Benjamin Franklin stopped by my office the other day to talk about this week’s presidential inauguration.
Don’t scoff. People claim to see UFOs all the time. Other people hold séances to talk to the spirit of their great Aunt Hildegarde. I talk to the Founding Fathers. Play along, OK?
Ben – he told me I could call him that – had been out of pocket for a while and was curious about the mood of the country leading up to Friday’s inauguration of Donald J. Trump.
“It’s undoubtedly a time of great joy and celebration, yes?” Ben said.
“Well, not exactly, sir. We are a very divided country these days. President-elect Trump won the election, in part, because people hated his opponent more than they hated him. Both candidates had disapproval ratings of over 60 percent.”
“That doesn’t sound good. Inaugurations are times for new beginnings, a time for optimism. What happened to change that?”
“A lot of things, honestly,” I replied. “For many years now, our federal government has become ineffective. It spends far more money that it takes in. Gridlock has set in and nothing of consequence ever gets addressed. The political parties have retreated to their corners and they refuse to work with each other.”
“The political parties, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Well, what do you know? That ol’ son-of-a-gun was right.”
“Who, sir?”
“Oh, George Washington. In his farewell address, he warned all of us that political parties could be the down fall of our republic. We was concerned that the politicians would be more concerned about the needs of the party than the needs of the country. We all thought he was nuts. So, why don’t the people stand up and demand change?”
“Well, I think a lot of people who voted for President-elect Trump did so because they saw him as an outsider who could change the way business is done in Washington. He campaigned on the promise to ‘drain the swamp’ of Washington politics.”
“Sounds like an interesting campaign slogan. Has it worked?”
“Not yet, sir. We’re still very divided and everyone on the other side is arguing that the Mr. Trump is not only not draining the swamp, he’s adding alligators to it. It should be an, um, interesting four years.”
Ben shifted in his seat and let out a sigh.
“You know, those of us who wrote the Constitution didn’t agree on everything. In fact, for the longest time, we just argued and didn’t get anywhere.”
“Did you say something, Ben?”
“I told them to sit together and work out their differences. I told them to be willing to sacrifice, not their fundamental principles, but their overwhelming desire to always be right.”
Ben leaned back in his chair and smiled.
“It was hard work. But we did it. We created the Constitution, which I think is a pretty good little document.”
“Indeed, sir. Many people think it is the greatest document that has ever been written.”
“Son, let me tell you what else I said that day in Philadelphia. I said that through my long life, I had been forced by better information or further consideration to change opinions which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others.”
He picked up his coat to leave.
“Perhaps,” he said, “Americans today should follow this advice.”
