Filthy Rich Founders?
As we celebrate America's Independence Day, what would America's Founders think of our 'Filthy Rich Politicians'?
Happy Independence Day! —
No, this is not a typo.
John Adams believed today (July 2) should be America’s Independence Day, writing:
The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
What happened? Those pesky members of congress insisted on editing the Declaration of Independence, a two-day task that involved making some 39 revisions to the first draft.
Even Thomas Jefferson had to deal with publication delays and fastidious editors.
Speaking of which, it feels scary to say this, but my new book FILTHY RICH POLITICIANS is out later this month (if you have not done so already, please pre-order it today).
Why is this scary? Writing a book takes a long time, so the notion that it will be on bookshelves in a couple of weeks is simultaneously terrifying and gratifying.
Among the many stress-inducing fears is the possibility that something will change between the time you “finish” writing your book and the time it actually publishes.
One small example occurred just this week, when it was reported that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had—thanks to a lucrative book deal!—suddenly become a millionaire. (Prior to this latest financial disclosure, DeSantis’s net worth was estimated to be just $319,000.)
Thankfully, this news didn’t impact my book much. If anything, it reinforced a central premise, which is that, in modern America, the rich get elected and the elected get rich.
(I’m not trying to pick on DeSantis for making a lot of money on a book deal; he’s merely the latest example of someone who parlayed politics into a payday. As socialist Bernie Sanders famously declared: “I wrote a best-selling book. If you write a best-selling book, you can be a millionaire, too.”)
Now, you might say that America’s politicians have always been rich—and you’d have a point. But the gap between members of congress and the rest of us has widened dramatically in recent decades.
And that’s not the only thing that has changed…
Many of America’s Founders were incredibly wealthy, and almost all of them could rightly be called “elites,” but nobody should doubt their willingness to sacrifice. Indeed, they pledged “Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor” for this great republic.
The Founders risked their fortunes for America. Today, however, it feels like too many of our politicians are more interested in getting wealth, fame, and status.
America’s Founders were students of history. They were obsessed with Rome and why the Republic fell. And as the description of historian Ramsay MacMullen’s Corruption and the Decline of Rome puts it, “Rome’s fall was the steady loss of focus and control over government as its aims were thwarted for private gain by high‐ranking bureaucrats and military leaders.”
As historian H. W. Brands notes in his book The First American, after the Revolutionary War, Benjamin Franklin believed that Great Britain’s “‘great disease’ …was the large number and emoluments of her political offices; her downfall the ‘avarice and passion’ these aroused in her public officials. … As long as riches attached to office, Britain would suffer.”
There are many reasons why nations fail, but the perception that the game is rigged for the ruling class is certainly one of them.
Jonah Goldberg put it this way in a recent podcast about Rome: “It’s wildly corrosive to the virtues of a republic and a democracy if you believe that you’re a sucker for playing by the rules, when the people who benefit the most from the system aren’t.”
Sadly, it feels like we are getting to this point in our country.
So how can we avoid this fate? Filthy Rich Politicians suggests many reforms that, if adopted, would dramatically help restore trust in our leaders and institutions.
This great experiment is, as Ben Franklin famously said outside of Independence Hall in 1787, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Can we keep it?
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A REMEMBRANCE…
My old bandmate from the 1990s, George Spiegel, died this past week. Although he never achieved fame as a musician, George was probably the greatest songwriter I ever knew. One of my favorite George Spiegel songs is called “Leave Him at Home.” Please give it a listen. RIP, George.