The Second Amendment was apt for its day, a shrewd mix of freedom ("the right to keep and bear arms") and duty (the "well-regulated militia" clause). But it was meant for the realities of American life over two centuries ago.

Using historical data, we can identify what experience is most important in hiring a new president. While there are no perfectly objective ways to measure presidential quality, it is fair to say that historians' estimates will certainly succeed at separating the George Washingtons from the Franklin Pierces.

What Americans want is a president like George Washington. Mitt Romney, by contrast, has shown he's willing to win without honor. He doesn't seem to know Americans won't elect a candidate they believe lacks nobility.

There's a reason the current president promised to be "no-drama Obama." It's a promise he's delivered on, and that has served the country well. Those who want to know what a re-elected Obama is likely to do should not be distracted by his underwhelming recent performances. They should look back at his first-term record and note how consistent it is with his pragmatic and moderate personal character: an effective, but ultimately modest, balanced stimulus that's helped turn the economy around; the achievement, at long-last, of near-universal healthcare using an idea originating in conservative circles; the comeback of that emblem of American capitalism, the auto industry; winding down two wars and killing al Qaeda's leader in a bold but limited strike that deployed smart power rather than chest-thumping militarism; advancing and protecting reproductive and LGBT rights.

To the delegates of countries nervous about Americans' expectations of ever-progressing democracy in the aftermath of last year's Arab Spring, President Obama was echoing, in so many words, what Washington declaimed when he called for respect for every religion.

As he neared his third and final retirement after 45 years of service, George Washington drafted the letter we know as his "Farewell Address," a letter from which Mitt Romney could take two important lessons.

Democracy in Washington's Farewell Address is a fragile thing. It is subject to the whims of public opinion, to the pull of parties, to the selfishness of generations, to the propensity of humans to make mistakes.

One of the enduring American myths we cherish is the two-party system. We must have two parties! To have three parties or more is impossible; to have only one, unthinkable.

hose people -- the confused ones -- come in all shapes, sizes, genders, colors, and political parties but for the sake of argument, and as a nod to the political climate of this GOP Convention week, let's focus on politicians, shall we?