What would the Founding Fathers think of America today?

[pkbites]

I think this is a significant question seeing the 4th of July is around the corner. If Washington, Jefferson, Adams, etc., were resurected, what would they think?

my opinion is they would be ferious at us for allowing our freedoms & liberty taken away. I think much of their wrath would be directed at people who willingly traded their freedom. I feel gun laws, seat belt laws, helmet laws, drug laws, bar closing times, income taxes, property taxes, drug laws, political correctness, even hate speech laws, are all assaults on our liberty. I think our founders would view us as an enslaved people, not free to do what we choose with our own life. They would look at us as sheep.

Anyway, that's what I think they would view America. What do you all think? I do not want this to be a debate on my hatred of the current system, but on what you think the founders would think of it.

[SuaSponte]

IMO, we wouldn't hear a peep from them. They'd spend all of their time on the web surfing for porn.

V.

[2sense]

They would feel confused.

I am not talking about just the technological changes, but by the advances in understanding that we have achieved since their demise. After a few years when they had had time to absorb the new knowledge ( evolution, Godel's incompleteness theorem, socialism, libertarianism, ect... ), I would think that they would adopt a comfortably Republican viewpoint. Remember James McGregor Burns' description of them as "the well-bred, the well-fed, the well-read, and the well-wed". In other words: fatcats for the most part. Remember also that 3 members: George Washington, George Mason, and John Rutledge, were the largest slaveowners in the country. They weren't concerned about your liberties, they were concerned about their profits.

And on the assumption that you are 1 of those that blames the maintenance man instead of the architect for our current difficulties, I will give you my opinion on how they should feel:

They should feel GUILTY!
( But they wouldn't. )

Thanks for giving me the opportuntity to rant.

[avalongod]

quote:

~~~I feel gun laws, seat belt laws, helmet laws, drug laws, bar closing times, income taxes, property taxes, drug laws, political correctness, even hate speech laws, are all assaults on our liberty.

Some of these maybe, but not most. The "founding fathers" had no problems taxing folks, that's how governments run. I can't see them being too pissed off about the drug laws, seat belt, helmet laws and...you gotta be kidding me,...bar closing times? Gun laws, maybe, but I doubt they had anything but muskets in mind when they wrote the constitution. The founding fathers weren't idiots after all.

[neuro-trash grrrl]

I can't say with any certainty how Messrs. Washington, Paine, Madison, Hamilton, etc. would feel about America in the year 2000, other than being pleased that it has lasted this long and prospered this much. However, I am fairly certain that Thomas Jefferson is right now gyrating wildly about his axis of rotation in his grave, seeing as how his great vision of America as a land populated primarily by yeoman farmers has given way to massive corporations and such. I don't think he'd care much for political correctness, either, but that seems to be a feature of our times, and not an enshrined institution, and I think he'd recognize that. As for seat belt laws, if you put any of them behind the wheel and let them drive, I think they'd come around to see the wisdom, if they survived.

[Derleth]

"He's in office! Time to start over!"
-General consensus.

Jefferson would be appalled at how much power the Feds have, and he wouldn't much like our technological progress from plantations to corporations. He'd wonder how farms would work without slaves, and he'd be sad that the CSA lost. He'd try to live out his days in Virginia, alone, on as much land as he could grab, sick of how far we've come from the 'citizen legislators' that didn't even live in DC (DC was never meant to be a permanent city. It was meant to be an intermittent city only occupied when Congress was in session.)
Washington would love all the power the Feds have, and he'd be elated that the CSA lost. He'd visit Mt. Vernon, hate how it's changed, and decide to go back to DC and perhaps live in that new-fangled 'White House' (it didn't exist when Washington was alive). Washington would be glad that we've grown so large, and he'd doubtless want to lead armies into Canada, perhaps joining Alaska with the lower 48. He'd love our advances as soon as he understood them, and would probably suffer from 'future shock' less than poor Jefferson.
But hey, I didn't know the guys. I wrote that from what I know about their policies and philosophies off the cap of my cranium. Anyone got anything to add, change, or screw up?

[Lumpy]

I think that the Founding Fathers (hereafter referred to as FF) would be aghast at how big and powerful the federal government has become. Some might think the South was right to try to seceed, and mornfull that the South's populist uprising was crushed by force.

And while understanding that with airplanes, radio, etc. that the world has grown a lot smaller, they would probably not approve of the U.S. maintaining huge standing military forces, and involving itself with geopolitics.

It's interesting to think what they'd have made of post-Enlightenment political movements, such as Marxism. I could see Jefferson being a rabid anarchist. But the FF did witness the results of the French Revolution, so I think they'd beware of extreme radicalism. As posted earlier, they would NOT like how big corporations have taken over much of the economy; but I don't think they'd compromise the principle of private property.

Socially, I think that the FF, although leery of government interfering with religion, would be appalled by how far American society has drifted away from the Protestant Christian standard they took for granted. They would be puzzled why anyone would feel the least bit guilty that we stole the country from the Indians. And they would consider it self-evident that African-Americans are inferior to whites and that they should not have been given equal rights. (PLEASE note that that is NOT my opinion, but how I think the FF would have felt.)

[avalongod]

I do think the FF would be appalled to see how much power big businesses have gotten.

[tracer]

If the Founding Fathers suddenly popped back into existence today, they'd take one look at the United States of America and say:

"WOW! Look at what a mighty empire they've built, and they started out with only those first 13 tiny little scraps of land on the East Coast! And they owe it all to ME! I'm the God! I'M THE GOD!!"

[SPOOFE]

I think they'd be amused at 2Sense's response to the OP.

[2sense]

Maybe.

I know that I am amused by the predicted reactions of Thomas Jefferson:

Originally posted by neuro-trash grrrl:
I am fairly certain that Thomas Jefferson is right now gyrating wildly about his axis of rotation in his grave...

Originally posted by Derleth:
Jefferson would be appalled at how much power the Feds have...

Hee hee... fucker.
( Him of course, not you. )

[DKD]

They'd be delighted.

The main policy behind the Founding Fathers ideology was to open up the new America to investment and business ventures.

Civil rights etc were only to be endorsed in so far as they were useful to the ruling class' potential for creating markets and pursuing profits. Individuals were only as important as their role in the development of the economy.

John Jay: "The people who own the country ought to run it"
i.e. We do things OUR way to our own ends.

Patrick Henry:"Give me liberty or give me death"
When he made this famous speech he still owned 65 slaves.

The Founding Fathers were not particularly nice fellows and were not especially interested in human rights. They were businessmen - profit orientated and exploitative by nature.

No? Do your own research. There's much more to history than what THEY teach you at school.

[Duck Duck Goose]

1. I think they'd gaze around them, slack-jawed with amazement. "Geez, did we do THIS?"

2. Then, big goofy grins would slowly spread over their faces.

3. They'd jump up and give each other big high-fives. "Dang! We ROCK!!"

4. Then they'd invest in the stock market, buy computers, and go on road trips to check out the old home place (Adams is going to detest Boston A.D. 2000, "Um, excuse me, they have this thing called 'traffic flow', you may have heard of it?"; Jefferson will HATE what they've done to Monticello--"what, you fixed it up to look exactly like it was in 1825? For God's sake, WHY? I HATED that Chippendale, worst chairs in the world to sit on, your gluteus maximus times out in about 10 minutes. Get Martha Stewart on the line, I want some serious furniture in here...")

5. THEN they'd start surfing the Web for porn. "Dang! We did this? We ROCK!"

[gobear]

IMHO, I think they would be thrilled that the U.S.A. is the most powerful and influential nation on Earth. I think the societal changes (social and legal equality for blacks and women, open suffrage, etc.) would throw them, but they would come around.
Jefferson would HATE the Jefferson Memorial, since he specifically stated in his will that he did not want any monuments raised in his memory.

DKD wrote:
[quote}
The Founding Fathers were not particularly nice fellows and were not especially interested in human rights.
They were businessmen - profit-oriented and exploitative by nature. [/quote]
You are so wrong. The Founding Fathers were concerned with human rights, albeit human rights only referred only to free white men of property. You can't judge 18th century men from an almost 21st century perspective. They were hobbled by the prejudices and worldview of their times.

[labdude]

My 2 cents.

Since the USA is still run for the rich powerful business interests, with a strong emphasis on private property rights I think the FF would be very happy indeed. Except for the greatest of the FF Thomas Jefferson.

Think about how the USA would be different if Jefferson had gotton his wish. A country of small farmers, and small family owned business and factories. Something like the Amish but with electricity and Tvs.

[Ptahlis]

I think they would all fall to infighting over who got stuck on which bill, especially poor George, who gets stuck on the single.

"Franklin on the HUNDRED?" He wasn't even President for Christ's sake! He was Ambassador to France and a nut with a kite!"

[SuaSponte]

5. THEN they'd start surfing the Web for porn. "Dang! We did this? We ROCK!"

ROFLMAO. You said it MUCH better than I did, Duck.

V.

[wolfman]

I doubt they would have much time to think about it at all. Kenneth Starr would begin investigating what relationship, Jefferson had with Sally Hennings and where. Washington would be indicted by Reno for election impropreities. Franklin would be the source of media scorn for brokering an arms-for-influence deal with france during the revolutionary war. PETA would be all over Paul Revere for riding all over new england in the middle of the night. Betsy Ross would be decried by NOW for reinforcing steriotypes of women sitting home and sewing while men work. And most of the rest of them would be fighting off a class action lawsuit against their Tobbaco farms and compainies.

[Mr.Zambezi]

Think about how the USA would be different if Jefferson had gotton his wish. A country of small farmers, and small family owned business and factories. Something like the Amish but with electricity and Tvs.

Getting up at the crack of dawn, hauling slop, working 16 hour days, going hungry of the weather is really bad....Thank God he did not get his way.

[oldscratch]

I think it depends on which founding father you re talking about. As others have hinted at, they had very different ideas of what America was and what it should be. They were by no means a homogenous group. I don't feel knowledgeable enough to speak of each individually, but I feel that each would be enthused and disappointed with certain aspects of America. Some would think it was great with a couple of bad traits. Some would think it was horrible with several good traits.

[galen]

They'd be quite pissed, I would think. "Why have you freed the slaves, allowed women and men without property to vote, and allowed common workmen to otherwise usurp the rights of property?"

[tracer]

Duck Duck Goose wrote:

Adams is going to detest Boston A.D. 2000, "Um, excuse me, they have this thing called 'traffic flow', you may have heard of it?"

Hey! They're workin' on it, they're workin' on it! They've got that whole "big dig" thing going to alleviate their traffic congestion problems. (Sure, we'll have to wait until 2004 before it opens, but they're workin' on it!)

[Larry Borgia]

"AAAAhh! Iron Bird!!!!!"