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There are lots of possible answers to the question, “Who is your favorite founding father?” Look at all the possibilities! There are so many cool dudes to choose from. For anyone who’d paid any attention in US History at all, it would be pretty easy to pick one of the “founding fathers” at random and come up with a rationale. You might not even have to hold a strong conviction about it, it’s just kind of a gimme question, and easy to come with an answer. Assuming you’re not completely ignorant, that is.

For example! You could say any of the following:

Benjamin Franklin – because he was so cool and multi-talented. He had a great sense of humor, was an accomplished writer, and invented a bunch of nifty stuff like bifocals and the glass armonica! Remember Poor Richard? The stuff with the key and the kite and the lightning? That Franklin, what a card.

Thomas Jefferson – because he was a true renaissance man. Not only did he write the Declaration of Independence, a stirring and moving document; he was also an intellectual and a strong defender of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. He started a university, was a governor, president, vice president, and secretary of state. Dude stayed busy!

George Washington – what’s not to love? The dude was a war hero, and refused to be treated like a king when he became America’s first president. He was, in fact, one of America’s greatest presidents, according to scholars. Also: wooden teeth, which cracks me up (but couldn’t have been very comfortable); Mount Vernon; the dollar bill…

And that’s just three of them. If none of those struck your fancy, you could still choose from John Adams, Alexandar Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay (source).

What I’m saying here is, if you were asked “Who is your favorite founding father of the United States,” and you couldn’t think of someone right off the top of your head, or you had to give some lame non-answer like, “All of them,” it would demonstrate a real ignorance – evidence of the fact that you had never given it much (or any) thought. One might assume that you were kind of clueless about history and other intellectual matters. One might assume you were so absorbed with yourself, you didn’t care about people from long ago who lived and died making our country the great bastion of freedom that it is today. One might think.

I’m just sayin’.