Where's John Adams When We Need Him?

Three things make me less likely to vote for a political candidate this primary season:

Fear-mongering:
"Republicans want to take health benefits from children ..."
"My opponent would be happy if we lost the war on terror ..."

Pandering:
"I think we should give every baby in America $5,000 ..."
"God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve ..."

Generalities:
"Faith plays an important part in my life and politics ..."
"We need to bring this country back to God ..."

It doesn't really matter who said these things, because almost every candidate I've heard so far this political season has said something similar. While our citizens have access to more education, information and context than ever before, political candidates are offering pabulum for the lowest common denominator--like medieval manor lords appeasing the barely-literate, pitchfork-wielding peasant rabble storming the drawbridge with a list of grievances.

I don't want to get rosy-eyed, but in the early days of this country, politicians seemed to expect more intelligence and critical thinking on the part of their constituents. Chew on some witty, intelligent and provocative nuggets from John Adams, one of our greatest and least-appreciated presidents:

"I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other."

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty."

"Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide."

"Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war."

"Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak."

"The happiness of society is the end of government."