Firstly, the “founding fathers” weren’t a hive mind, they didn’t actually all share the same politics or beliefs, they negotiated a compromise in legislative framework that they could each live with.
Secondly- duh some or many would be disappointed. First day on the internet? Never seen those memes about forming a two party system? That speaks to point 1, that they all were individuals- but many of them were disappointed in the nation within their lifetimes, no need to go to the present.
Thirdly, as this meme alludes to- we probably shouldn’t really try to live to the moral standards of men who normalized slavery and women and non white males as inherently not having legal rights or even capacity for adult cognition. That isn’t to say they didn’t have any virtues, but maybe their disappointment isn’t what we should worry about so much as to ask if we are delivering on the fundamental ideals of a nation billed on freedom, opportunity, and equality.
Of course they got things wrong. Of course we will too. Our guiding doctrine takes that to account and is written so that we can make efforts to improve and advance as society changes and we grow as a society. As near as we can philosophically reconcile perfection is either a concept that is unattainable or inherent. The goal isn’t to live up to the perfect ideals of freedom and equality and all the promises that underpin America in its founding doctrine, the goal is to achieve the closest we can to perfection in any moment- our honest best through hard work and personal growth and progress. America is not a nation built for people who look backwards to how things were, it was a nation founded on the principle that the way things were sucked and we would build something better over time. I believe by and large the true believers in the founding fathers would be proud at least of all the change to our country. While much of it might offend their sensibilities or leave them confused,
The fact that our nation has grown to be so unrecognizable to them, that our technology and society are so far beyond what their generation could hope to fathom or accept is a sign of moving towards the promise of America. If a human being doesn’t have difficulty understanding or navigating a society a hundred years or more past their time, that society has failed to advance and failed to better itself. I do believe they’d be disappointed in the divisions between us, they’d be disappointed in all the ways we have failed and continue to fail to deliver the promises like freedom and equality to all. They’d likely be disappointed in how we continue to devalue certain lives and face some of the same problems they faced and haven’t worked past them. They’d be disappointed in the number of people who fail to accept or understand the American dream and try to rebrand it and use it as a weapon against those they hate.
Secondly- duh some or many would be disappointed. First day on the internet? Never seen those memes about forming a two party system? That speaks to point 1, that they all were individuals- but many of them were disappointed in the nation within their lifetimes, no need to go to the present.
Thirdly, as this meme alludes to- we probably shouldn’t really try to live to the moral standards of men who normalized slavery and women and non white males as inherently not having legal rights or even capacity for adult cognition. That isn’t to say they didn’t have any virtues, but maybe their disappointment isn’t what we should worry about so much as to ask if we are delivering on the fundamental ideals of a nation billed on freedom, opportunity, and equality.