LewRockwell
Benjamin Franklin, American Founding Father, is perhaps best known in the public imagination for Poor Richard’s Almanack (1732-1758), his annual compilation of wit and wisdom, aphorisms, weather forecasts, poems, and astronomical data.
Inventor, statesman, Revolutionary War hero, publisher, pamphleteer, signer/co-author of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Franklin was the living embodiment of American democracy. An examination of his words—from the Almanack, his letters, speeches, and essays—shows how far we have fallen.
Franklin was a staunch advocate of the free, uncensored exchange of opinion and information as the mainstay of democracy. He wrote this prophetic warning:
“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins. Republics…derive their strength and vigor from a popular examination into the action of the magistrates.”
