Would the USA be what she is today if her Founding Fathers were liberals?

Question

What will be in the heart of a liberal nation?

Answer 1

It's all in the name.  I think one could make the case that the founding fathers were liberals.  They wanted freedom from the oppressive ways of the King of England, and they had the courage to risk their lives for it.  "Conservative" should mean to "conserve" the status quo.  The founding fathers did not want to do that.

But I suppose it's safe to say that the USA would not be the country it is today if the founding fathers had been different than they actually were.

I don't really know what the person means by John Adam's "Wealth of Nations," but I just bought and watched a 15-hour miniseries from the 1970s, The Adams Chronicles, about John Adams, and the next three generations of Adams.  I loved it!

Answer 2

The founding fathers, or most of them anyways, would have resembled the modern libertarian movement.  They would like the Republican's ideas on the free market and the invisible hand, but they would abhor the religious right movement.  They would like the Democrats support of social issues, though they would have likely considered the question of Roe v. Wade to be a marginal issue not even worth mention (of course they likely would have been in support of the choice movement).  However they would abhor the Democrats willingness to embrace socialist movements such as nationalized health care, welfare, and social security.

I think they would have completely disliked the idea of US involvement in the UN and NATO because of their fear of foreign entanglements, and I am absolutely certain they would consider the war in Iraq to be an act of treason on President Bush's behalf (btw, I'm impartial to the war on Iraq and personally do not subscribe to that belief, so hippies don't get all hot and bothered by my declaration).

Answer 3

We would all be speaking French because they would have invaded and taken over.

Answer 4

You'd be surprised how liberal their Ideals were.  Why do you think the Bill of Rights where written.  At the time it did not limit the states but it still allowed the state to be as liberal or conservative as it wished.  Which allows for maximum possible diversity in government but applying it is just the opposite.

EDIT:

I guess we've got to disagree about that.  From my PoV both of today's Conservatives & Liberals stomp all over the Bill of Rights as it suits their issues.  Granted I'd probably agree with you that liberals do it a whole lot more but they're ignorant of it.

Answer 5

I think a better question would be:

Would the USA be what she is today if Adam Smith had never wrote the Wealth of Nations?

That being the definition of laissez faire and the invisible hand.  Yes, a theory developed in 1776 is still prevalent today.

__

Amalone.. I am a liberal.

Barbara-Adam Smith is considered the first true economist (though theories existed before him).  He explained rather badly in words how laissez faire capitalism worked with an invisible hand.  Modern economists have been able to explain graphically and numerically what took Smith to write about 1000 pages on.

Answer 6

Definitely not america would probably of been taken over many years ago if the founding fathers were liberals. Liberalism=Socialism (very bad)

Answer 7

Why does everyone assume that all of the Founding Fathers agreed on everything philosophically? There were many different battles and many different factions, just like today.

Answer 8

no way

Answer 9

Not hardly....

The Liberal Agenda

•attack American traditions, specifically Christian traditions and the traditional American family

•engage in "get-even" policies that support discrimination when it benefits historically disadvantaged groups

•punish and/or discourage achievement through taxation and fiscal policies

•use the rulings of the Judicial branch of the government as de facto law, irrevocable by anything short of Constitutional amendment or a future court ruling, thus bypassing the legislative process. Roe V. Wade is the most frequently cited example of "judicial activism". (48 million dead and counting)

•weaken the military strength and morale of the country by vilifying the practice of armed combat and hesitating to use force when it appears necessary

•use regulatory bodies over private enterprise to accomplish social goals and restrict competition (government, education, labor)

•establish secular and progressive social policy, including support for g*y marriage, abortion, liberal drug policy, euthanasia and prostitution legalization.

•implement a foreign policy supporting multiculturalism, internationalism and the surrender of US sovereignty through activism, intervention and social anarchism.

Answer 10

If they had been liberals, they would have rolled over on their backs and begged for more taxes.

Answer 11

Well like many words today the meanings have changed,the founding fathers were liberal in the fact that were bucking the system by believing people had the ability to rule and decide their own futures but by today's standards I believe liberal is a term for a watered down socialist,a people that claim to honor free speech but then want to regulate speech that might offend people and label it hate speech,or by claiming to support minorities but continue to leave them in poverty,and a people that believe in the power of government instead of believing in the power of people to excel if government would get out of the way ,so no America would not have a chance if it had been founded by Libs.

Answer 12

Most were....

I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology.

Thomas Jefferson

I have sworn upon the alter of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

Thomas Jefferson

I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use our power the greater it will be.

Thomas Jefferson

I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

Thomas Jefferson

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.

Thomas Jefferson

"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. … No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." James Madison

The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.

James Madison

It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.

James Madison

'A standing army is like a standing member, an excellent assurance of domestic tranquility but a dangerous temptation to foreign adventure.' " George Washington

For if Men are to be precluded from offering their Sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of Speech may be taken away, and, dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.

GEORGE WASHINGTON, address to the officers of the army, Mar. 15, 1783

Answer 13

I think most of them were liberals and/or small government libertarians, like Jefferson.

The "conservatives" of the time wanted to keep British rule.