Not your grandfather's Founding Fathers

It sounded preposterous to much of the world on that July 4 in 1776 that somehow a tiny colony long on big ideas and short on such things as an army, money or even much of a government intended to break away from the richest and most powerful nation in the world.

The men who signed that Declaration of Independence knew exactly how long the odds were, and knew they would be hanged if they failed - but they signed it, pledging "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor."

John Hancock signed his name large - he wanted the British to make no mistake about who he was.

I thought about that at a recent CBS News Town Hall on the economy when I asked Tom Coburn, a very conservative Republican Senator from Oklahoma, why Congress can't get anything done anymore. Because, he said:

"We're more interested in political careers than we are interested in fixing the very real and urgent problems in front of our country. The senate has - this is the lowest level of votes the senate has had in my seven years and the lowest level of votes in 25 years.

"And the reason we're not voting is people don't want to take a vote because they might have to defend it.

So rather than come up here and do the job and have the courage and the honor to go out and defend your votes, what we do is we just don't vote," Coburn said.

What a contrast to the attitude of the founders who put their lives on the line for what they believed.

Not the usual July 4 message but maybe worth hearing - just to remind us how we used to be.

[MJP1346]

Saw your left wing interview regarding budget cut and education. You have lost, whatever, credibility you had as a journalist.

[myth1958]

Mr Schieffer again strikes a chord with his analysis of the current over-politicized situation in Washington D.C. These aren't men like the 'Founding Fathers' for sure: they don't own other human beings, for one. They got into Congress (or the Senate) by garnering the votes of all their constituents - not just the landowners who were allowed to vote - and not just the men. The courage it took to defy England is still remarkable, however. These chaps faced a death sentence for treason if we'd lost that war. Nothing comes close to the severity of that penalty - not even being scorned in the press and hounded by voters over some trivial issue today. Perhaps the folks who love to expound on what the Founders meant by this or that provision are just as lost as those earlier patroits would be if they could see the world today: women with equal rights; Blacks free and holding office as senators, congressmen, governors and even the presidency. I'm certain they would need a drink to calm their nerves at the rapid change America has seen since their day - and the extensive ammendments we've added to their first Constitution. I believe we are a better people than those before us. At least we have the potential to be so.

[amerilatino]

This comes as no surprise. Most folks today, accounting for all the advances in education and healthcare, are not a third of what the original colonists were, neither physically, intellectually or morally. True, the institutions of slavery and exclusive class superiority tarnished the spirit of the period, but an inherited, misguided sense of religious entitlement and genetics tainted the minds of the day. There has been no excuse for the kind of social lassitude that those things would engender, for the last 100 years, yet here we are, still blaming those different from us for our shortcomings and justifying everything that could possibly be bad about a nation, from government-dependent lassitude, through selective limitation of opportunity, to santification of corporate greed. If the leaders of this country does not look back to honestly review, without revisionisms of personal expediency, the motivations and premises that the Founding Fathers manifested before the redaction of the constitution, this will soon become a nation of weepers.

[nonpolitico]

I live in the UK at the moment, and Boy!, would the Brits just LOVE a Constitution and the Bill of Rights the USA began all those years ago.
The FF began a dream , not a country.
True some of them owned slaves, but what about today`s billionaires who employ mexicans below minimum wage?
The world has been swept with revisions of all sorts since the 1770s. Hell, an Englishman who had his democracy pamphlet banned by the King, took the Monarch to court, and WON!!!!
(Not that this could be repeated today).
All the bad things that seem to undermine democratic and family values today in GB seem to come from the leads made in the USA.
Britain has programs that would make your eyes water if you are a Texan, and lick your lips if you are on Welfare, but that does not stop politicians from living high on the hog!! (Sound familiar)??
Also, Brits would love the rights Americans have that prevent police entering into the rights of the citizen.
However, immigration, social programs, Equality, and relaxed attitudes to religion make Brits a mite more tolerant than the average Mr USA!
Just watched the London riots on tv. immigrants wrecked a good part of London.
The morning after. volunteers just turned out to clean up the mess then contacted MPs after "strong arm" tactics proposed by PM to deal with rioters.(To get them to moderate their tone)!
As in USA, average Joe is ok, tolerant and good to his kids. He also works hard is taxed too much and cannot always buy what he needs. But you upset him, (as the last set of Socialist cowboys did), boy.....no more cowboys!!
I was there when the Brits got a mite tired of the liberal goings on which had begun to undermine the lives of ordinary citizens. They began to feel that the government had bee "unfair" and out of touch, too keen to spend "their" money..taxes...on the bums with their hands out for hand outs.
Last election, the Socialist bums were O-U-T....bigstyle!
I get the feeling that in 2012 USA there will be ONE HECK of a surprise in store for the politicos who have conspired...just like GB politicians... to take just one or two steps too far.
For, as the Average Brit works hard for what he earns, he sees foreign workers taking his job. (And in GB they just don`t come over a border with Mexico, they come from all over Europe and the world!
If I was a betting man, my money would NOT be on Obama or the Democrats next November, for if the USA is as P***ed as the UK was last year, half the Senate may be Independents!
For we are indeed two nations with common values...and we ALL hate the chaos that is government!!
GB is now.thanks to a Republican style party, now causing all the overmanned public sector to be closed or cut back to what they were.
And incidentally, if I were a RICH American at the moment, with money to invest, I would pick the UK!!!

[DidHeSayThat]

This should be the litmus test:
pledging "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor."

Otherwise, we do not need you.

[noloyalisti]

Yes that is great mini-series about John Adams. It makes you realize how the corporate elite have so twisted and ruined this country. I doubt John Adams and the other founding fathers would even believe how many American people back the white collar criminals who are actively pillaging their country. And they want MORE. I also have to say I never thought I would see in my lifetime our great country go down the tubes. Very, very sad.

[Lifeson2112]

They would be more dissapointed in how large and overbearing our government has become.

[documemts]

This is actually the headline to a news story? I thought it was a well accepted fact that the people of today are barely capable of being these historical peoples' shadows. If that!

[Ruteger]

I just rented from NetFlix the HBO series "John Adams." I encourage everyone to watch this. It will make you weep for how far this country has fallen...

[Ruteger]

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion."

With these sober words, President John Adams warned that the U.S. Constitution will not be able to sustain our liberties if the American people abandon virtue and religion. Adams stated:



Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.61

John Adams was not alone in his opinion. This view was widely held by our Founding Fathers.

William Paterson, a signer of the Constitution from New Jersey, was appointed by George Washington to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. He, too, understood the importance of promoting religion among the citizenry. "Religion and
morality are necessary to good government, good order, and good laws," he wrote, "for when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice."62

[documemts]

The article is no argument for the greater practice of religion in contemporary society. Fanaticism is not the practice of faith.

[scabbard2]

My best friend is very fortunate.
He has his food prepared for him. He can eat whenever he wants.
His meals are provided at no cost to him.
He visits the Dr. once a year for his checkup, and again during the year if any medical needs arise. For this he pays nothing and nothing is required of him.
He lives in a nice neighborhood in a house that is much larger than he needs, but he is not required to do any upkeep. If he makes a mess, someone else cleans it up.
He has his choice of luxurious places to sleep. He receives these accommodations absolutely free. He is living like a King, and has absolutely no expenses whatsoever.
All of his costs are picked up by others who go out and earn a living every day.
I was just thinking about all this, and suddenly it hit me like a brick .......

I think my dog is a member of Congress!

[bmirarck2]

We need to hang a few to get their attention! Both sides of the aisle have ones to offer up.