Your question was:
"I'm not trying to be a smartass here, but wasn't this country founded by ideologues and reactionary absolutists?"
My reply was simple and at the same time concise and precise.
I never said the The Founders weren't ideologues. I said the Founders weren't impractical ideologues. Once again, "the Founding Fathers were radical revolutionaries". I also mentioned, the Founders were the best politicians of there day and like their contemporary counterparts, all politicians compromise and negotiate. Nobody gets 100% of what they want. The facts are indisputable. During the First Constitutional Convention, the US Constitution went through several drafts before being accepted by a majority of the delegates.
What the Founders would have to say about modern American society, is total speculation on your part. Contemporary American's have a knowledge and awareness of historical events that the Founders didn't have. We have been exposed to a society that is different and far more complex then the one which existed in the late 17th century and early 18th century. Reacting to certain events is one thing, being a reactionary is the same as being a rightwing extremist. Such fringe extremsim serves no good purpose and solves nothing in the political arena.
As a traditional conservative, I don't advocate tax increases and more governmnet spending. Nor do I support gun control and removing references to God from our everyday activities in the public domain.
This is the 21st century, my friend. Stop living in the past.