All of the people who wax nostalgic for the rational and civil discourse of our Founding Fathers should read up on their history.
The only civil and truly bipartisan selection of a president throughout our 233 year history was when George Washington was unanimously selected by Congress to be the first to hold the office. Jefferson and Adams, who were barely speaking by then, both fervently petitioned Washington to serve a second term because they honestly feared civil war if anyone else attempted to replace him.
The race between Jefferson (republican, states-rights) and Adams (Federalist, strong central government) was as vicious, underhanded and inflammatory as anything on the airwaves today. Jefferson funded a gazette to publish bare-faced lies about Adams, wrote treasonous letters debasing him and wouldn’t have been entirely sorry to see the central government fail. (Remind you of anyone or group?) Though Adams never personally participated in the mud-slinging, his supporters certainly did, in his name.
At the dawn of the 19th century, dirty politics was conducted by letter, newspaper & pamphlet, street-corner speeches, and a few riots and lynchings here and there. The only difference in today’s politics is that now the mud is slung at 95 decibels 24 hours a day by television, radio and the internet, and the lynchings are delivered to our livingrooms, curtesy of Fox and MSNBC.
Motivemagus over 13 years ago
Yeah, that would be nice. Not so much Jefferson these days, though.
parkersinthehouse over 13 years ago
smile
Bluejayz over 13 years ago
All of the people who wax nostalgic for the rational and civil discourse of our Founding Fathers should read up on their history.
The only civil and truly bipartisan selection of a president throughout our 233 year history was when George Washington was unanimously selected by Congress to be the first to hold the office. Jefferson and Adams, who were barely speaking by then, both fervently petitioned Washington to serve a second term because they honestly feared civil war if anyone else attempted to replace him.
The race between Jefferson (republican, states-rights) and Adams (Federalist, strong central government) was as vicious, underhanded and inflammatory as anything on the airwaves today. Jefferson funded a gazette to publish bare-faced lies about Adams, wrote treasonous letters debasing him and wouldn’t have been entirely sorry to see the central government fail. (Remind you of anyone or group?) Though Adams never personally participated in the mud-slinging, his supporters certainly did, in his name.
At the dawn of the 19th century, dirty politics was conducted by letter, newspaper & pamphlet, street-corner speeches, and a few riots and lynchings here and there. The only difference in today’s politics is that now the mud is slung at 95 decibels 24 hours a day by television, radio and the internet, and the lynchings are delivered to our livingrooms, curtesy of Fox and MSNBC.
Jason Allen over 13 years ago
And people think it’s those who vote 3rd party who are stupid….
cjkinsey over 13 years ago
I wish they talked about details and specifics as if we were not 12 years old. What are all of those agenda’s and what is the problem with each?