Poorer Richard's America I got his book to review and the first thing I wondered is whether the idea of Ben Franklin commenting on modern day America would work. Obviously we have problems where Ben and his alter ego Poor Richard could shed some light, but would it aggravating to read in a stilted unfamiliar voice and would it be effective over the course of a book. Well it does and it was a lot of fun to sit and consider how the experience of Ben could inform the current problems we face. When Obama was campaigning the call was for hope and change. Hope that Obama could make the world a better place and change well apparently to pretty much everything. Since his inauguration the hope has faded and the change doesn't seem to have been for the better. The rise of the Tea Party has got large numbers of Americans thinking about just what the core principles of our country are. Gadsen flags are flying, constitutions have been broken out and the role of government is surely in question. This book is not a Tea Party manifesto in any way, but many of the issues all of us are considering are considered and Poorer Richard's common sense frames many of them without a partisan feel. Poor Richard wrote as the voice of the common man, the kind of things most of us grew up hearing from parents and grandparents. I think there has been a loss of that in the most recent generations, a belief that the simple wisdom is not nuanced enough for this complicated world we live in. Well that is BS and this book is full of reminders why the smarty pantses who want to tell us all how to live might want to check themselves. We have brainiacs who think that the answer for every problem is for the masses to bow to the will of the elites who know what is best for them. Poorer Richard points out that hard work ought to be rewarded not punished. The crazy thing is that this needs to be said. He reminds that running up debts you can't pay is unwise, who knew? There have been many characters running around in powdered wigs and tri-cornered hats recently. Ben's alter ego is a welcome addition to the crowd.
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Posted
Sep 02 2010, 11:31 AM
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BLACKFIVE