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AIM: maestrojed
YahooGreatest American
The other night watching TV I saw an advertisement for a new reality TV show. Don’t care, won’t watch it. However the premise of the show made me think a little and hence spawned this rant. The show was called something like The Greatest American
I got to thinking about whom I would choose as the greatest American. It’s a difficult question. I keep coming back to the writers of our Constitution. That may be a cliché answer but that doctrine they wrote was truly amazing and all of the freedoms and the life we enjoy today is due to them. One attribute that these gentlemen posed that few today do is a sense of what should be law. I have written at lease two posts about this but it is a strong issue for me, especially since the vast majority of people don’t understand what I am talking about. Consider a controversial issue such as God in the Pledge, gay marriage, illegal immigrant’s rights, etc. Most Americans have strong opinions on these subjects. Good, I would hope so. Tell others, convince others. However, present them with a law on the subject and they will immediately vote their opinion, never pausing to ask about the legality of the law. Never once asking what the law would do to personal rights. Never once asking how the law would effect other Americans. Never once asking if we even need a law on that subject. This “big picture” sight is what the authors of our Constitution had and why this country is as great and as free (for now) as it is. The Constitution was not written based on their opinions of what was right and wrong. Rather it was written to create and protect people’s freedom. Therefore, I believe the authors of the US Constituion to be the greatest Americans.
Now I would like to know who you believe is the Greatest American….
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18. March 2005 at 10:44
I just read an interesting article in Harpers magazine called superzeros, that makes an interesting point about greatness. Today anyone who has the spotlight (ie politicians, celebrities, criminals) forfeits all privacy, which makes it very difficult to construct the stoic image that our founding fathers enjoy.
FDR was in a wheelchair for months before the public was notified. Today Bush gives press conferences on his physical exams. The point being that while the constitutions authors accomplish a great compromise of various governmental models they as individuals would seem great to me. Plus if you boil that down it is Hamilton, Madison, Franklin and Jefferson that "authored" a lot of it. Not my favorites.
I would choose
21. March 2005 at 03:55
I agree with Ben… Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is probably the greatest American. And I believe that moreso because he never encouraged African-Americans to be violent or angry. Instead, he spun their plight as an opportunity for them to stand up and prove that they were stronger, more worthy, and just plain better people than anyone ever believed before. And he led by example.