affect history, most of the time.

Nazi Germany was far more than just Hitler.
The Nazi party could have easily found another guy to be "Der Fuhrur."

Just look at all those convicted at Nuremburg, and Nazi war criminals still being sought.

Conservatives could have even more easily found someone other than Ronald Reagan.

[cali]

25. Actually, most historians of the period do not believe that

it would have been easy to find another guy to be the Fuhrer. And Hitler wasn't "found". As for those who were convicted at Nuremberg- that does not bolster your argument. Those were people who went along or became true believers or benefited in some substantial way- like the Krupp family.

The same point holds, to a substantial degree, for Reagan. You seem to think that people are wholly interchangeable.

[WI_DEM]

20. So Ronald Reagan was worse than Hitler?

I don't like the man or his policies but I beg to differ.

[liberallibral]

60. I know... So so silly...

And only 1 vote for Chairman Mao (from ME)... Unreal, lol...

But an excellent topic, and very interesting to think about. Well done,

[limpyhobbler]

23. I wonder how different this poll would turn out on a right-wing website.

Who would be their top picks ?

[gollygee]

28. Uhm

Clinton.

[SoCalDem]

54. They would probably say FDR n/t

[gollygee]

59. Oh yeah, I've been hearing a lot of negative talk about FDR

Though when Clinton was president, they were rabid.

[Posteritatis]

29. Swap Reagan for FDR, add Muhammad around the #3 spot, and it'd probably be broadly similar. (nt)

[Lucy Goosey]

30. And now I have a lot of reading to do

Not that I'm complaining, I love reading, but there are a few of these that I am going to have to read up on to find out who they are and/or why they would be chosen here.

This is going to be fun, actually.

[JohnnyRingo]

31. Adam?!... Really? People voted to take Adam out of history?

I'm far from being a theologian, and indeed don't believe in that Adam and Eve fairy tale anyway, but wasn't Eve the sinner in that story?

If Eve hadn't been tempted with that stupid symbolic apple, Adam would have been satisfied with puttering around in the garage for the rest of his life.

[Grave Grumbler]

34. My guess is that not a single person who voted for Adam thinks he actually existed.

They were making the point that the Earth would be better off if humanity didn't exist.

[JohnnyRingo]

38. Perhaps you're right...

But I guess that would be a cynical answer of: "everyone".

That's harsh.

[Grave Grumbler]

43. My response to those who say the Earth would be better off if humans didn't exist:

"Ok. You go first."

[JohnnyRingo]

57. LOL!

I imagine those who pose such a scenario exclude themselves as "one of the good ones" with whom the world is a better place.

Touche'.

[coalition_unwilling]

47. Um, actually, Eve is the hero of that story and Adam just a second-rate passive-aggressive

wuss. Without Eve's partaking of the tree of knowledge, man would still be in an infantile state. Thank God for Eve.

[JohnnyRingo]

64. Yeah, thank God.

I suppose we could spend an endless string of posts debating that point, but after reading the current entry on your blog I figure I'm at a serious disadvantage, and I like to play the odds. LOL.

You're quite the prolific writer.

[coalition_unwilling]

73. Wow, thanks for the plug! I try to cross-post here and on the blog

as much as possible, so both sets of audiences can read my work (such as it is).

Interesting side note: I opened an Ad-Sense account for the blog and, thus far, all my glorious word-smithing has brought me exactly $0.01! I kid you not. Writing is definitely over-rated

[JohnnyRingo]

75. That's a penny more than most people ever made.

I wasn't just trying to flatter you. I went there initially for some background on who I was talking to. After scanning through the first couple paragraphs, I found myself reading intently to find out what happened in the end to someone I don't even know. You turn a nice phrase.

That's quite a gift you have.

[coalition_unwilling]

76. Forgot to mention that I actually consider Adam and Eve co-equal

protagonists of the creation myth (although, as noted, I do retain a soft spot for the oft-maligned Eve

[Posteritatis]

51. My guess is the people going for him were just human extinctionists. (nt)

[kimbutgar]

35. I didn't vote but my first choice was Reagan.

I want to puke when I hear republicans talk how great he was. I remember when he was President and I struggled. My best earning money years were under Clinton. Brought my home also. My Dad used to say he was a terrible actor and an equally terrible President.

[Dreamer Tatum]

37. Your income > 6 million Jewish lives

Hope you at least got a nice TV out of it.

[AngryOldDem]

69. I want to puke, too.

Because I used to directly work with people who were the most harmed by his policies.

But to choose him over HITLER?

Jesus.

[JoePhilly]

39. I voted for the "next GOP President" ... I figure he is already alive, but he's also not Mitt.

[Bragi]

40. Good thread, embarrassing result

Imaginary Fox headline:

"Leftie Dems prefer Hitler to Reagan"

Yikes.

[onenote]

41. +1

[BOG PERSON]

44. robespierre ???

what the heck ??? did i stumble into monarchist underground ??

[coalition_unwilling]

48. Um, judging from the tumultuous response to Oliver Cromwell, I would

Last edited Mon Aug 13, 2012, 05:20 PM - Edit history (1)

have to reluctantly say "yes." The Cromwellian detractors forget exactly what Cromwell did before Ireland. Oh well.

[BOG PERSON]

62. tbh every person i know w/ irish ancestry

thinks of cromwell as the sperm of satan. i figure that's why cromwell is on the list.

[Posteritatis]

53. I'm okay with anyone responsible for terms like "reign of terror" being unpopular. (nt)

[BOG PERSON]

58. "the ever memorable and blessed Revolution,

which swept a thousand years of such villainy away in one swift tidal-wave of blood — one: a settlement of that hoary debt in the proportion of half a drop of blood for each hogshead of it that had been pressed by slow tortures out of that people in the weary stretch of ten centuries of wrong and shame and misery the like of which was not to be mated but in hell. There were two “Reigns of Terror,” if we would but remember it and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passion, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon ten thousand persons, the other upon a hundred millions; but our shudders are all for the “horrors” of the minor Terror, the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe, compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty, and heart-break? What is swift death by lightning compared with death by slow fire at the stake? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief Terror which we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror — that unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves." - Mark Twain

[RandiFan1290]

45. I must be a terrible human being.

How can I go on? I didn't vote for anyone in Grave Grumbler's stupid poll.

All the deaths and suffering I have caused. I am a monster! Look away!

[NYC_SKP]

50. I'm glad to see that AssHole Thomas Edison up there.

That Fuck Cake was the poster child for crooked business practices and taking credit for other peoples' ideas.

I shit on his grave.

[Dreamer Tatum]

52. Seething hatred of Thomas Edison...

...it's becoming an epidemic!

[NYC_SKP]

61. Edison Electrocuted Topsy the Elephant. For this I can NOT forgive him.

Mostly though, it's his FUCK MUFFIN crooked treatment of Nikola Tesla, the real hero of electricity.



Here's a link about poor Topsy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsy_%28elephant%29

And video (warning, graphic electrocution of elephant):

[Dreamer Tatum]

67. When evidence exists that he killed 5,999,999 more elephants

and those elephants were Jewish, I will be a little more outraged.

[Freddie]

55. Would be fun to try this again

And make it USA-centric as some have accused.
1 vote for Ronald Reagan again!

[ismnotwasm]

56. Heh

I didn't vote, but that would be the one, yup.

[flamingdem]

63. ha ha ha I totally agree

that depressing night .. back in 1980

we knew we were doomed and essentially we were right

just the environmental damage alone..

[chknltl]

66. over at fox news, karl rove is thinking to himself:

Last edited Mon Aug 13, 2012, 05:23 PM - Edit history (1)

"Yessssssss"

[liberallibral]

68. Rug's answer was the funniest, in my opinion...

"The idiot standing in front of me who can't decide what kind of donut he wants"

Bwahaahahahaa!!! Spit my coffee out laughing, while reading that!!!

[La Lioness Priyanka]

71. as much i hate ronnie, adolph hitler should have won this

[Alduin]

77. Reagan over Hitler? Really?

[MadrasT]

78. George Washington?

There sure are some interesting choices on that list.

Runs off to check the original thread...