• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

71% Of Americans Believe The Founding Fathers Would Be Disappointed At The USA

Do you think the Founding Fathers would be disapointed in the US.

  • Yes

    Votes: 49 65.3%
  • No

    Votes: 14 18.7%
  • Maybe

    Votes: 12 16.0%

  • Total voters
    75
Personally I think we are worse now than we were 50 years ago. We are in decline.

Depends on your perspective. 50 years ago as a teenager my dad had to flee rural Louisiana for some semblance of a fair life in the north after having been stolen from and lied to by his racist employer.
 
71% Of Americans Believe The Founding Fathers Would Be Disappointed At The Way The Nation Has Turned Out | Techdirt

I would be among the 71%. If you look at us now and compare us to the past we have become a lazy, arrogant, and stupid people. And the goverment has done many things that are unconstitutional (ex secret laws). Do you think they would be dissaponted in us, and is so why?

I don't see why that matters. They were hypocrites and liars. They violated the Constitution the second it was put into effect, stabbed their only allies at the time in the back to do business and trade with the very people who wanted to prevent us from becoming a nation, and spoke of liberty while keeping men as property. Jefferson himself even stated that he wouldn't give up his slaves, because that would mean giving up his life of luxury. We elevate these men up high on the level of being gods, but they were just fallible men who happened to get a lot of things wrong in the beginning. We're still fixing their mistakes to this day.

However, yes, they would probably be disappointed. We became a great world superpower just as their enemy, Great Britain, once was. We've taken colonies, entered the global market, and have become heavily entangled in foreign affairs. We've also heavily modified the original system of government, and have allowed all US Citizens to vote, which was never the founders intention. They viewed the public as stupid and selfish, with a complete and total lack of public virtue (sacrificing ones own wants for the greater good), which is exactly why only wealthy land owners were allowed to vote. Today we are no longer a republic with democratic elements, but a liberal democracy with remnants of the old republic. We've completely stripped and destroyed the government they created, but whether or not that's a good thing has yet to be decided.
 
71% Of Americans Believe The Founding Fathers Would Be Disappointed At The Way The Nation Has Turned Out | Techdirt

I would be among the 71%. If you look at us now and compare us to the past we have become a lazy, arrogant, and stupid people. And the goverment has done many things that are unconstitutional (ex secret laws). Do you think they would be dissaponted in us, and is so why?

I guess that would depend on which "Founding Fathers" you are referring to. Perhaps Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, authors of the Federalist Papers and prime movers behind the shanghied "Constitutional Convention" would be happy. I'd even add Benjamin Franklin.

However, if you asked Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, James Monroe, Patrick Henry, and a number of others of like mind, probably not.
 
they didnt gain independence from UK to be another imperialist l think

those fathers seem lovely when they are compared to many presidents

Idk, Thomas Jefferson wanted the Spanish Empire to fail so the US could "gain it from them piece by piece"
 
There are fewer starving people in the world today than ever, and most of those are for political reasons rather than agricultural. While I was a child we expected the world to end any second when for some stupid reasons the Ruskies went nuclear, a long distance call cost nearly what my cell phone bill costs now. I see the world and the US getting better. Could be wrong, but at least I am happy. I agree the music was better back then, but then again we have Thursday night football now.

I envy your positive attitude. I'm glad you're happy.

I probably need to work on that....
:2wave:
 
I guess that would depend on which "Founding Fathers" you are referring to. Perhaps Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, authors of the Federalist Papers and prime movers behind the shanghied "Constitutional Convention" would be happy. I'd even add Benjamin Franklin.

However, if you asked Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, James Monroe, Patrick Henry, and a number of others of like mind, probably not.

Well now Madison was already disappointed at the way things were going before his death. He was opposed to the SCOTUS taking the power it took and, like Jefferson, thought that would lead to no good. Of course he was correct in that thought.
 
Idk, Thomas Jefferson wanted the Spanish Empire to fail so the US could "gain it from them piece by piece"

so teh presidents of this age are on the right way:mrgreen:
 
Okay so let's think about this for a minute. According to how the founding fathers created this amazing country, I think they would be happy in many aspects. But at the same time there are some issues that are occuring in the government that they wouldn't be so proud of. But we can't really say what these aspects would be because the American population as a whole doesn't have a clue of some of the things the government does. Every country has its corruption, even the US and this is something the founding fathers would be sad about. But there are plenty of things the American people should be proud about.
 
91% of Americans don't know jack about the Founding Fathers...
 
Don't get me wrong, I don't want to be pessimistic but, I am a realist.

How can you look at the world's economy, the 3/4 of this population that live paycheck to paycheck".

That paycheck provides more now for the average human than at any time in the past...
 
I'm not of the opinion that the Founders views would've remained stagnant given the accumulated knowledge, experience and world events over the years, or that they would find a country with a stable political climate and the world's most powerful economy and military to be a disappointment.
 
71% Of Americans Believe The Founding Fathers Would Be Disappointed At The Way The Nation Has Turned Out | Techdirt

I would be among the 71%. If you look at us now and compare us to the past we have become a lazy, arrogant, and stupid people. And the goverment has done many things that are unconstitutional (ex secret laws). Do you think they would be dissaponted in us, and is so why?

I'm part of the percentage of people who doesn't care what a bunch of people who died 200 years ago would think of the country today. It is completely irrelevant.
 
More of everything; quality if life has increase exponentially over the last century.
The last century as a whole? Sure. The last few decades of it? Not so much.
 
As an outsider looking in, I have no idea what the 71% can possibly be thinking. The Founding Fathers would find a country that has advanced far beyond anything they may have believed possible while at the same time holding true to the principles upon which the country was built.

I think that is where they would be disappointed. The American people have given up many of their liberties since the Founders time.
 
71% Of Americans Believe The Founding Fathers Would Be Disappointed At The Way The Nation Has Turned Out | Techdirt

I would be among the 71%. If you look at us now and compare us to the past we have become a lazy, arrogant, and stupid people. And the goverment has done many things that are unconstitutional (ex secret laws). Do you think they would be dissaponted in us, and is so why?

Of course the founders would be disappointed. Minorities, women, the poor and homosexuals have equal rights as white land owning males. The founders would have hated that!

Thank God we are disappointing to the founders!
 
I think that is where they would be disappointed. The American people have given up many of their liberties since the Founders time.

No, no, no. We have GAINED civil libteries. Civil liberties didn't even existed during the founders time. The founders were an racist oligarchy.
 
I think that is where they would be disappointed. The American people have given up many of their liberties since the Founders time.

That's only a very recent development, over the past dozen years, and I believe the pendulum will swing back in the not to distant future while maintaining a sufficient level of security scrutiny. Whether or not you agree with what Snowden did, or how he did it, one has to thank him for bringing the issue to the forefront and making it a topic of discussion going forward. It sounds like there's bipartisan support in congress for new legislation or changes to the Patriot Act that will rein in what is seen as monitoring abuse, and that's a good thing.
 
More of everything; quality if life has increase exponentially over the last century.

Right. We live like kings compared to the elite of previous generations who comparatively lived in utter poverty. The Founding Fathers didn't have:

-Indoor plumbing
-Hot water heaters
-Toilet paper
-Air conditioning
-Electricity
-Cable TV
-mp3 players
-Cell phones
-blue-ray disc players
-the NFL
-cars
-airplanes
-toothpaste
.......
 
71% Of Americans Believe The Founding Fathers Would Be Disappointed At The Way The Nation Has Turned Out | Techdirt

I would be among the 71%. If you look at us now and compare us to the past we have become a lazy, arrogant, and stupid people. And the goverment has done many things that are unconstitutional (ex secret laws). Do you think they would be dissaponted in us, and is so why?

I think the founding fathers would have almost no frame of reference for evaluating the United States in 2013. Though it's only been a few hundred years the social, political, economic, scientific, and good lord technological changes that we've undergone have been more dramatic than anything previously seen in human history. I think they would be over-awed at what we've accomplished and dazzled by our prodigious wealth, size, and power.

Beyond that I think there would be so much to process that their opinions on our political or social development would be almost incoherent. If you rocketed forward to 2240 and the Americans of that time told you about the Constitutional Amendments passed to account for giving voting rights to gene spliced chimeras and the regulatory bodies necessary to monitor them would you be able to fully digest the situation from where your frame of reference is?

I'm not saying they would have nothing to say, I'm saying it would be of questionable value and as intelligent men I think they'd be more careful in sharing their opinions on a world that is so unrecognizable to them.
 
Last edited:
All of them would be disappointed for various reasons, as they were during their own time. Even though most somehow think this, the Founding Fathers were not just magically content with the United States as it was. Disappointment was a common reaction to social and political developments. Such a poll question only illuminates a decent chunk of those around today. This would be similar to "on the right" or "on the wrong" track questions.

As an outsider looking in, I have no idea what the 71% can possibly be thinking. The Founding Fathers would find a country that has advanced far beyond anything they may have believed possible while at the same time holding true to the principles upon which the country was built.

The Founding Fathers may be disappointed in some of the citizens of your great country who don't appreciate the wonder they helped create and the way in which your government has veered off course into areas best left to the people, but all in all I believe they'd be very proud.

After going through the various embedded links, I think these two cover both the country as a whole, and the status of our government. The questions were not very specific regarding what aspects of our development as a country were in question, but our government appeared to be at least part of the answer sought. I think the Founders would be extremely disappointed in the size and especially the scope of our government, while being completely awe struck by the status of our nation as a global economic, cultural and military power. It is obvious that the foundation they built led to our current state. They also were well aware of the corruption that could and would creep into the workings of our government system.
 
In some ways, they may be a little disappointed (depending on which ones we are actually talking about), but in many, many other ways, they would probably be very proud. As someone else pointed out, we took their ideas and not only used them to improve our own country, but also are seen as THE country to base new democracies on, even if just as a foundation. Their ideas, for the most part work, particularly after they went away from a loose conglomerate of states (that behaved as small nations unto themselves) and went to a centralized government that still allowed states self-governance. But we have also made individual rights much more important than any government control (or at least we try). There are some things I think many of our founding fathers would not approve of, but it wouldn't be an overall disappointment.
 
In some ways, they may be a little disappointed (depending on which ones we are actually talking about), but in many, many other ways, they would probably be very proud. As someone else pointed out, we took their ideas and not only used them to improve our own country, but also are seen as THE country to base new democracies on, even if just as a foundation. Their ideas, for the most part work, particularly after they went away from a loose conglomerate of states (that behaved as small nations unto themselves) and went to a centralized government that still allowed states self-governance. But we have also made individual rights much more important than any government control (or at least we try). There are some things I think many of our founding fathers would not approve of, but it wouldn't be an overall disappointment.

I think it's a mistake to use that term. We do not have a central government (though there is a group that would love this). But I understand the point you were trying to make.
 
Back
Top Bottom