The "Dish" Behind The Founding Fathers

It's funny to me, when candidates get unfairly attacked as being "radical." People forget who the Founding Fathers of this country actually were. They were radicals, and revolutionaries. Every one of the first five presidents, from George Washington up through James Monroe, were Revolutionaries, not Politicians (which is where and how they got tripped up, when they did). We forget that. And we forget that in the history of the world, there is no social experiment more radical than this Democracy of ours.

I watched this documentary on the History Channel that covered those first five. Here's what I took away:

George Washington: Not only the first President, but maybe the first Metrosexual as well. He always made sure he looked great. He liked to design uniforms for his military. He was a skilled interior designer, and fussed over the decor of Mount Vernon like a Queer-Eye-for-the-Straight-Guy. He loved to dance, and every lady clamored to dance a minuet with him. He also played a large part in the design and construction of the White House itself (which sadly, he never lived to see completed).

The key to George's success as a President (and General, for that matter): he surrounded himself with the best and brightest advisers he could find, and actually listened to what they had to say without micro-managing, never forgetting though his role as the presiding Judge-in-Chief when it came time to make the final decision. George had enough self-confidence to do that, without feeling threatened. A crucial trait in a President, imho, and one too often lacking in the Oval Office.

George also had no party affiliation. Hmm...

John Adams: The first of the Father-Son duos to occupy the White House. Harvard-educated and super-bright, he was also incredibly insecure. One minute he was on-top-of-the-world, and the next he was convinced he was complete and utter sh*t. His mood-swings were legendary. And he couldn't take criticism--too insecure, you see. Which is why he couldn't deal with the criticism he faced for his decision not to go to war against France (which historians say was a smart smart decision). And so he created the shameful Alien and Sedition Acts instead, to shut-up those who dared to criticize him. Tsk, tsk...

Adams was a Federalist. So he believed in a strong Federal Government over individual States' Rights.

Thomas Jefferson: He hated Adams, and the Federalists, and distrusted a strong Federal government. He favored Republicanism, which is not the same as Democracy. Republicanism asserts that people have inalienable rights that cannot be voted away by a majority of voters. It also rejects inherited political power (see the Bush and Adams families), expects citizens to be independent in their performance of civic duties, and is strongly opposed to corruption in government.

Except... once he got into office, he got corrupted by power, too. He worked the press, and seriously tried to keep his Sally Hemmings affair quiet (btw, Sally was the half-sister of his wife! The two shared the same father--how sick is that?). And the Louisiana Purchase was a huge assumption of Presidential power that was probably, ahem, unconstitutional. Look, the man pretty much wrote the Declaration of Independence; I'm sure he knew that what he was doing was not exactly kosher, constitutionally speaking.

His party was officially called the Democratic-Republican party.

James Madison: First of all, the husband of Dolley, the woman who was the vivacious Yang to his stick-in-the-mud Yin. She is largely credited for inventing the role of First Lady as political ally and adviser to the president. Plus, when the White House caught on fire, she personally saved the portrait of George Washington and the Star-Spangled Banner. I can see why they named that brand of cakes and baked-goods after her--do they still sell those Dolly Madison cakes, btw?

So, not only was he smart enough to marry the right kind of woman, but he is also considered the "Father of the Constitution" and the "Father of the Bill of Rights." A really great man to put in the White House. But then, the War of 1812 with the Brits... which we lost, btw (though no one really talks about that). The Brits kicked our ass. And like many of his successors, Madison's presidency was largely defined by circumstance rather than the individual.

Madison also favored Republicanism, and was a member of the Democratic-Republican party.

James Monroe: His presidency ushered in the "Era of Good Feelings," when there was a relative lack of partisan bickering. True, there was really only one party at the time, but serious differences did exist on crucial issues, like slavery, and foreign affairs. He was highly conscientious, always did his homework on the issues, and was above all pragmatic--the key to his Presidential successes. When it came time to appoint his Cabinet, he did not try to use those appointments to build his party's base. In fact, he allowed the base to decay... hence the era of good feelings--I can only hope that President #44 takes special note of that.

But he messed up with the Missouri Compromise, which allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a Slave State in exchange for Maine remaining Free. That compromise just helped set the stage for the Civil War, when that ugly white-elephant in the room, slavery, finally cleaved this nation in two (as everyone knew it would, eventually), and required a bloody civil war to resolve.

Monroe supported colonization for freed American slaves and was honored for this when the capital of Liberia, Monrovia, was named in his honor.

Here's a quote of his that seems strangely apropos these days: "It is only when the people become ignorant and corrupt, when they degenerate into a populace, that they are incapable of exercising their sovereignty. Usurpation is then an easy attainment, and an usurper soon found. The people themselves become the willing instruments of their own debasement and ruin."

All five of these men were revolutionaries, in fact and at heart, who had to figure out on their own how to actually govern once the good-fight had been fought and won. Not an easy task for any revolutionary. I wonder, though, what they would think of all the shenanigans in Washington these days...

Here's a link to the History Channel's site where you can learn more about all 43 of our Presidents: http://www.history.com/presidents