I know it is fashionable these days to dismiss the Founders as stale, pale, and male; to speak harshly and cynically of America’s corrupt constitutional tradition. But, this is a cheap shot. One which does not do justice to the principles embodied in our founding documents. These men deserve our admiration and respect. They were human. They were flawed. Gertrude Himmelfarb says hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue. But, whether the result of glorious accident, inspired mistake, Machiavellian machination or well-considered master plan, the Founders built better than perhaps they knew. They built on the right foundation and founded a regime which created the potential for moral freedom, material prosperity, and social generosity.