I just finished David McCullough's biography of John Adams. It is a wonderful book -- engagingly written, richly interspersed with excerpts from letters and publications.
The character of Adams is a start contrast to the "patriots" of the present day, particularly the current administration. The integrity that Adams possesses as shown through his business dealings and his interpersonal relationships is inspiring, as is his belief in what is truly needed to make a democracy function -- an informed and engaged populas:
The preservation of liberty depends upon the intellectual and moral character of the people. As long as knowledge and virtue are diffused generally among the body of a nation, it is impossible that they should be enslaved.
Adams foresaw the rise to prominence and subsequent world power of the US. He also cautioned against its downfall by describing the circumstances that contributed to the falls of the Roman and (inevitable, he felt) Bristish empires.
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.
I read Adams' writings and my heart breaks for the country of my birth. I know that it is naive to think that we could return to such a time of singlemindedness and integrity. The information revolution has caused some of this -- I wonder if it is just a phase, each voice fighting to be heard in a sea of cacophony. Truly individualism is at its height. The community is dead, or at least a very endangered species.