Tuesday, March 18, 2008

St. John Adams

HBO offers some hagiography for the Americanist religion in an acclaimed mini-series about John Adams. It does look very entertaining. John Adams certainly shone among the Founding Fathers with his prudence, wit and brilliant legal mind. He is greatly admired, and should be. (Mrs. Adams, too.) We Americans like to view our Founders as models of all the virtues. While many did display a great deal of natural virtue, as well as the instincts and acumen of successful businessmen and gifted politicians, they do not necessarily meet the standards required by the Catholic Church for canonization. Patriotism is a virtue; nationalism, especially blind nationalism, is not. According to an article I came across this morning:
HBO’s new miniseries, John Adams, premiered this weekend; it is based on the bestselling biography by David McCullough. Producer Tom Hanks manages to retell familiar events in a captivating way that reminds the viewer history was not inevitable. Behind the debates, battles, and trials stood imperfect, nuanced men who made mistakes. The founders were not a monolithic group and each deserves careful consideration.

[....]
Unfortunately, this hagiographic portrayal of our second president needs to be questioned. McCullough's sympathetic view of Adams's actions reveals a failure to apply the classical liberal implications of the Revolution. In debunking Adams's case, the American Revolution itself can be better understood.
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