In these sentiments, sir, I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general government necessary for us there is no Form of Government but what may be a blessing to the People if well administered; and I believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other. — Ben Franklin
For the past few years, I’ve been saying the following to my students–“The United States is as ripe as its ever been for a dictatorial take over.” I follow that up with some comments about how this could easily come from either the Left (like a communist Castro or Stalin) or the Right (like a fascist Mussolini or Napoleon). That notion is too long to go into detail here, but the point is the Franklin saw this coming. John Adams did too, but Adams was being far more general than Franklin.
Franklin was being almost Biblically prophetic.
Look at the key points involved in this sentiment. “to be well administered for a course of years” Now think about this, when was the last time we had a good administration? Many will rush quickly to Reagan, but for many on the left, he certainly was not good. I will point out that he was probably the closest to the Founders’ position on many issues that we’d had in leadership since Grover Cleveland, so perhaps he fits. But in many respects, you end up almost 100 years back till the series of Presidents that includes Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson (and those men all had issues that the Founders would have had problems with).
What is “well administered” anyway? For the Founders, it certainly would have meant keeping a close connection to the Constitution. Having just written the document, they were concerned with how it was to be interpreted. And no, they didn’t agree in full, but they were constantly concerned with it. I wonder, today, when was the last time a current political leader actually READ the Constitution.
It also would have meant keeping the excesses of power under wraps. Again, they would have disagreed as to how tight the wraps were to be held, but even Hamilton would be aghast at how powerful the Federal Government has become. Having just fought with England for control of their own futures, the Founding Fathers were in no mood to return to some over-powerful government (Shays’ Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion being the two most famous examples of that feeling, post-Revolutionary War).
Here’s the second key point Franklin makes–“when the people shall become so corrupted as to need Despotic Government, being incapable of any other.” What does he mean by “corrupted?” Merriam-Webster’s says corrupted means “1 a : to change from good to bad in morals, manners, or actions; also : BRIBE b : to degrade with unsound principles or moral values.” And that is precisely what Adams was getting at in his quote; the loss of values that provide our foundation will doom the Republic.
Are we there yet? Well, certainly it depends upon whom you ask, but I think the answer is a pretty easy “yes.” We are there now. Corrupted. I won’t take the time to defend my answer. You may certainly disagree, but no matter what side of the aisle you are on, its not hard to look around for evidence of the moral corruption that has gripped our country. And the reason is not our supposed rejection of God. Seriously. One main reason is simply that the last 3 generations of Americans (Millennials, Gen X, Boomers) have grown up in so much abundance, our wealth and success has eaten away at the fibers of our historic understanding of values such as hard work, truth, trustworthiness, and sacrifice.
Can we fix this? Honestly, I’m not sure, but we must try. This is one reason why I travel as a speaker, talking about values. The Founders weren’t sure they would make it either, as Franklin is clearly saying, but he had given most of his life to attempt to help out (through writing, through service, through sacrifice). We must try. Heck, that’s partially what this blog is about.