Musings, The Founding Fathers, Misc - La Cueva

Yesterday waiting for the food bank to open I thought of someone I'd encountered there last year. Like me, he was unemployed and broke. Yet when I mentioned the bailout AIG, as well as the banks, was getting he began defending not only AIG but the insurance industry in general, much the way many OC residents defend John Wayne as being a war hero. Needless to say, I gave this guy some much-deserved heat.

Not long ago a reporter asked Sarah Palin to name five of the Founding Fathers, a reasonable question considering she often makes references to the Constitution in her speeches and drapes herself in the flag. She could not do it, an amazing feat considering three of the most visible of the group have last names ending with "on" (Washington, Madison, Hamilton) plus Benjamin Franklin. Then I wondered if the Teabaggers (and, of course, other guys like the one at the food bank) would change their political perspective if they knew who the Founding Fathers were collectively:

• WASHINGTON was generally acknowledged to be the richest man in the country and enslaved many people.


• HAMILTON was also extremely wealthy, enslaved a number of people and favored a monarchy given his druthers.


• MADISON came from landed wealth and owned slaves.

In short, the Constitution was not written by the butcher, baker and candlestick maker.