Inspiring and depressing...studying the American Revolution is like learning about a completely different country. The only thing that can reverse our current decline is a return to the principles this country was founded on, as embodied in the Declaration of Independence.

There is no political solution to our problems---another term of Obama certainly won't help, but neither will any of the current Republican candidates...unless a new one who actually understands our founding principles emerges (which is extremely unlikely) and secures the Republican nomination (which is practically impossible)---because the problems are not merely political. Can you imagine any of our politicians today taking the kinds of actions the American revolutionaries did? What we need is another cultural revolution, a revolution "in the minds and hearts of the people" as John Adams put it. And that end cannot be achieved by any political measure, but only through education.

This is a good place to start. Smith focuses on the *ideas* that led to the revolution, and those ideas are exactly what need to be understood---and have been largely forgotten---today. ( )