Things to think about on the 4th of July.

(LAKE TAHOE REAL ESTATE BLOG) Today I get to be more grateful than usual. Perhaps more contemplative, reflective, and certainly there's good opportunity to be more humble. Years ago, 232 of them to be exact, great people gathered to give us a country.

Each year at this time I think of them collectively, and some of them individually, and as I gain age and hopefully a measure of wisdom and insight correspondingly, I seem to be more appreciative than the last.

Usually I think of Thomas Jefferson first. I did last year, and wrote about it here. But this year something remarkable happened. I read the book on John Adams. It’s part of me now, the greater knowledge about how we came to be, and why, and just how risky and damn difficult it was, that comes from it.

  It didn’t have to happen, us becoming us. It wasn’t in the cards; they were stacked against us in every conceivable way. So much so, one could say our formative success was ordained, godly, consecrated, but it took extraordinary human beings, those with extraordinary vision, and courage, and resolve to carry that out.

And like anytime there has ever been an assembly of world changing potential, one where extraordinary  human beings are required, some even more extraordinary than the others will emerge. These are the leaders of the leaders, key people who find themselves at exactly the right time, at exactly the right place, with exactly the right stuff to move humanity forward in exactly the right way.

From the book I also know much more about Adams’ dear friend, and often adversary, Tom, and our first and much better George as President. I also know more about Ben, how he operated cleverly behind the scene to help Adams lead the debate for independency, gain key allies, get consensus and finally prevail.

Perhaps more exciting than that from the point of view of learning something new, I learned for the first time just how fundamentally important to the formation of this country was Adams’ beloved wife and life partner, Abigail. She is fundamentally the founding mother of our country.

It was from my uncles, one 88 and the other 90, that I learned about the book. I had made a mental note to make sure that I read it,  But it was the first advertising that I saw about the upcoming HBO series on John Adams that got me off the computer, my techno-derrier, to read it.

The book is, of course, “John Adams”, by David McCullough. It is of sufficient literary stature to have won a Pulitzer Prize, and good enough to stop me cold for a week to savor every word of it.

This is not a book review, I don’t do that, nor am I qualified, but if I can sell a house, I can sell a book, and this is one I have encouraged my closest friends to read. (I’ve sold a few so far.) One thing for sure is it’s much better than the HBO series, so much so it’s not even close to a fair comparison. Think of the series as a theatrical trailer, a commercial, vapor if you will from the detailed goodies and inspiring insights in store. Inside, reading it, one is in the company of giants.

A few things about Adams have lingered more than others since I read it some 5 months ago. The first being that Adams was the “voice” of the American Revolution. Certainly we all know that Jefferson wrote it, which was even more remarkable when one remembers that he was only 32 when so, but I had never thought of him as the “pen” of the revolution, until that was put in the context of Adams being the voice. The book gives us that, and now that I understand it I can not think of Jefferson without also thinking of Adams anymore.

Another thing that remains forefront, and it’s deeper, and timely now in view of our upcoming presidential election, and this last weeks discussions of patriotism in the media, is Adams’ take on the priority of country, our service to it, what’s proper and improper when we do, and where political party stands, if at all, in the fray.

Perhaps this is best described after the success of our revolt, when Adams was our first Vice President, and then second President. In that capacity, when political patronage in this country was in it’s infancy (well before it got way out of hand), Adams steadfastly refused to find government employment, or use his influence to get his son Charles, and other relatives a job.

The decision was not that of a callous father; it was one of duty, of setting the right precedence. It was one of protocol, and ethics, and principle. Adams’ position was that governance is pure, incorruptible. An ideal. Something greater than mortals, towering over them, not of them.

Adams truly believed unto his core that government is for the people, by the people. That government office is to serve, not to gain. How refreshing. How necessary. (How would Adams, Jefferson and Washington feel if they saw it now? Thank God they have been spared that.)

Political party, or at least the beginning of the ways and means of it, started in this country when Adams was Vice President. It was in our very first administration that our national debate between conservative and liberal political thought took hold, and has remained so in one form or another ever since.

At it’s inception, the debate was over what influence, or preference that we should give France, or Great Britain in our affairs. Part and parcel to that debate was whether ours should be a strong central government or not.

Jefferson was more inclined toward France, Adams to Great Britain. A “party” formed around Jefferson and those of similar sentiments. They were our first “left-wing’ liberals and were called “democrats”, or the Democratic-Republican party.

Most vociferous in opposition to the democrats was Alexander Hamilton, who started the “Federalist” party. By then Adams was already Vice President, and the Federalists supported him to remain so in Washington’s second term, and our second President thereafter. These were our first “right-leaning” conservatives.

The Federalist party became popular with businessmen, mostly people from New England, who favored a strong central government, and Democratic-Republicans were mostly farmers found throughout the middle and southern states who favored stronger state, rather than a central government.

To Adams, though, the very idea that a government decision be made to benefit party was abhorrent. To him country was always before party, and like refusing to grant patronage to his son, Adams walked like he talked. He and Washington were perhaps the least corruptible persons to ever hold high political office in our nation.

(Government before party is a concept that Scott McClelland talks about much in his recent, high publicized book on his tenure as Presidential Press Secretary to the Bush administration. Though he does not draw specific parallel to John Adams views on the inherent conflict of interest that “party” poses to government, Scott’s conclusions as to how things should be are nonetheless similar. They approach the Adams ideal.  In fact the current administration has had, until he was removed, and she left office, two people whose job it was to make sure that “party” was considered in every decision. They participated in the key, daily White House strategy and policy meeting that only a few select individuals attended, and were given exceptional ear and power in their position. That would be Karl Rove and Karen Hughes.)

A few other things have also continued to amaze me about John Adams. He choose Jefferson to write our Declaration.  He also choose George Washington to lead our Revolutionary Army. He convinced both Ben Franklin, and thusly the then difficult French Prime Minister, the Comte de Vergennes, that French naval support was the key to the success of our revolution, which was later decisive in the Battle of Yorktown that marked the war’s end and our victory.

In their latter years the letters between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson have been called the greatest collection of correspondence in our country’s history. I’ve read some, but intend to read them all. And the letters between Adams and Abigail, now in a book, are a treasure trove to both an informative background on the voice of our revolution, and the often remarkable things than can happen when a great man is supported, and partnered, with a great woman.

The most astounding thing of all though, at least within the scope of magic, serendipity, or that there is a power greater than ourselves looking over us, is that both Jefferson and Adams died only hours apart on the same day, and that would be this day, the 4th of July, when it marked the 50th anniversary of thier resolve for liberty and their insistence on the creation of us as a country.

The fact that there is no national memorial to John Adams next to that of Thomas Jefferson is something that needs to be corrected. In the spirit of John Adams’ insistence for things right, lets all call or write to whoever we think might be in a position to do something about it and tell them to fix it.

So today I feel good. Very good. And very grateful. I’m going to watch the splendid fireworks show over Lake Tahoe tonight. And I’m going to think about what that means. I’m going to be an American. And I’m going to enjoy every second of it.

Happy holiday, and you have a wonderful 4th of July.