384: John Adams and the moral foundations of the U.S. government

The boys drink and review Crowhill's homemade Italian bitters, then discuss John Adams (starting about 3:50). Pigweed starts off with some historical information on Adams, our second president, including his on-going dispute with Thomas Jefferson. In a different context, John Adams famously said "Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." What does that mean, and how are we to understand that in our modern society? The equation seems to be that more freedom requires more personal self-restraint and morality. Without self-restraint and morality, you need a much stronger government. Think Saddam Hussein. Or, to put it very simply, you have to trust people enough that you can leave them alone. Unfortunately, modern politics seems to be a choice between which politician promises to give us more stuff.