Let’s get back to the principles on which our country was founded!
Back in the days when our nation was founded, only white men who owned land could vote. That means rich white men with money controlled the political system, calling all the shots. Okay, that part hasn’t changed.
In our first presidential election in 1788, the only people the Founders decided could vote were…well, they were NOT women, NOT blacks, NOT poor white men, and in many states, NOT Catholics or Jews.
But then we got on a slippery slope away from the principles on which our country was founded.
Over time, some states abandoned the landowning requirement, thus enabling poor white men to vote. Religious restrictions were also lifted, thereby bringing Catholics and Jews to the voting booth.
When the 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870, black Americans finally won the right to vote. Fortunately, in order to stick to our founding principles, True Patriots invented poll taxes, literacy laws, and other measures to keep black voters away. But it was only a matter of time before liberal judges undermined these well-intentioned efforts and cleared away any impediments to black men voting.
Four amendments later (19th), we gave women the right to vote. We had slid most of the way down the slope. Now all that remained was to give voting rights to pets, farm animals, and corporations.
When people romanticize the beliefs and practices of our Founding Fathers, and how we need to get back to our roots, I tend to groan. America evolves, mostly in good ways. The Founders got us off to a fabulous start, but they were fallible men locked in a particular period of time with its own peculiar sensibilities. Going back to our roots is, in many ways, going…well, BACKwards.
So thank you, guys, for launching the USS America. But I have no desire to return to the America of 1776. We’ve come a long way, mostly in the right direction. And somehow, I think you’d all agree.
I suspect that the Founders themselves would NOT want to return to those roots.
Besides, they wore wigs and stockings. Who wants to do that?
