Happy Birthday, John Adams

It's the time of year to wish a "Happy Birthday" to our Second President. I hope you won't mind, Mr. President, if I mention you're a hale and hearty 275!!! And you're not forgotten. Gov. Jesse Ventura mentioned you in his chat the other week.

I often wonder what John Adams would think of our country today. What would he make of our current political climate? What would he make of the current world situation? What would he think of our economy?

It's impossible to know, of course, but an interesting exercise nonetheless. By asking ourselves what he and other Founding Fathers - and Mothers - would do, it challenges us to look for solutions. They faced incredible challenges. What can we learn from them to apply to our present day?

One thing I think we might learn from is their pragmatism. Not perfect, certainly, but they were able to compromise and get some big steps taken. Admittedly, there were more problems later (i. e., the Civil War), but at least they ignited the fire. Today, we have such name calling (I get so sick of seeing Liberal used as a smear term) and polarization , it's hard to get ANYTHING positive accomplished. The ads are so negative (although not a totally new concept, I think now it's worse than ever) I wonder if there are ANY decent candidates around!

So if there is something I wish we'd learn from Mr. Adams and Co., it would be to really come together and work for the good of the country and "We, the People".