From Deseret News archives:
U.S. enthrones military, ignores Founding Fathers
Sadly, if the Founding Fathers could see us now, they would not be happy with what we have done to their visionary concepts. The United States has become the most powerful nation on earth. But our power derives not from the revolutionary ideas Jefferson outlined in the Declaration of Independence; instead, U.S. power depends on the military might James Madison distrusted.
We used our military might to start a war in contradiction to Washington's advice about foreign entanglements. At Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, representatives of our government abuse prisoners in ways Adams would consider morally unacceptable. Madison would object to holding prisoners indefinitely without charges or trial. He would never accept the excuse that they are prisoners of war any more than he would have excused Great Britain for holding American revolutionaries incommunicado.
Jefferson, Madison and Adams would point to provisions of the Patriot Act and shake their heads, wondering why we have chosen to contradict the nation's basic principles. Jefferson would object to invasions of privacy allowed by the act. Madison would call the Patriot Act a "tyranny of the majority." And Adams would complain about so-called "renditions" — secretly taking captives to lawless nations for torture-based questioning.
Hamilton would worry about the dollar falling in value around the world . . . and about foreign nations buying American companies with money from U.S. trade deficits. He would be furious about the $5 trillion national debt, and he would want to know why we don't have an aggressive debt-reduction program.
Franklin might talk once again about the sun carved on the back of George Washington's chair. This time, he would suggest the sun appears to be a setting sun, not a rising sun. Franklin would also chide us about being scientifically illiterate. He might say: "You use microwave irradiation in your kitchens every day, but you reject irradiation of food to kill dangerous germs." Or: "You pay extra for food labeled organic, but all food is, by definition, organic." Franklin would marvel at our electrical system — far removed from lightning on a kite string — but he would chastise us for allowing such a marvelous resource to be poorly maintained and poorly regulated. Of course, Franklin — always the scientist — would be upset that the United States did not sign the Kyoto Treaty on global warming.
Appropriately, this week we will pay homage to Adams, Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton and others. But our praise will be more words than deeds.
