Ouch:

This, from the leading Republican Presidential candidate in 2012. Even Glenn Beck(!) thought Sarah Palin's waffling on the question of her favorite founding father was "bullcrap." Another Katie Couric moment for Palin?

Imagining what the Founding Fathers would think about our nation today always constitutes an interesting exercise. America's strength and enduring democracy probably would have delighted many of them. On the other hand, its political parties and many foreign alliances might have raised an eyebrow or two.

In fact, if one reads George Washington's farewell address, its quite amazing how much of his advice was not followed. "Avoid...overgrown military establishments" (nope); "steer clear of permanent alliances" (nope); "preserving the Union" (the Civil War ruined that one); "avoiding...the accumulation of debt" (funny, that); "party dissension...is itself a frightful despotism" (stopped following that advice even before his death).

Because this is a politics blog, however, the question here is what political party Washington would have belonged to.

On the surface, things look muddled. Washington's personal beliefs don't fit one particular mold. His commitment to isolationism, for example, wouldn't have made either the Democrats or the Republicans look appealing. He supported democracy and liberty - but doing that isn't exactly a Democratic or Republican-only thing.

We know that Washington held Federalist sympathies; thus his support of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton strikes one as a modern-day big-business supporter; perhaps Washington might therefore have leaned Republican.

The truth, however, is actually fairly obvious. Demographics provide the answer. If we look not at policy but at identity, we can tell what party George Washington would have belonged to.

Think about it for a moment. George Washington was a married rich rural Southern slave-owning Protestant straight white male who in all probability would not have voted for a black man. Sounds like a Republican to me.

--Inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/

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The Family Values Conference is now over, and having listened to the Republican candidates grovel and kiss up to their issues I think it is clear now what a Conservative is: someone who imposes his or her religious beliefs on everyone else.

Now, this is strange to me, since they constantly say they want to restore the values of the Founding Fathers. I don't believe any of the Founding Fathers were Southern Baptists, which appears to be the leading religion of these Family Values folks.

Nor do I believe that the Founding Fathers ever distinguished between Right To Life and Right To Choose... nor did they make it part of the Constitution, although these Family Values folks insist that they are the main supporters of said document.

What amazes me more is how people who are not from the Southern Baptist religious community, like Romney and Giuliani, assure the assembled multitude of the similarity of their beliefs... although they are not technically similar at all. And many of those assembled buy it (although those attending voted for Huckabee, a Baptist Preacher, in the straw poll).

So whose values represent Americans, really? And whose values represent those who put together the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? And whose values support the maintaining of life - I mean by not sending our sons and daughters to die for oil? And whose values allow for the participation in our society by Jews, Moslems, Episcopalians, Buddhists, and, yes, atheists and agnostics? And whose values support politicians who don't lie about WMDs?

If I were to vote for American Values today, it would be for a Democrat who supported an end to the war,  freedom of (and from) religion, and participation by all aspects of the American people.

Under The LobsterScope

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So just how do you save a bankrupt Nation, awash up to the eyeballs in 80 Trillion Dollars ($80,000,000,000,000.00) of debt, with a declining middle-class, a declining standard-of-living, declining Civil Liberties, a declining currency, and that is mentally frozen into thinking it must behave as "an Empire" and maintain 750 unwanted Foreign Military Bases over all the planet, and Military systems littered all over even Outer Space itself-??

Answer:  The Ron Paul Revolution

Let the learning begin:

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    In the last article, I wrote that I had 3 opening proposals to wrest our government away from the corporations and the special interest groups that now dictate our political policies and direct our national debate. Like the tick or the octopus with its sticky tentacles, loosening the hold of corporations and special interest money will be difficult and will require the efforts of all of us. These guys rely on the apathy of the masses to continue their hijacking of our government and elected officials. Here are my proposals and I welcome comments and other suggestions on the part of fellow concerned citizens.

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