I would much rather maintain faith in my fellow man than submit to the whim of one man or one woman, however well-intentioned.

Problem is the foolproof part and the definition of enlightenment, but I would much rather have an epic ruler with the purest of intentions and the greatest of skills in all areas then any democracy by uneducated fools.

It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
- Winston Churchill

Chownings Tavern’s gambols in the evening are a hoot.

On the one hand, I admire the absolute can-do attitutude in earlier America. Yet, I accept that life was short and brutal for a lot of people. Very brutal and very short.

Freedom wasn’t “accepted” for everyone back then. As a woman, most of my rights would be totally non-existent. Couldn’t vote until the 20th century. To me, that’s a big deal. Two of my closest friends’ ancestors were slaves back in those days, so I imagine they’d have been triply bad off, being black and women and from the south. (They both love W-burg, too, though.)

I don’t get wistful for the past. The past wasn’t all that great. It’s just that, in the past, the dream of America was new.

Have we lost our way a bit? Oh, yeah. It’s not a recent phenomenon. We’ve wandered from a world view were government is most of the problem to one where government is supposed to solve problems all for us. I like to blame FDR, myself. He was a bit of a socialist, in my book.

The Patriot Act? Vile. I’d rather be free than safe. Really.

Bailouts? Vile. All of them. Why reward lenders who wrote bad loans and then pawned them off down the line? Why reward Detroit for failing to build cars that we want to buy?

Appointing one alleged expert with a lot of power to be “the czar” of this or that problem? Ugh. No. No. No.

Therefore, I would humbly submit that most of the questions JR poses here are more complicated than they initially appear.

We have to remember that the Framers themselves were moving from the dictators of Europe (the closest thing to a government under the restraint of the people – Britain – had an electorate of less than 1% of the population). As such, the progression of liberty did not end (let alone go into permanent reverse) in the 18th Century. I would humbly submit the average American had far more liberty in the latter 19th century than the latter 18th.

The dangers of tyranny are real, but in many cases, the Founders and Framers were not aware of all of them.

Maybe we do need a benevolent, enlightened dictator because democracy sure isn’t working. Who knows, maybe Obama will fill that role. Thanks to all the power the GOP gave the White House that’s practically the mantle he’ll be assuming Jan 20th. The question is will he be benevolent?

Dictators — in the classical sense — relinquished their power once the crisis passed.

Both Washington and Adams assumed great deals of power during their terms (Alien and Sedition Acts, anyone?) that were only undone finally when the Republicans came to power under Jefferson and Madison — who in turn revoked their own position on warfare and launched a pre-emptive war against the Barbary Pirates.

Lincoln performed similar actions, as did Wilson, FDR, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, and Bush 43. Obama will maintain his oath to uphold and defend the Constitution in a similar manner based on his own judgement — however misled I might believe it to be.

This is not an old idea that power is consolidated during times of duress, and relinquished during times of peace. Certainly, I have my problems with the Patriot Act and other legislation designed to fight terrorism, but unless you’re seriously willing to offer that the War on Terrorism has degraded to the point where serious enforcement is unnecessary, then your point is moot.

Great post. Absolutely outstanding.

A couple of thoughts that spurned from this:

(1) Self-sufficiency used to be an American virtue. Still, even on that token remark, how many of us are truly self-sufficient? Credit? Mortgages? Let’s get really technical about this — Grocery store? Clothes? Wal-Mart? Cable TV? Electricity? If any of us lost our jobs tomorrow, would we be able to shrug it off, or would we scramble for the next job?

(2) Which leads into the Jeffersonian vs. Hamiltonian argument. Sadly, Hamilton won… we’re all commercialized, all specialized, all at the mercy of bankers and governments and politicians and lawyers. Jefferson’s ideal of the “yeoman farmer” was that of free individuals providing their own means, and pursuing whatever interests the dictates of reason provided.

(3) I have firmly committed myself to those ends. There’s no reason why an American people which fought such a bloody war for the freedom for physically enslaved people should in turn submit themselves to economic enslavement, whether it is to the government, a creditor, a lack of education, or someone else’s leave. Americans never used to be this way… we just got lazy, redefined what freedom meant (thank you, FDR) and became a nation of Hamiltonians.

(4) There is no reason why we can’t get back to the Jeffersonian ideal. A modest financial footing, a nation of educated people, a bit of Yankee thrift, Southern independence, and sense of self-sufficiency is all that’s needed. Instead of living on credit (or two paychecks behind), why not live two paychecks ahead? When you lose a job, your education is of a sort that is confident enough to make another arrangement with another employer — or do something independent and entrepreneurial for a change. It’s not the most awe-inspiring, “you can have it all and it will cost nothing” message in the world, but it worked for 200 years.

(5) Lastly, the Founding Fathers have much to teach. There is no reason why the world has to live in ignorance and poverty. There is no reason why individuals require the avuncular hand of government to guide right action (that’s what God and our conscience is there for). There is no reason why a nation professing to consist of free men and women should limp along having their hard earned money siphoned off by corporations, government, creditors, materialist ease, or waste.

The good news? These choices are ours.

The bad news? We’re doing a terrible damn job communicating the message and living out the example our Founding Fathers sought.

Great post. Sorry to clutter it with my US$0.02.

And if there is one thing that drives you out of Virginia Beach I would bet it would be the hurricanes.

We’ve been dodging the bullet, but it is only a matter of time till we get hit with “the big one”. The big one like formed that large sandbar they call Willoughby Spit.

I know I have flood insurance. Lucky for me the land my property is on is high enough the flood insurance is reasonable. But if we get hit with “the big one” I’m going to be happy I had it.

But if I am forced to cash out by “the big one” I’m going to find someplace else to live. I’m too old to have to rebuild more then once.

1) Remove all party affiliations from the ballot. If you don’t know the candidate’s name for the party you support then that is too bad.

2) Add a “None of the Above” to the ballot. Those who want to protest vote can choose this option. If “None of the Above” wins the election then there is a special election held where no one on the original ballot is allowed (including incumbents). This could go a long way towards devaluing special interest money.

I have other ideas like forcing the voter to pass a 2 question policy quiz on the candidates they are voting for before their vote is counted but I think that would be impossible to implement.

In 1776 the average life span for a white male was about 32 years old, today it’s about 76 (I don’t think African slaves or Indians were living close to that long).

The average American was a subsistance farmer with few if any luxury items.

A small minority of the country’s population were allowed to vote and partisipate in the “Great Experiment”.

As messed up as our country is at the moment, it’s still a million times better than it was during Jefferson’s time. Is there room for massive improvement? Hell yes!

But lets not kid ourselves, life in the “good old days” was often brutal and short.

My question is, where were the republican voters for the last eight years while Bush was building the Dept of Homeland Security and the NSA was conducting illigal wire taps? The GOP happily handed more and more power to the President in order to get their pork passed through Congress.

Maybe we do need a benevolent, enlightened dictator because democracy sure isn’t working. Who knows, maybe Obama will fill that role. Thanks to all the power the GOP gave the White House that’s practically the mantle he’ll be assuming Jan 20th. The question is will he be benevolent?