Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning, New York Times best selling author Thomas Ricks discusses the classical education of the Founding Fathers and how that impacted the creation of the American government.  He explains the moment that shocked him into starting to research this topic.  He details the intellectual journey of the first four American presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison.    Ricks explains civic virtue and how it was viewed by the founding generation.  He warns of a political environment that could lead to oligarchy, which Aristotle considered the least stable form of government.  He talks about how he held Washington and Madison in higher regard after writing First Principles, and that Adams and Jefferson lost some of their luster.  He details the system that Madison developed which used vice instead of virtue to strengthen the new government.  He discusses the rise of the market economy and how that has come to dominate American political, economic and social thought.  He concludes with some suggestions on how the American system can long endure with changes, which the Founders anticipated would happen.

HOST:  Rob Mellon

FEATURED BREW:  Samuel Adams Limited Edition Winter Lager, Samuel Adams Brewing Company, Boston, Massachusetts

BOOK:  First Principles: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How that Shaped Our Country
https://www.amazon.com/First-Principles-Americas-Founders-Learned/dp/0062997459/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2QOOQJNANFWH4&dchild=1&keywords=first+principles+thomas+ricks&qid=1608591561&sprefix=first+principles%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-2

MUSIC:  Bones Fork
https://bonesfork.com/