Reply #7: Don't Forget Benjamin Franklin!

[David in Canada]

Benjamin Franklin, one of the premier founding fathers and oft-quoted by the wingnuts, instituted the first publicly-run fire department in North America as well as the first free lending library and the first public hospital.

These actions alone negate the libertarian/ultra-conservative narrative painted by the Freepers and their ilk of the founding fathers. If Benjamin Franklin were to come back to life at this moment, within a week, Freepers would be pelting him with rotten produce and carrying placards showing him with a hammer and sickle on his forehead or other such nonsense.