tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post4167115109116590876..comments2024-03-14T13:25:20.613-05:00Comments on Boston 1775: “A Mentality Inherited from the Founders”?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-46294370918299820252010-11-26T13:17:11.151-05:002010-11-26T13:17:11.151-05:00I saw Ferling’s Ascent as the story of a man who e...I saw Ferling’s <i>Ascent</i> as the story of a man who eventually overcame, or satisfied, the ambition that drove him in his early years. Of course, Washington remained very touchy about his personal reputation through the end of his life, but he really did seem to find a personal balance. But that doesn’t mean all of his peers did, or that they agreed on some sort of national balance.<br /><br />The comparison with Jefferson seems apt. Washington left a valuable estate, in large part by getting out of tobacco as his main crop, and increased his wife’s fortune. Jefferson left debts for his family because he never could cut himself off from European credit. Even though he disliked Hamilton’s bank and all it represented, Jefferson went through life as a borrower.<br /><br />Thanks for the link to the article on David Brooks’s “bobo” columns. There’s a reason some journalists go into opinion-writing rather than reporting: they can’t actually do reporting.J. L. Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15405157000473731801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-83580480977867939102010-11-26T06:57:04.171-05:002010-11-26T06:57:04.171-05:00Wasn't Jefferson himself, as were many Virgini...Wasn't Jefferson himself, as were many Virginia planters, deeply in debt to London bankers and tobacco dealers? The latter fronted them the money to keep their upper-class lifestyle going in America, beyond what their products could fetch on the market. They often died, like Jefferson, in debt.<br /><br />It is easy to forget that the Founding Fathers were deeply flawed men who realized their failings as well as their strengths. They were not gods, nor saw themselves so. They had been through war, a revolution, financial ruin and, in the case of Jefferson and Washington, were ambivalent, often troubled owners of slaves. Hence the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and many of their writings can also be seen as documents based upon "We've seen how bad men can be; don't do as we did".RFullernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-20914819921339626712010-11-25T08:45:07.697-05:002010-11-25T08:45:07.697-05:00My impression is that David Brooks simply picks a ...My impression is that David Brooks simply picks a theme and then writes on it, irrespective of the actual facts that support or undermine it. An <a href="http://www.phillymag.com/articles/booboos_in_paradise/" rel="nofollow">article several years ago in the "Philadelphia" magazine</a> found that Brooks doesn't actually fact-check his writing. <br /><br />I don't like intellectual laziness or people who are praised for traits they don't actually possess (like, in Mr Brooks's case, evenhandedness and accuracy); so thank you for adding to my list of debunked Brooksisms.Janhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07430151102779191991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28102666.post-68091137797293887472010-11-24T22:52:46.234-05:002010-11-24T22:52:46.234-05:00Brooks apparently has not read the "Ascent of...Brooks apparently has not read the "Ascent of George Washington" by John Ferling either. To suggest that the founders had within them some sort of calculated notion of balance and that this mentality was somehow inherited is just gibberish. And to suggest that issues of debt had nothing to do with "fractionalizing" of the American parties makes less sense. This so-called "ethos" of our fore-fathers is re-written history. While Jefferson and Madison are on their "sight seeing trip" to the North, Hamilton is laughing all the way to the bank.Todd Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11426729788803859026noreply@blogger.com