I created this thread to deal with the tangent in another thread. It's an excellent topic.

Thanks johnson and pres c., I'm following along.

It's relatively easy. We just have to find people like Thomas Jefferson.

Why Thomas Jefferson?

President Camacho wrote:Why Thomas Jefferson?

He was eminently qualified to be president. He was a scientist, philosopher, statesman, principal author of the Declaration of Independence, one of the most influential of our founding fathers. Perhaps his best quality was that he was so knowledgeable in so many different areas.

from Wikipedia:
"When President John F. Kennedy welcomed 49 Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962 he said, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

Have you ever read the federalist papers? Hamilton was pretty amazing.

If you haven't read them, I'd be willing to read them with you. I've read half way through and it's a tough journey. I bought one of those electronic dictionary/bookmark gadgets. I had to look up like every other word. That was about 4 or 5 years ago. Lemme know. It really is worth the read to find out what our Founding Fathers' truly intended for our nation.

These are the vocal ones - not the introverts like Washington and Jefferson.

I haven't read the federalist papers, but I'd be willing to tackle that. Right now I'm reading Chaucer and The Evolution of God, so maybe soon.

Many of our founding fathers were amazing individuals. I'm guessing most of these guys were educated in Europe? I don't know much about Hamilton per se. Franklin was pretty amazing too, but he had some personality quirks that might make him less than an optimal candidate.

god... why people like reading and discussing that worthless topic is beyond me. The only reason anyone should discuss it is to find the reason 'why' so that it never happens again - much like finding a cure for a disease. What a waste of time.

Pardon?

geo wrote:I haven't read the federalist papers, but I'd be willing to tackle that. Right now I'm reading Chaucer and The Evolution of God, so maybe soon.

Many of our founding fathers were amazing individuals. I'm guessing most of these guys were educated in Europe? I don't know much about Hamilton per se. Franklin was pretty amazing too, but he had some personality quirks that might make him less than an optimal candidate.

geo, are you reading Chaucer in Middle English? That's the way to go! I've always meant to read Chaucer again. I'm not sure that in Chaucer class we were required to read the complete Tales.

President Camacho wrote:god... why people like reading and discussing that worthless topic is beyond me. The only reason anyone should discuss it is to find the reason 'why' so that it never happens again - much like finding a cure for a disease. What a waste of time.

Hey Comacho, sorry to interrupt, but I'm curious to know how you deal with the matter of god or God when you come across it in your extensive reading of classics. Don't you find that, like it or not, the god-thing is actually a big part of the humanities? Do you just ignore all of that? A friendly question.