“The greatest sentence ever written.”
It’s a bold but arguably very true statement written about the second line of the Declaration of Independence, one that historian Walter Isaacson, of New Orleans, explores in his latest book looking forward to the nation’s 250th anniversary next July.
I attended my first Texas Tribune Festival in Austin much of last week — a gathering of journalists, political leaders and public figures from all walks of life to discuss a myriad of topics. Isaacson, of whom I’ve read numerous books including his biography of Ben Franklin, was among the many participants.
Walter Issacson
“We hold these truths to be self-evident” is that “greatest sentence.”
“When I was writing the Benjamin Franklin book, in the Library of Congress is a first draft of (the Declaration of Independence) that (Thomas) Jefferson wrote because he was on a committee the Continental Congress had put together in June of 1776 to say, in a decent respect for mankind we have to explain ourselves,” Isaacson said. “It may have been the last time Congress put together a good committee with Jefferson, Ben Franklin and John Adams on it. Those of us who are writers and became editors,
I love looking at how Franklin, using his printers pen, is crossing out words by Jefferson and this sentence is evolving.”
I shall soon read this book that breaks down word-for-word and how critical each is in the sentence to our history. I’m reminded of Jerry Seinfeld’s description of a perfect joke, it has no wasteful words — just the exact amount, and the correct words, to get the biggest laugh. Jefferson, Franklin and Adams were doing something far more important, so the tightrope they were walking with each word chosen is astounding.
Isaacson explained Jefferson originally wrote “sacred” and Franklin crossed that out and replaced it with “self-evident.” Franklin’s emphasis on “self-evident” was because it diverges from religious connotations and emphasizes that it should be more “rational” or most obvious.
Joel McNeece, Jim Prince, Layne Bruce
It was a fascinating discussion from beginning to end, as was all of the sessions I attended during the marvelous conference. I was there with two of my best friends — Layne Bruce, executive director of the Mississippi Press Association, and Jim Prince, head of Prince Media that publishes the Neshoba Democrat, Madison County Journal and more.
Our very first session we listened to John Bolton, the longest serving National Security Advisor under President Trump, outline his national security concerns and also ventured into his fallout with the president. His emphasis was on what “conservatism” should be.
“Conservatives believe in the division of powers between the states and the federal government,” he said. “We believe that power is best exercised by the governments closest to the people, the cities and the counties, first, the states, second, the federal government, only at last resort.”
David Jolly, former Congressman who has announced plans to run for governor in Florida next year, spoke in another session on public education.
“We need a renaissance in public education. We have excellence in public education because of the sheer commitment of our teachers, our educators, our administrators, but our politicians have abandoned them,” he said.
Pete Buttigieg
Former U.S. Dept. of Transportation Director Pete Buttigieg drew a large crowd to the First Baptist Church in Austin where he offered lots of criticism toward the national Democratic Party and emphasized a need for a “commitment to democratic equality.”
“There is an environment today where a lot of people who don’t even like Pres. Trump will say, ‘You know what? I’ll try anything, including burning the house down to have some shot of being better off,’ and those are the conditions that my party needs to understand have led us to be here.”
Comedian John Mulaney and many others added so much more to the festival it was impossible to attend everything. We had to pick and choose which sessions we preferred often splitting up for different perspectives.
Outside of the professional talk, Layne, Jim and I made room for some good Tex-Mex, a couple steakhouses and the beautiful sites of downtown Austin. I’m eager for a chance to cover it again.
As Ben Franklin once said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of.”