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America's founding fathers weren't perfect. [image of American flag waving]

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Yup, we said it.

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Rumor has it that Benjamin Franklin's gas...

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was out of control. [people having a conference in a room]

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But whatever their flaws, the Founding Fathers...

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of the U.S. pulled off some pretty impressive stuff.

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See, constitutional democracies hadn't... [Voters waving their hands]

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always been around. With the exception of...

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Ancient Greece and Rome, most European countries had, [image of ancient monuments]

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for the most part, been monarchies of some kind.

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So when the American Colonies drew up this little document...

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called the Declaration of Independence... [Declaration of Independence document]

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which stated that

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was a big deal.

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It kicked off a democratic form of government that we've...

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been fiddling with ever since.

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Of course, even though the founding fathers put this radical new...

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form of government into action, [American flag flying above the statues of past American presidents]

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they didn't come up with the ideas on their own.

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Like the Beatles, they got by with a little help... [Old group photo of an English rock band - The Beatles]

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from their friends.

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The friends in this context being some of Europe's greatest Enlightenment thinkers.

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Wish we had cool friends like that.

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One of the first of these Enlightened dudes...

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was a guy named Thomas Hobbes. [Picture of Thomas Hobbes]

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And yeah, Hobbes of "Calvin and Hobbes"...

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is named after this Hobbes.

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The Hobbes who wasn't a stuffed tiger was kickin' around back in the 1600s. [Small kid playing football by himself in the passage area]

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He witnessed the English Civil War,

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which ended up being the first time a king...

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was publicly executed in England.

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Since the king wasn't looking over anybody's shoulder anymore, [Kings head executed]

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which would have been hard without a head,

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Hobbes was free to think of new ideas.

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Hobbes looked around and saw all sorts of...

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advances being made in the sciences.

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The causes of natural events in the world were being investigated, [Two scientists, a male and a female, experimenting in the lab]

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from plants, to animals, to the solar system.

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Well, Hobbes thought humans could be dissected the same way,

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like metaphorically dissected.

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Hobbes wasn't going all Dexter in his basement.

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Knives and all that, yeah. [Old man trying to kill a young man in the basement]

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With the influence of discovering new ideas and being...

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totally afraid of the Civil War, Hobbes

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wrote his political manifesto,

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Leviathan.

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Hobbes theorized that human beings operate...

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primarily on the basis of self-interest. [Mother playing with her kid in the playground]

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In other words, we're selfish brats...

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who'll do whatever we can at whatever cost...

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to everyone else, to take care of old numero uno.

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One of the big things Hobbes liked...

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to think about was something he called the [Cows grazing in the farm land]

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"state of nature."

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No, this was not Wyoming.

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It was a theory of what humans were like when they lived in...

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nature, outside of any organized society.

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Like with no police force,

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no grand buildings, [Six police men standing side by side in a line holding guns]

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not even a DMV.

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In this fantasy land, there are two important...

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points to be made:

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Well according to Hobbes, it's in human nature for.... [Two men fighting with each other]

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all of us to act like the first edition of Survivor.

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Hobbes thought that the only way to bring some order out of the chaos...

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was to leave the state of nature and give...

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over some of our natural rights to a supreme ruler of some kind. [lady enjoying the breeze by the beach]

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So even though Hobbes didn't think monarches had...

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the right to rule, he still thought a monarch of sorts...

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is the best person to turn our...

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rights over to.

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Admittedly, a born and bred monarch... [Pictures of Kings and Queens]

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might be better than some random dude in the...

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hood who talks to himself as he walks...

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down the street and gets elected. [a random man walks down the street]

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Hobbes also thought we should avoid rebellion...

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at all costs or else we'd get to that same...

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scary post-apocalyptic state of nature.

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How freaked out would Hobbes be if he walked The Walking Dead? [Image of three scary zombies & fire in the background]

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Seriously. It might seem weird that founding...

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fathers of the U.S., many of whom helped...

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launch a rebellion, would be inspired by in part by a rebellion-hating dude like this.

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Keep in mind that even stating that...

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monarchs weren't technically born with the right to... [Image of a King in the palace]

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rule was a big deal at this time.

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The idea hat we're all born free,

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is a baby step in the right direction. [a bird flying over the sea]

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and it inspired later thinkers.

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The Founding Fathers would probably also agree...

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that state of nature, like the one Hobbes described should... [Man running away from wild animals]]

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be avoided at all costs. After all, they did create a...

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central government rather than let everybody...

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live in anarchy. They probably also...

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thought the state of nature was to be avoided because... [Three ladies sitting on wooden table enjoying bonfire & mosquitoes hovering]

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well, you know, nature.

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Stupid mosquitos.

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