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Like Trump, The Founding Fathers Weren’t PERFECT EITHER!

A few months ago, I wrote and posted a defense of Donald Trump entitled “Why Would We Elect as President a Guy Who...? In it, I attempted to point out that MANY of those we have elected to the White House (as well as the myriad men and women who occupy high positions) have been – like ALL of us – frail, flawed and fallen fellow human beings and, yes, sinners.

My defense of Trump – but, more critically, the vital need to keep the most corrupt candidate to run for the office in my lifetime OUT of the White House – has led me to do further research into the personalities and character some of the men who played pivotal roles in the formation of this country. I wanted to try and learn if some of THEM would have sparked #nevertrump like groups to spring up in opposition. I cite below some of the fairly well documented historical information I have uncovered.

(For the sake of brevity, I have omitted footnotes. If anyone wishes them, please request via email and I’ll send them.)

“The Father of Our Country, George Washington began producing rye whiskey at Mount Vernon in 1797, reaching a peak production of over 11,000 gallons per year by 1799. He was the largest producer of whiskey in the Colonies. Imagine this fine Christian gentleman becoming a producer of – HORRORS – WHISKEY!! You can still buy his original recipe from the folks now running Mt. Vernon. Search on-line for “George Washington Rye”.
Mt. Vernon is regularly picked by #neverwashington and Christian Temperance groups.

“Whatever qualities define a Founding Father in the minds of many Americans, Thomas Paine probably lacked most of them. He was, according to one acquaintance, ‘course and uncouth in his manners, loathsome in his appearance, and a disgusting egoist.’ And yet this new immigrant from England became the voice of the early Revolution.’ His outspokenness at times got him in trouble, and he often found himself enmeshed in colonial scandals.”

“If Ben Franklin was the elder sage of the Revolution, Washington its heroic warrior and Jefferson its rarefied intellect, John Adam was its messy, tenacious, disputatious, verbose conscience. The powerful French minister the Count de Vergennes once told Congress that Adams ‘...has a rigidity and arrogance and obstinacy that will cause him to foment a thousand unfortunate incidents.’ Adams himself once said ‘Popularity was never my Mistress, now was I ever, or shall I ever be a popular Man.’”
When the 5 man committee to draft the Declaration of Independence was formed, they assigned Jefferson who “...had a reputation of a masterly pen” the task of writing the document. Years later Adams admitted that he removed himself from consideration as he was “obnoxious, suspected and unpopular.” As we all know, despite being “obnoxious, suspected and unpopular” Adams went on to become President.

His enemies often referred to Alexander Hamilton as the “bastard boy” . From the West Indies, his mother, estranged from her legal husband, bore him in a relationship with another man. Hamilton went on to provide invaluable service to the new nation, creating and standing up numbers of institutions that exist to this day.

At 70 years of age when he participated in the drafting of the Declaration, Benjamin Franklin was the elder statesman of the move for independence. A successful businessman and widowed in 1774, he was also later renowned as a lady’s man – and the younger the better. During his frequent visits to Europe, first to England before the Revolution to plead the cause of American independence then to France to enlist French aid in the war with George, III, the stories of Dr. Franklin’s love of the freely given attentions of the ladies were legendary. As what we now call a “senior citizen” it’s doubtful that Dr. Franklin was “up” to return their affections in a more than grandfatherly manner. That said, some things are best left unknown.

Here I shall end this truncated tale of the strong, intelligent,principled, yet FLAWED men who loved America – the IDEA – enough to risk death at the hands of a tyrannical king.

If you cannot draw a parallel between them and the strong, intelligent, principled, yet FLAWED man who also loves America – the IDEA – enough to leave his successful and affluent PRIVATE life in what could well be the last opportunity to snatch America back from the tyrants of today, I fear that I have just wasted the 2 hours it took me to compose it and the 10 minutes or so it took you to read it.

And for that I humbly apologize.

Dick Bachert
8/20/2016