HBO isn’t often accused of being a great source of patriotic material, but their 2008 mini-series John Adams should required viewing. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a great one to rent.
It deals with the first fifty years of the United States and the life of our second President. John Adams, played with his usual panache by Paul Giamatti, wasn’t the most loved, best looking or even heroic of our founders. But he was a brilliant man and an important part of the forging of this nation and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
Based on David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize winning book and starring a host of great actors like Giamatti, Laura Linney, David Morse, Tom Wilkinson, Danny Huston, it shows is how fragile the nation was in its infancy, the forces that drove the founders to revolt against the English crown, the politics that threatened to tear the country apart afterward, how the country was treated by the Europeans then. It’s very eye opening.
John Adams was lawyer who believed in the rule of law. He served two terms as George Washington’s vice president and one as president. He had to make some tough decisions in his one term, which meant he was vilified in his time, much like the last president. John lived to a ripe old age and saw a lot of changes come to this land. He even lived to see his son John Quincy become president.
It’s important for viewers to gain some perspective on what makes America one of the most unique nations in the history of the human race and why our constitution is so valuable. While kleptocratics and crypto-marxists try to whittle away our freedoms and send our children down the bitter road of statism, this series reveals why we need to fight them. Why our nation is too important in the annals of history for any corrupt bureaucrats and incompetent political cretins to squander our founder’s legacy.
America is a treasure that its besotted, ungrateful descendants have tried to loot like the selfish children of an old money estate. But America is made of all of us and we still have the chance to right the ship of state and repair the damage made by those who would run us aground.
Our founders risked everything they owned, including their lives, so their descendants could be free. And we should not let the disreputable among us sully their great gift to us all.
Many Americans are ignorant of how important this country is. And how it has stood as a shining beacon of liberty these long years. This series is a great introduction to our history and helps shed light on one of America’s most overlooked creators.