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What Would Our Founding Fathers Think?

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By DONALD J. MYERS

A Mind of My Own

Published: July 11, 2008

What better time to talk about this fantastic country than during its celebration of independence? The Fourth of July is more than a mere holiday; it is a celebration of our freedom. If Las Vegas had been around at that time, we would have had odds of about 10,000 to 1 of winning. We were facing the most powerful country in the world – the English Empire. How could we possibly win?
We did, and the world has been better because of it.
What if by some miracle our founding fathers could return for a brief visit? What would they think of our country and us after 232 years? I am sure that they would be amazed at the shear growth of the nation and its place in the world. The inventions that have come to pass would further amaze them, but then one must recall that many of these men were educated and worldly beyond their time. How else could they have written a constitution that has lasted so long and is the envy of the world?
The Internet, television, radio, movies, airplanes, cars, cruise ships and countless other inventions would cause them to smile with appreciation. However, there are people in parts of the world today that would look on all of these things in total amazement also because they have not been able to take advantage of any of them. I recall when Premier Khrushchev visited this country and the president took him to one of our huge food stores. He thought that it was a ruse. This was the most influential leader in the USSR and he could not believe his eyes because his country had nothing to compare it to. He speaks about this in his book, "Khrushchev Remembers." If the top leader in his country could not fathom our abundance and prosperity, is it any wonder that many of his citizens believed that we were backward and repressive to our citizens?
What must immigrants from Third-World counties think when they come to this country and see our abundance of everything? When I go to the commissary at McDill Air Force Base, I watch the countless foreign personnel and their families shop. They appreciate what they are able to buy in this country along with the seemingly limitless choices, and I am sure that many wonder why it is not possible in their own country.
The founding fathers would wonder how we arrived at the separation of church and state. They never wrote that into the Constitution, and if one reads many of their writings, it is obvious that they believed in a higher being – God. They put this in the Declaration of Independence that "All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
They also would wonder about a "right of privacy" that did not appear in the Constitution that they wrote. Government-run education would also cause them concern, since it was never mentioned in the Constitution that they wrote, and obviously never intended. The right to bear arms was specifically intended so that regular citizens could fight if the government tried to overrule. Thomas Jefferson especially would be concerned since he specifically addressed this issue.
I am sure that they would ask why the three parts of government – executive, legislative and judicial – did not remain equal and counter to any one becoming dominant. I am sure that they would ask if we had ever read all of the papers that they had written concerning our government and how it was to be operated. Career politicians would seem strange to them since they thought that ordinary citizens would volunteer to spend a few years working for government and then return to their regular jobs.
I suspect that they would be proud in many respects and disappointed in many others. They laid their lives, fortunes and reputations on the line in order for this country to be free, and, in some cases, they lost all of them. No other revolution in the history of the world has been led by the upper class and educated elite. Washington and all of its grandeur would be a shock. Government was expected to be the servant, not the ruler. Many of the moral and spiritual changes would not be approved; however, I am sure that they would be supportive of the freeing of the slaves and women being given the vote.

Donald J. Myers, a retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, is a regular columnist for Hernando Today. He lives in Spring Hill and can be contacted at DMyersUSMC@aol.com.

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