2002-06-03 -

Giants, Midgets, and Wooden Teeth

I recorded "Founding Brothers" on the History Channel Sunday. It talks about the conflicts behind the early years of the USA- Federalism vs Republicanism, the formation of a party system, and so on.

It tries to make it very clear that some of our revered founding fathers were pricks, but to me it had the opposite impact. There was something about the language and standards of the day that made even the most vile disagreement *sound* principled and civilized. Even if George Washington had been getting it from an intern, you know damn well that *nobody* would have brought it up. George got respect.

Perhaps the "good old days" weren't as good as we were taught in grade school, but I'm still quite sure that I'd trade our last ten presidents combined for one Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, or (especially) Franklin. In those days we had giants in the earth. Now we have midgets on stilts.

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