4 Conservative Myths about the founding fathers

[ZiprHead]

http://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/01/4-conservative-myths-about-the-founding-fathers/?fbclid=IwAR0gIRjwopBudSdTnMKHZMTuPW55JpiTEtVbsAzxYDRjdbljHltzNURg8P8

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has some explaining to do. Last week, BuzzFeed reported that the Kentucky Senator had misquoted and taken out of context multiple quotes from the founding fathers, with the most errors linked to Tea Party hero, Thomas Jefferson. The mistakes appeared in his first two books, The Tea Party Goes to Washington and Government Bullies, where Paul wrote as if he and the whole Tea Party movement were the intellectual offspring of the founding fathers.

Of course, this is what most conservatives believe: that their movement is based on a vision of the founding fathers, particularly Jefferson, and that he and the others would have wholeheartedly supported it. Clearly, when these hardliners dress up in eighteenth century apparel, stockings and all, they do it because they consider their ideology closest to that of the fathers. But this is largely a myth. The founding fathers were not the staunch ideologues that most conservatives and even some liberals tend to believe.

The following list looks at some of the most inaccurate views that conservatives tend to associate with the founding fathers. When one looks at the history of these thinkers, rather than cherry-picking their works and making up quotes, a much more progressive vision appears.

1. The Founding Fathers wanted America to be a “Christian nation”
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2. The founding fathers all believed in limited government
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3. They worshipped the free market
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4. They believed the constitution was a perfect document
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[lpetrich]

Titled link:
4 Conservative Myths about the founding fathers

About (1), if the Founders wanted some state church, some Church of God the American, they would have created one.

About (2), it looks like the US has been much more like Alexander Hamilton's idea of what the nation ought to be than Thomas Jefferson's.

About (3), the Founders accepted a lot of capitalism, but they weren't absolutists about it.

About (4), the Founders recognized that their creation may not always work well. Like electing the President. Originally, the Vice President was to be whoever got the second most votes. Hillary Clinton as Donald Trump's VP? Donald Trump as Joe Biden's VP? They soon changed that in the 12th Amendament.