Will America ever have leaders like it did during the Revolutionary period?

Question

It seems like leaders at that time-- Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, Washington, et al.-- were of a hyper-educated, self-sacrificing mold we don't see any more. Am I just being cynical? Or maybe our society has evolved to where leadership isn't so... patrician?

Answer 1

Great leaders in our history only come from time periods in which there was some sort of hardship before they were in power.  The orginal thirteen colonies thought the British were trying to exploit them, thus came the founding fathers; FDR after the Great Depression, Lincoln after secession from the southern states.  Also remember, any country (or at least the relatively new ones) make gods of their founding fathers and it becomes a blasphemy to criticize them.  For instance, the founding fathers had the opportunity to get rid of slavery; Jefferson himself scrutinized the institution in his orginial draft of the Declaration of Independence, but the southern states did not allow.  Furthermore, Lincoln freely admitted that if he could unite the country without freeing one slave, he would; FDR conciously made the US a superpower at the expense of other nations during WW2 and died alongside his mistress instead of his wife.  We never hear these stories because these leaders are passed off as being godlike.  Politicians, regardless of time period or event, have always had the same level of cynicism.

Answer 2

i dont understand a thing u said LOL! ROFL!

Answer 3

There was nothing patrician about Franklin or Paine.

The Revolutionary period was the one period in American history when fundamental principles could be laid down.  Nows, the ideas that this generation had were not entirely new--they were products of both the American experience and the Enlightenment; they were shared by many thinking people in Europe.  But in this period new principles could be ennunciated.

Ever since then, all American ideas have been measured against the Declaration of Independence and the Constution.  Americans have never had a period of political creativity that matches the period 1763-1800.  Most Americans would be profooundly distrustful of radically new political ideas--and perhaps this distrust is healthy.

Answer 4

If you compare education from Jefferson's time to

today wow.

Jefferson's standards were higher for education.

The books they read unmodified Emerson in 7th grade.

Compared to today unmodified Emerson is college level.

Answer 5

NEVER

Answer 6

If you are being cynical, than I most certainly am because I agree with you.  

I would blame the poor quality of those we elect to office on the mass media - things like the TV, the Internet, and the radio.  They are great inventions, but I think they have seriously deteriorated the quality of the men that we elect to office.  In order to be elected, one has to be a great speaker, look good on TV, speak in sound-bytes, and have a good press agent.  Every move they make and every word they say can be recorded and end up seconds later on YouTube, so they have to be extremely careful.  The fact that Bush can make a speech in D.C. and it can be instantly seen anywhere worldwide is significant, and if an elected official makes a mistake, there is no time for recovery since it is on YouTube seconds later and everybody knows.  

If you look back on some of the great presidents that we have had, very few of them would have been elected if they had to run in our society.  Abe Lincoln was exceedingly tall, and had a high-pitched squeaky voice.  He wouldn't have a prayer if he was running today.  Because they didn't have this mass media surrounding them, and most people only heard what they read in the papers, people weren't going to make a decision based on how well they spoke in public - they were going to look at credentials and the beliefs of the candidates, and choose that way.  

I also feel our leadership is less patrician because nowadays, officials want power.  We don't remember a time when there was a king, and the people had little to no control over what happened and what the government did.  People like George Washington didn't want power because they knew what it was like to be ruled by a single powerful monarch - he sincerely wanted the people to have control over the country.  Today, Americans don't know what it is like, and the officials want power - it isn't about helping the people or doing what the people want - it is about how they can get re-elected and stay in power.

So in short, I don't think you are being cynical - I think you are absolutely right.

Answer 7

I think that the leaders of today stray away from the issue of what the people want, and more towards their party's on self interests. Magik mentioned when all war breaks out it will be the people against the government. I believe when/if that happens, Revolutionary leaders will again play a big part in this countries future. This country is in need of some very serious adjustments if we expect to globally compete with the growing economies of aspiring nations. So to answer your question, yes it is only a matter of time before another Jefferson, Franklin, Paine, or Washington will lead us to economic boom.

Answer 8

America will never be like it was before .... they are telling us now what we can do and what we can't do. Smoking or no smoking!

If you weigh too much where you can and can not work. Just recently they were trying to take the rights to have guns tooken away from us!

When another war breaks out it will be people against our goverment this is why they are trying to controll our every move! They lie too!!!!