A lot can be learned from the origins of this nation, but in the modern United States, the Founding Fathers have taken on a status well beyond that of important historical figures. A civil religion has formed in the U.S., and the founders are its deities. And as with any religion, the followers often invoke their images when defending certain partisan ideas.
Using their thoughts as some sort of gospel truth is not all that productive for a democracy. They challenged authority — now we are challenging them.
The founders had many of the problems we do today, and they often did not land on the “divine, perfect solutions” we often credit them with.
The famous Sons of Liberty who were early advocates for American independence shut down a lot of speech in their day. Not in the way conservatives say liberals do today — they mutilated people who disagreed with them through tarring and feathering or pouring hot tea down people’s throats.
Can you imagine if protesters tarred and feathered Ben Shapiro when he came to campus? While we do not agree with what he said, we are happy no one physically harmed him.
Even when Alexander Hamilton “proposed a new form of government,” he was arguing for a society led by wealthy elites in which average people would be excluded.
The Founding Fathers disagreed on which religions should be protected. Jewish, Catholic and agnostic people had good reason to be worried about their safety in some parts of the country. To their credit, Thomas Jefferson promoted religious tolerance in 1777, and George Washington wrote letters to religious minorities reassuring them of their safety in the new country. Thankfully, in this case, the founders did not cave to some public demand for discrimination.
Idolizing the founders is good in creating a national story, but they were not perfect, nor did they create a perfect system. Let’s recognize they were a lot like us — flawed, often bigoted, but still trying to make a better place for all to live.
