The United States is not based on ‘Founding Fathers’ but their principles and ideas. There are about five core ideas; the rule of law, democracy, freedom, human rights, and written contracts. These ideas are abstract and require constant reinterpretation. One may have a progressive interpretation or a conservative one, but all need a fluid and changing approach as concrete circumstances change over time.

The problem today is not the Founding Fathers, but the fact we have lost faith in their original principles. We question what democracy is, or if the U.S. was ever one in the first place. If we lose faith in these principles we lose faith in America as an idea. No system of government will help us then.