A vote for Spielberg.
Lovins
Stephen King
Persisting with the black spot vs an exponent of a genre I have nowt truck with.
Scott
I’m Johnny Come Lately here, but my three finalists from the list might be Dylan, Gates and Obama. I’d love to believe that Sanders might turn out to be very important, but I am not so optimistic.
Other finalists missing from the list might be Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson and – for her creativity and success – maybe Taylor Swift. (I certainly put these three ahead of Spielberg, Springsteen, Parton.) The choice of Miss Swift will surely attract sneers, so this first post by me in the thread should also be my last.
So you get some sneers. You will not die, they’re not poison. 
(Also, Ms. Swift was nominated, and voted off in round 5).
Our votes this round:
José Andrés: Humanitarian, chef - 1 vote
Warren Buffett: Level-headed billionaire - 1 vote
Bob Dylan: Poet of generation - 1 vote
Bill Gates: Futurist, philanthropist, billionaire - 1 vote
Stephen King: Great American writer - 1 vote
Amory Lovins: Physicist, energy activist - 7 votes
MacKenzie Scott: Philanthropist, prize-winning novelist - 1 vote
Steven Spielberg: Director, writer, entertainer - 3 votes
Amory Lovins finally reaches critical mass and is gone.
Our remaining nominees:
José Andrés: Humanitarian, chef
Joe Biden: President, uniter, overcomer
Warren Buffett: Level-headed billionaire
Bob Dylan: Poet of generation
Anthony Fauci: Physician, immunologist, scientist
Bill Gates: Futurist, philanthropist, billionaire
Jesse Jackson: Civil rights leader
Mark Kelly: Senator, astronaut, aviator
Stephen King: Great American writer
Barack Obama: President, statesman, lawyer
Dolly Parton: Artist, humanitarian
Bernie Sanders: Democratic Socialist leader
MacKenzie Scott: Philanthropist, prize-winning novelist
Steven Spielberg: Director, writer, entertainer
Bruce Springsteen: Singer, songwriter, activist
Elizabeth Warren: Fighting political foes
Eliminated
- Jim Gaffigan: Comedian, author, commentator
- Craig Ferguson: Polymath, director-writer, comedian
- Mitt Romney: Senator, impeachment juror
- Buzz Aldrin: Second on Moon
- Taylor Swift: Musician, songwriter, icon
- Tim Walz: Honorable political messenger
- Simon Biles: GOAT gymnast
- Judy Blume: Children’s literature icon
- Amanda Gorman: Poet, activist, prodigy
- Jim Lovell: Apollo 13 astronaut
- Spike Lee: Filmmaker, Knicks fan
- Janet Yellen: Economist, Treasury secretary
- Magic Johnson: Superstar, survivor, inspiration
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Athlete, writer, activist
- Amory Lovins: Physicist, energy activist
Voting for our next round will end at noon EST on Fri. July 18.
José Andrés yet again. Just not GLA material.
I will join you with Jose Andres. His contributions are not insignificant, but not GLA material.
He and World Central Kitchen have served more than 450 million meals to people in catastrophe zones (e.g Haiti after earthquakes, Puerto Rico), as well as Gaza, Ukraine, North Carolina, etc etc etc. We need more Americans like him.
Back to Mackenzie Scott for me
Buffet.
I think Steven Spielberg is the weakest link at this point.
Bruce Springsteen
I sense a bias against greatness reached by being an artist here, how can people vote to eliminate Steven fricking Spielberg from the list while Warren Buffet is still there?
Is the ability to accumulate money “greater” than the ability to create wonderful art?
Is there even a single Messi among them!?
Messi is not “American” for the purposes of this thread, otherwise… well I wouldn’t pick him as a winner (Football IS my religion but I’m not a zealot) but I would rate him above Warren Buffet…
Right, I was just making an analogy and tweaking you a bit. 
I know 
Everyone has a bias. Picking an athlete over the greatest philanthropist the country has ever seen is certainly one.
I guess it depends on how you define “greatness”, as I see it anybody could be the greatest philanthropist if they had enough money, at that level he probably didn’t have to abstain from buying anything he wanted, let alone needed in order to donate all that money.
Whereas basically nobody (currently living) but Messi could’ve given that assist against the Netherlands…
That’s certainly one way to look at it.