Ben Franklin and Boiling Toads

We’ve been studying Ben Franklin in my junior English class over the last few days, and the more I read, them more I like him. I like him because, for a man of his time, he was especially honest about himself – honest about what he considered to be his virtues and his vices. We read today about his “virtues chart.” This was a chart, an 18^th century Excel spreadsheet if you will, that he tried to use to reach moral perfection. Two things about this are striking: 1. That he thought that he was capable of reaching perfection, and 2. That he gave up on the chart fairly quickly. I like the first point because I, too, believe that, although a man may never become perfect, he can at least improve himself; I like the second point because I, too, think that man it’s foolish to waste a lot of time trying to overcome habits or qualities, that while morally imperfect, can still be ingratiating and fun – like mild intemperance or venery, for example.

If you didn’t know, Franklin also wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac, a collection of aphorisms that he either heard from others or came up with himself. Here are some of my favorites:

Fish and guests smell after three days. (Just ask my parents. I’m sure that my month-long stay last summer almost killed them.)

Three can keep a secret if two are dead. (This was modernized by Tom Cruise when he said, “I’d tell ya’, but then I’d have to kill ya’.”)

Love your neighbor, but don’t pull down your hedge. (He’s probably peeking in your back window.)

But my favorite Franklin quip is from the Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759 and goes like this: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

I’m not one to say that our current situation in the world isn’t dangerous. It is. But what price are we willing to pay to secure our safety?

It’s natural to look at another country and think, “They’re out to get us.” I’m sure that some of them really are. And when we hear Condeleeza Rice’s warning about the potential “mushroom cloud” or the president going on and on about the “axis of evil” powers intent on doing us in, it’s easy to feel that it’s our duty as Americans to give of what we have to ensure the country’s security. In this case, what we have is our civil liberties. To protect ourselves from our would-be killers, we give up our protections from our own government. It seems like the logical thing to do. After all, our government is made of good, god-fearing men and women who would use that power only to do good and would never think of abusing it, right?

My argument against this can be summed up in a brief list of names: Stalin, Pinochet, Hitler, Hussein, Mao, Castro, etc., etc., unfortunately ad nauseam.

American is not immune to the political and social forces that allowed men like this to rise to power. Just look at Karl Rove, for god’s sake. Think that it can never happen here? Don’t be naïve. All of these men were handed power by a citizenry who trusted in them to use that power wisely and for good. In this respect we’re not different from the rest of the world; a hunger-for-power-and-the-potential-for-the-abuse-thereof gene lives in every race, in every country including our own beloved land of the free.

A little story that I don’t believe can be attributed to Franklin (but is still, I believe, relevant to my point) concerns a toad and some hot water. The theory goes that if a toad were to jump into a pot of boiling water, it would quickly try to jump right out again. However, if one were to place the toad in a pot of cool water and then turn up the heat little by little, the toad wouldn’t realize that it was getting hot until it was dead, bloated, and dancing around in the boiling water.

Immigrants targeted, jailed, or deported regardless of any relation to terrorism . . .

Teachers fired for remarks made against the incumbent president . . .

A government itching to nix the Geneva convention bans on torture . .

Illegal government wire tapping . . .

Election fraud . . .

“Enemy combatants” jailed permanently recourse trial . . .

The founding fathers, Franklin among them, set up the government the way they did – Bill of Rights and all – because they knew that any government allowed to abuse its power will abuse its power.

How hot are we going to let it get before we jump out of the pot?