Our Failure

We have let our Founding Fathers down. I was reading The Federalist Papers yesterday while having my car inspected. While reading No. 68, The Mode of Electing the President, by Alexander Hamilton, I came across these words:

"The process of election affords a moral certainty, that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications. Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States. It will not be too strong to say, that there will be a constant probability of seeing the station filled by characters pre-eminent for ability and virtue."

They had had extremely high expectations of the process that they had devised for the election of the chief magistrate of the united States of America - the President. They also had high expectations for us.

I confess the we have failed. We have not held those who represent us to the standards our founders expected. We have become easy victims of highly skilled P. R. firms. We get little

useful information from candidates. Even in debates, it doesn't matter what the questions is; they only tell us what they want us to hear, and we and the press let them off.

We have a responsibility to our founders, to ourselves, and to those who will follow us to do a better job. We need to live up to the expectations of those great men. They deserve nothing less.

more to follow...