My favorite "founding father"

[dianeduane]

He was an organization man who was not particularly organized,

a committee man who worked most effectively through back channels. With equal gusto he preached temperance and wrote drinking songs. He practiced frugality only, he admitted, so long as it was absolutely necessary.

...His legacy is not a political philosophy but a protean existence, act after act of bold curiosity, brash risk-taking, raw ingenuity. Once those constituted a definition of the American character. Today they would more likely be termed "hypomania," a fair diagnosis for any individual who manages single-handedly to found a library, fire company, police force, hospital, university, insurance company, sanitation department and militia.

...A materialistic age returns him to his glory, none more so than our overachieving own. His passions are ours: smarts, self-improvement, social welfare and better cell phone reception for all.

Happy Birthday (a day late), Ben.

Comments

[naraht.livejournal.com]

Ah Ben Franklin, the 1st person in American history to actually be qualified to be the president, and the 1st person smart enough to say no.

Mr Franklin was all that and more

[carpdeus.livejournal.com]

While I do appreciate both Franklin the man and Franklin the myth (mythologized as much by his autobiographies as by others), I am continually amazed to learn new facts and have known facts dispelled. And I have discovered his writings (such as this very whimsical piece (http://www.icarusindie.com/wiki/index.php/Benjamin_Franklin_Daylight_Savings_Time) that folks point to as the genesis of Daylight Savings Time, a fact which Mr. Franklin would be sure to laugh at) which range from serious to satire to whimsy, and most stand up today to be as readable as they were when first written.

Peace,

-J

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Thanks also for this. It was well worth the time.