What Our Founding Fathers
Might Think Of America Now
With Election Day – and its probable tumult – approaching, we wondered what our Founding Fathers would think of the America they created. We concluded that some aspects would not surprise them, while some others would downright dismay them.
They would not find our partisan media and citizenry surprising, merely an extension of the country they created. From the town crier to the newspapers and pamphlets of the era to the TV networks and websites of today, America has always had a partisan media, and we have always been a partisan, usually bickering, two-party country.
They would not be particularly surprised that their country spends a lot of time at war, either, because America was born in war, came of age in war, and took the world stage in war. They would not understand why we ignore the Constitution and fight wars not declared by Congress.
Benjamin Franklin would marvel at the airplane. He would go immediately to first class and order champagne before flirting with your wife and probably your daughter. Thomas Jefferson would be awed to see pictures of the American flag on the moon and, ever the explorer, wonder why we didn’t have similar pictures from Mars. He would be glad the slavery he had been unwilling to do anything about was gone.
Both would understand President Biden’s retirement, nod in either satisfaction or astonishment at Kamala Harris’ nomination, and wonder why we give Donald Trump – a man of no moral or intellectual substance – the time of day. They would wonder why we are lowering ourselves to his standard instead of demanding better of ourselves.
Our Founding Fathers would not recognize Americans who now seem to prefer appeasement to accomplishment, nor would they understand a government mandating morality or Americans tolerating it. They would note an America that was unable to respond competently to COVID, that hasn’t done anything great since we left the moon in 1972, and that might well collapse before this half-century is out.
When our Founding Fathers grew weary of British shackles, they declared independence and fought for it. We have to do the same this Election Day because we deserve better than the shackles of the America we have now. Our Founding Fathers would understand the fight.
Thank you for reading,
