Posted on 12/26/2004 9:15:20 PM PST by CHARLITE
Dear Jon,
So “America (the Book)” was named Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly. More than successful, it’s a cultural phenomenon. I had to see what all the shouting’s about. If your goal was money and self-promotion, congratulations. If you had a higher goal, close but no cigar.
Begin with the Foreword “by” Thos. Jefferson. Ol’ Tom was one of the greatest political thinkers in history. I’m not going to pick on deliberate falsehoods or fake quotes. Nor brevity, nor attempts at humor. Just flat-out, factual errors.
You have Jefferson say “we” composed “the Declaration and the Constitution.” You credit 26 collaborators on this project. Didn’t any of you know that Jefferson was in Paris when the Constitution was written? There was a movie with the title “Jefferson in Paris,” played by a sober Nick Nolte. Did all of you miss it? But I digress.
You have Jefferson call the Constitution “a living document.” He thought no such thing. In the Kentucky Resolutions, he wrote “Put not your faith in men, but bind them down with the chains of the Constitution.” Elsewhere, he repeatedly called the federal courts “the most dangerous branch,” if they took the law and the Constitution in their own hands to rewrite as they chose.
It’s not that you and your colleagues were ignorant of Jefferson. When you got to the free press, on page 136, you used the great quote from Ol’ Tom about choosing between “government without newspapers, or newspapers without government.” Y’all did your homework, when leading to the answer you wanted. (But you used a corrupt source and blew the quote.)
That the Founding Fathers “weren’t perfect” is self-evident. Ben Franklin said it best at the close of the Constitutional Convention. His speech on compromise included this: “Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best. The opinions I have had of its errors, I sacrifice to the public good. I have never whispered a syllable of them abroad."
The one thing we got right, two centuries ago, was writing a Constitution that worked and lasted. Though there are several 5,000-year-old civilizations, the oldest Constitution is ours, at 215 years. Our successes have stemmed from that, with more than a little assistance from Franklin’s Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights Clause. (Every nickel of your royalties is because of those few words.)
Jon, compliments where compliments are due. You almost got the story of the Constitution right. It’s true that “the Founders prayed that the Constitution would be ratified, respected and upheld....” You missed only one, overwhelming point. Amendment of the Constitution is right there in the document. It says that Congress and the states have that power, NOT a bare majority of the Supreme Court Justices on any given Friday (when they conference their decisions).
Of the 191 Members of the United Nations, 185 have written constitutions, in most cases as just unenforced window dressing. For all your bemoaning the fate of the United States, you miss this essential point too. But there are many lesser errors in your work.
Just on a fast read, and without doing extra homework, “America (the Book)” has an average of 1.5 gross historical errors per page. Let’s just sample the prime numbers: P. 1, in every election since 1789, more than two people have run for President; P. 3, you assume no demagogues in Athens – perhaps y’all were ignorant of the ostracism of General Alcibiades, leading to the fall of Athens?; P. 5, Gutenberg did not lead to the dumbing down of literacy, the National Education Association has done that; P. 7, Machiavelli’s influence on American democracy is not “none,” it is massive. Don’t you follow politics at all?
Jon, you’ve written a book of humor, not philosophy. Still, you are too bright and well educated to hide behind that excuse. You seek to be a “newsman” while you condemn the breed. And you seek to “educate” while you amuse. Sometimes the humor IS subtle. Like the quote without attribution to Otto von Bismarck (P. 66). Or the bow to Eric “Otter” Stratton’s legal summation in “Animal House” (P. 91).
I called you a “magnificent b*stard,” because your goal was higher than mere amusement and money. (You certainly caught my reference to General Patton, commenting on Field Marshal Rommel.) You sought to put useful information in the hands of many people, even if tricking them into it. Fair enough. Surely there will be a second edition. Next time, talk to a couple people who REALLY know the details of your subject.
Sort of like Victor Borge at the piano, you need to know the music straight before you can conduct a sidesplitting take-off. Fair enough?
Cordially,
the (More-er-Less) Honorable Congressman Billybob from Western Carolina
About the Writer: John Armor is a First Amendment lawyer and writer who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. John receives e-mail at
CongressmanBillybob@earthlink.net
I don't know who this John Armor is, but he's awful at these articles. :) Hehehe!
Liked the review, sir.
Liberals NEVER profess the TRUTH. Only interpret it as it fits them.
If he was really interested in writing the truth .. he would have
As hard as Jon Stewart tries to look like a bemused patriot, he is an arrogant socialist who hates America and just about every important aspect of it. His book is tasteless drivel about the deep subjects of freedom and justice in a representative democracy. He thinks he's clever and funny (and oh so brilliant, of course. He's even smarter than those old-fashioned fathers of our country.) He and his book and tv show are disappointingly immature. He's like the cute, talkative six year old who knows that no matter who he's talking to or about, bodily functions and jokes about private body parts--and nudity--will always get guffaws from other like-minded children or will cause some adults profound embarrassment--particularly parents, which is probably why he enjoys his exhibitions so much--his own parents are embarrassed, if they are normal. His cheap humor belies a dearth of wit and incompetence in the language. To him I'd say, Is this all there is? Is this all you've got, man? You're boring and you rely on easy and cheap humor you hope will mask your truly malicious intent: to tarnish my country America's image in any and every way you can. May you get what you deserve.
Search is your friend.
See This post.
Jon Stewart has gone the way of Al Franken; hate-filled and not funny anymore.
Excellent piece of writing.
One of my irritants too.
I believe the mods do the best than can, but, at times, just say, "To he!! with it!"
Ditto, and he (Stewart) sucks.
You are correct, as always. :-) I din't see it the first time and I appeciate it.
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