From one nerd to another...

The first two episodes show Franklin to be great.. Adams was up there but not as political astute as Franklin. Washington was stoic and Honorable.. Jefferson was interesting and if Franklin did help edit the Declaration then the changes were amazing... I don't have a good view of who Hamilton was at this point... I need to read and watch more.. :) My revolutionary history is a bit week.. Who did burr kill?

Ask courageous questions. Do not be satisfied with superficial answers. Be open to wonder and at the same time subject all claims to knowledge, without exception, to intense skeptical scrutiny. Be aware of human fallibility. Cherish your species and your

by a mile. Reasons should be obvious to anyone who reads my posts...

The other day I heard that ignorance and apathy are sweeping the country. I didn't know that, but I don't really care.

Though many of the founding fathers were intelligent men, Jefferson towered above them all. A man of contradictions, he affected a man-of-the-people attitude while maintaining elitist views in private.

I am drawn to Jefferson's contradictions. The other Founders are more easily understood. In many ways, Jefferson stood alone. His marriage only lasted a decade, and he burned all the letters between himself and his wife. Of his six children, only one would survive him.

He died deep in debt: some scholars believe he never freed his slaves (though he did emancipate five of them) because they were all mortgaged to the hilt. His efforts to grow a vineyard at Monticello were dismal.

Jefferson remains an enigma: we'll never get a full picture of Jefferson. His home, Monticello, is as good a view as we'll ever get of the man's mind. It's full of gimcrack gadgetry: the beds fold up into the walls. There was never a formal dining room table: Jefferson thought too much furniture a waste of space, it was only put up at mealtimes. Though its proportions are lovely Palladian lines from the outside, the house itself is an awkward, clumsy and surprisingly small house.

He represents everything that's great, and small, about the American Dad.

Runners up would have to include:
Mike Brady
Jock Ewing
Heathcliff Huxtable
Tony Soprano
Peter Griffin

But best founding-couple, by a creepy mile:
Gomez and Morticia, from the illustrious Addams family

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. -JH

Franklin.

But I haven't been watching the mini-series, so my vote may not count :-)

Excess on occasion is exhilarating. It prevents moderation from acquiring the deadening effect of a habit. - W. Somerset Maugham