On Friday, July 4, as America celebrated its 249th birthday, I had the distinct pleasure with the help of ChatGPT, the popular Artificial Intelligence Assistant that generates human-like text, of joining in a virtual round-table discussion with some of our nation's founders. The setting was The Assembly Room in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, on July 4, 2025. (Late afternoon light streams through the tall windows. The air is charged with the strange quiet of history returned to life.)
Through the magic of this time-bending technology, I was joined by George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Benjamin Franklin. We discussed the evolution of the United States. Our dialogue integrates themes from their 18th-century writings and philosophies, updated in light of 21st-century realities.
I asked Chat GPT to construct a conversation between me and the founders of our Republic. Here is the transcript of our discussion as constituted by 21st-century technology.
(George Washington stands before the Constitution displayed in protective glass. Hamilton and Franklin flank him. I enter, tablet in hand, both startled and honored by their presence.)
Washington (quietly surveying the room):
“It is our Union, our Constitution, that makes us what we are, I once declared back in 1787. I feared faction but believed in a strong federal Union. Today, that Union faces threats from polarization and disinformation. Have we heeded Madison's warning that ‘a people unusually fond of a license (unrestrained freedom) may lose reason?’ “Our Republic was founded on reason, so reason must still prevail. Without reason, we have nothing.”
Hamilton (leaning forward):
“Energy in the Executive is essential. I argued that a strong presidency would guard against chaos. In 2025, the presidency has acquired powers—some necessary, some perilously unchecked. Modern surveillance, executive orders, national emergencies—have we drifted from the checks that I thought vital? Yet, for all its faults, our system still guards liberty and markets, and some measure of fiscal stability endures.”
Franklin (adjusting spectacles):
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. In 1787, I warned of folly. Today's climate crises, pandemics, and cyber-warfare are they not forms of unprepared peril? Still, there's ingenuity—our universities, entrepreneurs, and volunteers—proof that the spirit of Franklin endures. But will innovation outpace our willingness to collaborate?”
Gershowitz (clearing throat):
“Thank you for letting me join. In Of Thee I Sing 1776, I write that America's best days lie ahead—if leaders remain true to founding principles, not partisanship. In my weekly essays, I’ve argued that we clash less over big ideas and more over loyalty to our tribes. We've drifted. Yet I believe revival is possible—through civic education, community engagement, and political will rooted in unity over division.”
Washington:
“A poignant observation, Hal. In my Farewell Address, I warned against the spirit of party. Two centuries later, those factions now consume the nation. Can we restore what we lost?”
Hamilton:
“We must recall Federalist ways: strong institutions balanced by public virtue. Back then, we trusted a sober elite steered by reason and merit. Now, with social media echo chambers, merit often bows to spectacle. We need a restoration of civic responsibility.”
Franklin:
“Let us also remember science and temperance. As a printer, I trusted facts. Now we live amid ‘alternative facts.’ The Republic cannot thrive if truth becomes optional. Education impartial, curiosity kindled—these remain the bedrock.”
Gershowitz:
“Indeed. My weekly column calls for citizens—old and young—to engage locally, speak outside their safe silos, rebuild communal solidarity. Much like the Founders gathering in Philadelphia, ordinary people acting together made the extraordinary—and that's how we must mend now.”
Washington (solemnly):
“The parchment endures… more than I expected. But the nation? I wonder. We fought to birth a Republic—'If you can keep it,’ Dr. Franklin warned. Has it been kept?”
Franklin (smiling faintly):
“Barely, perhaps. But not for lack of trying. This country has taken strange and wondrous turns—some noble, others, well… best left to hindsight.”
Hamilton (with urgency):
“The fabric has held, but it is fraying. We envisioned strong central governance, a balance of ambition against ambition. Yet today, ambition wears new masks: tribalism, misinformation, paralysis.”
Gershowitz (stepping forward):
“Sirs—if I may—your ideas built this nation. But today, we struggle to find common ground. I write about this every week in my column. We're polarized, distrustful of institutions, and forgetting the hard work that self-governance demands.”
Franklin (adjusting spectacles, intrigued):
“Fascinating. In my day, I used pamphlets to enlighten and persuade. Now your pamphlets inform and sometimes shout? Are they used to educate or inflame?”
Gershowitz:
“Perhaps both. A writer always wants to educate, but sometimes we probably inflame. The search for light sometimes produces heat.”
Hamilton:
“Without an educated populace, republican government is but a castle built on sand. Our Constitution was designed for deliberation, not demagoguery.”
Washington:
“But tell us: Have the better angels prevailed at all?”
Gershowitz:
“They have, at times. You would be moved by Lincoln, sir. His leadership during the Civil War—when the Union you forged nearly collapsed—saved your Republic. He gave it what you could not: emancipation.”
Franklin (quietly):
“Ah… the original sin. We left it unresolved. That was the cost of compromise in Philadelphia.”
Hamilton (nodding):
“I opposed slavery from the start—knew it would curse the Republic. Still, we all accepted it, thinking time would resolve what courage would not. It took blood.”
Washington (with a deep sigh):
“Six hundred thousand dead. Was it worth the delay?”
Gershowitz:
“Full enfranchisement was late in coming. But come it did. And women, too, were finally enfranchised in 1920. Civil rights progressed. America has not stopped correcting itself. Yet that very progress now feeds backlash.”
Franklin:
“So, the American experiment persists in struggle and renewal. As it must.”
Hamilton:
“Yes. But can it survive in an age where truth is negotiable?”
Gershowitz:
“That's our present danger. Facts feel fungible. The rule of law is questioned. The judiciary is politicized. I try to remind readers of your intentions—limited government, checks and balances, reasoned debate.”
Washington:
“And the Union? Still intact?”
Gershowitz:
“Yes, but not without threat. We've had presidents contest elections without evidence, violent insurrections at the Capitol, and foreign powers manipulating our discourse.”
Franklin (in disbelief):
“A mob at the Capitol? In the sacred halls where reason should reign?”
Hamilton (grim):
“I feared the mob as much as monarchy. We aimed for a system that curbs both.”
Gershowitz:
“We've succeeded and failed, both. But the Constitution still holds. Elections are still contested peacefully, for the most part. Yet too many treat politics as war, not service. Sometimes the loyal opposition presents as a warring faction.”
Washington (resolute):
“Then perhaps the work must begin anew. Not with muskets or declarations—but with recommitment. To principles, not parties. To the Republic, not the ruler.”
Gershowitz:
“That's what I, and others, try to address every week. Of Thee I Sing 1776 is my small effort to merely participate in the never-ending dialogue. I believe there is still enough civic virtue—if we remember from where we came.”
Franklin (grinning):
“Then print it, sir. Spread it widely. Enlighten the people. After all, an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
Hamilton:
“And never forget: The Constitution is not a relic—it is a responsibility.”
Washington (placing a hand over his heart):
“Let us hope the people still have the courage to carry their burdens. For if they do, then our great experiment may yet endure.”
The four men stand in contemplative silence, shadows long in the afternoon sun. Outside, the bells of the city toll, echoing both memory and possibility.
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Recent podcasts have featured my commentary on Liz Cheney’Cheney's “Oath of Honor,” as well as my commentaries regarding:
US Representative Jim Jordan,
Brian Kemp and Those Republicans of Georgia,
The Trump Indictments,
The Fox Corp Settlement,
The CNN Trump Town Hall,
The Hunter Biden plea deal,
The New American Cult of Personality,
and my interviews with William Bratton, Retired Chief of Police in New York City, Los Angeles, and Boston;
Rikki Klieman, Attorney, Network News Analyst, and best-selling author;
John Thoresen, Executive Director, Barbara Sinatra Children's Center;
Katherine Gehl, co-author of The Politics Industry and founder of the Institute for Political Innovation;
Steve Allen, among his other medial achievements, created the PBS program 'Meeting of the Minds', where historical personages gathered around a table to discuss things. (My favorite was Genghis Khan.) This strikes me as something he could have pulled off, for all to see ..
Steve Allen, among his other medial achievements, created the PBS program 'Meeting of the Minds', where historical personages gathered around a table to discuss things. (My favorite was Genghis Khan.) This strikes me as something he could have pulled off, for all to see ..
Simply brilliant!