Q&A Friday #8: Would The Founding Fathers Be Proud Of America?

03 Dec, 2004 by John Hawkins

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Question: “Do you think our Founding Fathers would be proud of what has become of America? Has it become something they would like, or something they would not?” — Hank_Hill

Answer: You know, I’ve actually thought about this before and the answer is….I’m not sure.

On one hand, this country is a long, long, way from what the Founding Fathers intended. My gut instinct is that most of them would be horrified at the size and power of the Federal government, the amount of taxes we pay, the national debt, and the way the Constitution has been twisted and distorted from its original intent, among other things.

However, the flip side is that in many ways we’ve succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. We’re the greatest country the world has ever seen, a prosperous super power with the world’s largest economy and the world’s most popular military.

When you consider that at the turn of the 19th century, we were a relatively poor nation that actually had to duke it out with the mangy Barbary Pirates, in our own territorial waters with the French in the Quasi-War, and with the Brits on American soil, the War of 1812, we’ve come a long, long, way.

So would they be happy, angry — it’s hard to say for sure. My best guess is that while they’d be generally pleased with our success, they’d also have a lot of changes they’d like to see made.