September 26, 2008 - 11:23PM STEVE RABEY: SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE
They don't call economics "the dismal science" for nothing. Even during the current crisis on Wall Street, citizens who live and work on Main Street find it difficult to grasp economic issues they know are urgent and important.
That's why a local group got creative, inviting actors who play founding fathers Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson to discuss election-year economic issues.
The result is "Back to the Future," an event scheduled for Thursday at the Pikes Peak Center that also features local congressional candidates.
Dave Anderson is the national director of The Coalition for a Prosperous America, a grass-roots group of business owners, manufacturers, farmers and ranchers that supports trade policies that benefit American workers and companies.
The group, founded in Colorado Springs in 2006, turned to two of yesterday's best political minds to help voters make sense of today's economic issues.
"During the 2008 campaigns, all sorts of technical economic topics have been discussed," Anderson says. "But much of the discussion has been over the head of everybody, even though the issues are really pretty simple.
"What we want to do through ‘Back to the Future' is offer citizens something of educational value in a really entertaining way by exploring economics through these two great theorists from early in our national life."
Bridging past and present
Franklin and Jefferson have plenty to offer today's voters, according to the actors who bring these characters to life.
Franklin is played by Christopher Lowell, who has enjoyed a second career playing Franklin around the country since retiring as a teacher at the Fountain Valley School and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
"There were no political parties in Franklin's time," Lowell says, "but he would have been at home with both Republicans and Democrats."
Republicans can appreciate Franklin's fiscal conservatism; his identification with traditional values such as hard work, frugality and industry; and his support for homeland security (Franklin formed a colonial militia in 1747).
Democrats can appreciate Franklin's altruism and commitment to good deeds. "He was a community organizer," Lowell says, "and he contributed to libraries, a hospital and a fire company in his community."
Asked how Franklin would address current economic challenges, Lowell says he would oppose government measures that hamper the industry and productivity of American workers and investors.
"Franklin was outraged by the British Stamp Act of 1765," Lowell says, "and he viewed abridgements of traditional English rights as a form of economic oppression as serious as the presence of British troops marching in the colonies."
Jefferson, played by Virginia scholar Stephen Edenbo, also has plenty to offer both parties.
As America's third president, he was a strong supporter of funding for public education at a time when many people believed the federal government should not be involved in schools. Jefferson also advocated that government should be small, and his fiscal restraint retired the large national debt left by his predecessor, Alexander Hamilton.
But Jefferson's longest-lasting economic decision was the Louisiana Purchase, which vastly expanded the size and productive capacity of the young nation.
"In spite of his personal philosophy favoring a small and frugal government, he was willing to use federal funding for the Louisiana Purchase to secure trade routes and opening potential new ones in America's competition with other world powers in the international marketplace," says Edenbo.
Time for another tea party?
Event organizer Anderson hopes "Back to the Future" educates today's citizens about some of the issues America faces and encourages them to act.
"Our purpose is to show people that we face many of the same problems the Founding Fathers faced," he says.
"We hope people understand a little bit of the challenges we face and understand that we have the capabilities to deal with these challenges, just as the Founding Fathers did with the challenges they faced."
Lowell agrees.
"If Ben Franklin were to look at the current American political climate, I think he would be delighted that the Republic he worked so hard to help found is still working," says Lowell.
"Though our nation is stretched and creaking here and there, we do have government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
"But even though economics is un-sexy, people need to understand the dangers posed by stifling America's manufacturing and farm interests," he says.
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