The Founding Fathers…. Liberal or Conservative? What Would They Think About America Today?

Happy July 4th weekend! As I read through my dozen or so articles this morning the chaos and destruction of America continues unabated and at a furious clip. The Supreme Court tried to reel in some of the liberal insanity this past week but I doubt it’s enough.

I got to thinking about what America’s “Founding Fathers” would think if they came back today. First of all…..would they still be “fathers” or would they now be the “Founding Non-Birthing Parents”???? It wasn’t easy finding articles that were objective. Of course every liberal article told me they were liberal and likewise with conservative pieces. You can always find something that matches your beliefs!

Generally speaking they were “liberals” for the time they lived. They were in the pursuit of liberty whereas today’s liberals are in search of the exact opposite. Liberals LOVE big government being involved in every facet of their lives and welcome a welfare state and socialism. So what IS liberty? We have the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, and “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” Liberty is defined as “the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s way of life, behavior, or political views.” That doesn’t sound like it includes CRT, student loan forgiveness, taxing the wealthy beyond the huge amount they already pay or telling parents what goes on in school with their children isn’t any of their business!

So let’s look at some general observations on the “founding fathers”.

George Washington:

• Washington was a Federalist, so he favored a strong central government. 
• Washington was the only president to win unanimous approval (all of the votes cast) by the electoral college. He did it twice.
• Washington served the nation best by keeping the government stable. He advocated a strong national defense, and kept the country out of the escalating tension between England and France.
• In his will he freed the 300 slaves he owned
• “When one side only of a story is heard and often repeated, the human mind becomes impressed with it insensibly.”……………You have THAT right Georgie!!

James Madison:

•  Helped draft Virginia’s state constitution when he was 25. That document later became the model for the U.S. Constitution.
• Madison, “the Father of the Constitution”—the most important legal document in modern history—never received a law degree.
• His presidency was marred by the War of 1812—the only war in which U.S. soil was overrun by enemy forces. The war was precipitated by the widespread sentiment that the U.S. was destined to conquer Canada, then a British territory.
• He said “Under the new Constitution, the nation’s powers will be “derived from the superior power of the people.”…………………the “people”………..not the government!

Thomas Jefferson:

• He wrote the Declaration of Independence!! He could have quit there and done more than most!
• Jefferson was the quintessential Renaissance man and has been described as a(n): lawyer, linguist, diplomat, astronomer, naturalist, political philosopher, educator, statesman, president, “farmer,” musician, scientist, inventor, agriculturalist, horseman, geographer, theologian and paleontologist. Jefferson was fluent in Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian and German.
• He was a supporter of equal rights and education for women, the right of all to have a free public education, a free library system and the creation of decimal system of weights and measures.
• Jefferson was a Republican, which at that time was the party of the common man. He envisioned a nation built on agriculture, not industry.
• The formal name for the “Republican” Party of Jefferson was the Democratic-Republican Party from which our present day Democratic party evolved. The opposing party led my Alexander Hamilton was the “Federal Party”.
• He said: ““A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.”

John Adams:

• Helped draft the Declaration of Independence and negotiate the peace agreement with Great Britain to end the Revolutionary War.
•  Adams was a lawyer by trade. He was the longest living American president. He died at the age of 90, in Quincy. Adams was the first president to occupy the White House. The nation moved its capital from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., during his administration.
• Adams was a Federalist, and, as such, he held a more elitist view of government than his Republican rivals.
• The first truly defense-minded president, Adams built the U.S. Navy to the point where it could compete with that of any nation.
• Probably his most enduring political legacy was that he appointed John Marshall as Supreme Court Chief Justice. His most ignominious political legacy was his signing of the “Alien and Sedition Acts,” which made it a crime to criticize the government (violators could be imprisoned)……………Well that certainly has changed!
• Adams was most proud of the fact that he avoided war with France at the turn of the century, in the face of strong public opinion in favor of war. This, along with his perceived overspending on defense, led to his defeat in his re-election campaign.

Benjamin Franklin:

• Franklin was one of the three Americans to sign the peace treaty with England that ended the Revolutionary War. He also helped write the Declaration of Independence
• Of the Founding Fathers, Franklin was easily the most unusual character. He made enough money from his publishing business—primarily on receipts from Poor Richard’s Almanac—to retire at age 42. He then devoted his life to writing, science, and politics.
•  He was philosophically closer to the tenets of the Democratic-Republican party.
• He was suspicious of strong central governments and governors, be they kings or presidents. Indeed, Franklin advocated a three-person presidential committee rather than having a single president. Of the proposal to have a one-man president, he said, “The government is likely to be well-administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism.”
• He said: “Our Constitution is in actual operation. Everything appears to promise that it will last. But in this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” 

Folks are going to be busy hopefully celebrating the MIRACLE of America today on July 4. There are 11 Founding Fathers and I’ve covered the first 6. I will continue this in my next post.

Have a healthy and happy July 4th!

Remember……………Enjoy yourself……….It’s later than you think!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrzh0BZ6aJE