Where Have All the Great Men Gone?

Maybe I'm alone in this impression that I have, but I thought I'd write about it anyway. It seems to me that today's politicians in general are nowhere near as great as those of the past. By great I mean in their leadership and inspirational ability.

They all seem to be so intent on dividing the country and slandering their adversaries rather then actually leading our nation as a whole. The Founding Fathers were great men of all schools of thought, and their ideas and creative power defined our nation as it is today. It really saddens me that such ability seems confined to the 1700's. Why can we of today not have that same power in our own leaders? We still quote the writings of Presidents dead for 200 years, but no one will ever quote George Bush, Bush Sr. or Clinton in that same capacity. Same with John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, etc. etc.

Nobody seems to have anything profound to say anymore. James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, etc. all made contributions to political philosophy/science that continue to influence us today. Whens the last time that you heard of any current politician writing about their theory of governance?

I'm sure present day politicians are capable people, but they don't inspire us. It's really sad that nobody watches CSPAN because it's so dull. There are no great debates over meaningful ideas anymore, only candidates attempting to sell themselves to the public. There are no great impassioned speeches anymore that unite rather then divide us.

Barack Obama is probably the closest to a great politician that I can think of in the present era. Regardless of his actual politics, he is a great orator, and he did inspire millions throughout the country during his campaign. He has since retained his speaking ability, but he seems to have lost that inspirational power. That may be the fault of others opposing him, but he have nevertheless failed to inspire since his inauguration.

The Founding Fathers and other great politicians since may be a high standard to compare other to, but I don't understand why of a population of 300 million we can't have people of similar abilities elected to high office more often. I guess one explanation could be that our nation has an incentive to propagandize the history they teach us, and that there is an incentive for us to believe that our founders were perhaps more extraordinary then they actually were. Maybe everyone since has had similar ability. Somehow, i doubt it.