Sunday, August 28, 2011

Thank God There Was No Television In 1789




One wonders how many of the Founding Fathers could have gotten elected in the television age.


George Washington? Painfully shy, standoffish and a slow and deliberate speaker. Bill O' Reilly would have torn him apart.











Thomas Jefferson? Didn't deliver his own speeches, he had them read - and maybe too much of an intellectual for today's taste.











James Madison? Physically tiny with a high squeaky voice.











If we'd had TV journalism in 1789, there might not be an America today.

Are Americans so shallow as to only pick someone because they look "Presidential" or they sound "Presidential"?
Does philosophy or the constitution matter in the pop culture age?
Is image everything, substance and character obsolete traits of a bygone era?

One very likely outcome of the impending economic collapse, is a fundamental change of the current American culture. What that will look like over the next few years no one can say for sure. But I think it's safe to assume the people who put so little effort in picking the leaders we have now have applied the same lack of effort in being ready for things to come. This country was born under extremely difficult circumstances. The founding fathers were remarkable men who like the rest of us were flawed. Their intellect and understanding of human history transcended those flaws. The people of the time clearly valued the ideas and overlooked the superficial. Hopefully modern Americans will gain that wisdom in the near future.



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