Do you think that the founding fathers would be happy at what America has turned into ?

Question

"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
................................and does this still stand today?

Answer 1

Yeah, they'd be happy. Jefferson wrote those platitudes you quoted, and the Founding Fathers were the elite of colonial America. They were also, generally, among the wealthiest Americans. See Howard Zinn.

Liberty and the pursuit of happiness referred to property rights. The Founding Fathers were looking out for their own interests, and those interests have prevailed.

Democracy and capitalism in America are heavily tilted in favor of wealth and privilege. The divide between rich and poor here is greater than anywhere else in the developed world. To run for office, you need to be wealthy these days. Incumbents are rarely defeated. And access to the courts in civil cases is limited to persons of wealth.

Yes, the Founding Fathers would be pleased at the result of their effort.

Answer 2

NO, the founding fathers would NOT be happy.

From the illegal wiretapping to the emphasis on business and not on the people, our founding fathers would be very upset at how many of our liberties have been taken away by a government that is no longer answerable to the people.

In fact, if you study it in depth, and I have studied it on the Ph.D. level, even the most conservative of our founding fathers would be appalled at the amount of government intervention in our lives, because that was exactly what they were trying to escape by breaking with England.

The fact that we own territories like Puerto Rico and the Marshall Islands would disturb them. And the fact that countries like Canada have more social responsibility towards their people would upset them. The fact that we have turned our backs on France when the French KNEW that getting involved in the Middle East was a big mistake, that would really upset them, since the French fought for our independence and we would all be British subjects without the French.

Excessive taxing would bother them, especially the income tax. And the lack of emphasis on the farmer would bother them.

There may be some things they would appreciate, especially the fact that we are the world's largest superpower and we fought hard against communism. But, our lack of diplomacy would appall them, since they were very conservative and valued diplomacy.

Leadership by business and the rich is called "plutocracy," a term coined in time time of Andrew Jackson, the most influential president on modern America. It was supposed to be avoided, and it was not. We do not have a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Answer 3

Yes, I think they would be deleriously happy and pretty suprised. I mean, they couldn't have forseen the industrial and scientific revolution, but they did see independent, hardworking people elect their own government, spread liberty, and defend freedom. Today the USA is the most prosperous, most culturally advanced country in world history. No nation in the universe goes out of it's way to promote a level playing field for all citizens as the USA..

Answer 4

No, they didn't have the corporate world, wars, and corruption in mind. However I don't think there was ever a time when all men had unalienable rights. It seems that these ideals are losing their impact on the country sometimes, while other times they seem strong, such as during the Civil Rights movement.

Answer 5

We speak of the Founding Fathers as if they were all in one accord. Truth be told, they had opinions that were various as we have today. I suppose that some would be glad to see that we have become more unified as a single nation, while others would be repulsed that it came at the expense of the rights of their own state. Some might view our current government as a source of liberty, while others would view it as a source of oppression.

I suppose that if there was one thing in common that they might share is that we have forged friendly relations with most of the countries in the world. One part of the Declaration of Independence refers to the idea that we would be opponents with Great Britain in war, but in peace we would be friends. Despite the few countries that we do not have friendly relations with, we generally have a good reason for that.

Also, to see that elections for the choosing of who would be governing being the norm instead of being the exception would please most of the signers. True, they might fear the rule of the masses, but in places where free elections occur, there has been true respect for the right of the people to choose their government. Yes, corruption exists in nearly every country, but that tends to be preferable to the corruption of the parliamentary process of Great Britain in the 1770's.

I would guess that they might view our society with mixed results. That is, they would be very much like we are today.

Answer 6

I don't think so. I think we've lost sight of the purpose of the Bill of Rights. We talk about Freedom of Speech, yet anyone who expresses an opinion contrary to that of the majority is yelled down as a "Liberal," or "Anti-American," or, God forbid, a "Terrorist." We forget that if we don't agree with an opinion, we also have the right to ignore them. We have the right of Freedom of Religion, yet I've heard all too many people talk about how we should just ship back anyone who doesn't belong to our faith. The right to privacy is implicit in the Bill of Rights, yet we applaud the government for listening in on our conversations, because after all, it might catch SOMEONE who is a threat to our security. Our country was built on the right to freedom, not the right to security, and the more we want security, the more we have to trade in our freedoms. After all, in the middle ages, everyone was very secure in their place--serfs farmed the land for generation after generation, always working under the thumb of the lord who owned the land, and subservient to him. The only way out was to join the church and be subservient to it. Don't we want more than that?

Answer 7

The Native Americans were certainly free to pursue life,liberty and happiness; as long as they did it somewhere else. America has always been a quagmire of stomach-churning hypocrisy and the founding fathers would recognise their work in contemporary America.

Answer 8

I think that they would be pleased that their Constitution and government has survived. Pleased that the system they designed has worked as intended.

Would they like our current policies? They would absolutely hate the amount of taxes we pay. The income tax would drive them nuts all by itself. They were believers in small government, not the big government we've become.

The results would be mixed, but I image they would have been most disappointed by the Civil War, not because of why the North fought it, but because it had to be fought. Of what we have today I think they would be most dismayed by the size & power of the government, but still proud that the nation has survived. (They wouldn't like our foreign policy either, but I don't think that would be the top of the list)

Answer 9

The founding fathers would be horrified. No more slavery, blacks voting, women not treated as property? Free public education, voting rights for non-land owners, equal protection under the law?!

Answer 10

They'd probably mobilize and call for air support. Possibly forward a letter of apology to the British Crown.