Osler's Razor

I think Robert Zemeckis made it pretty clear back in 1994 that the American protagonist is Forrest Gump.
 

Jefferson was an elitist and hypocritical dreamer with very little practical success or acumen. He left office in 1809, unpopular with the people, having wrecked the economy and vastly expanded the power of the Presidency after having criticized Adams for doing the same. His economic policies were ruinous and not grounded in reality. He had no concept of economics, banking or how to bind together a collection of colonies that had very little in common other than a language.

The notion of an Agrarian society was absurd even by the 1790's and totally ridiculous by the time he was President.

His vicious and sneaky campaign against Alexander Hamilton through his agent James Madison while they both served in Washington's cabinet was despicable.

He should have stayed in Charlottesville and focused on founding U.Va.

While the rumor that he was the father of children with his slave has never been proven (it may have been his brother or another relative), what is definitely true about Jefferson is that he ran up monstrous debt and left many creditors unpaid and financially ruined.

My choice, Theodore Roosevelt. He was a man of enormous energy and passion, often misguided, but his heart was big and his intentions were honorable. He was from east coast establishment, a proud graduate of Harvard and a member of exclusive clubs and organizations. But he was not afraid to get his fingers dirty in business and politics. Unlike Jefferson, he spoke for himself and was seen as more than just a thinker but a doer.

Weak and sickly as a youth, he built himself into a vigorous and strong adult through hard work and sheer will.

When tragedy struck in the form of the death of his first wife during childbirth, he changed course, left the comfortable life he was leading in New York and headed west to the Dakotas to ranch and live on the land. He was an honest to God cowboy and displayed physical toughness that all but a few people could ever exhibit.

His vision for the nation was positive, expansive, practical, based upon the needs of all Americans and in many cases successful. Unlike Jefferson he put his ideas into practice and serves as a role model for Presidents 100 years after he left office.

Second choice: Ben Franklin.
 

I think the problem is that we want our protagonist(s) to be heroic figures, without flaw or hubris or pathos. We want comic book superheroes, not the tragic, flawed characters of a Dostoevsky or Melville.

That said, I don't think we could focus on a single point of view. Doing so itself would be a political choice shaped by a conscious desire to hijack the narrative toward our own purposes. But maybe that is the theme of America: to grasp at what is not ours, to take and dominate by force of will, and then to step back in a moment of quiet contemplation, realizing that our actions are not in line with our values, followed by a period of intense spiritual transformation.
 

I agree in part with Lane's point that there is no one right answer. Whether it's a founding father who escaped the oppression of King George and laid the foundation of our democracy, or a slave who escaped ownership and went on to accomplish great things, or the immigrant who escaped crushing poverty in his or her homeland to start anew in America, to the Greatest Generation who left everything behind to defend our country in a World War, there is no one enduring tale of American ideals and I don't think any one person we select could ever be representative of this country's story.
 

Abe Lincoln.
 

Jonathan Edwards (not the crossover guy) or the other guy who goes by John.

Second choice is Abraham Lincoln.
 

No love for "W" on the Razor? Is there a more defining moment in American history than when Washington refused to be King in favor of a republic?
 

I think there are new protagonists for every generation. This said, in the early days the protagonist would tend to be political thinkers who helped forge this great nation. These men and a few ladies put it on the line to help put this country move in appropriate directions for thier individual times. In current times I don't think the protagonist need to be a politician.

I tend to agree with IPLaw in his assessment of Jefferson and would add that his many debts were paid off in full by his nephew. I still wish to revisit Monticello as I found all he did with farming and gardening to be amazing. He had an amazing curiousity about nature.

Edison, Ford and Goodyear were protagonists for their era.
MLK Jr was a protagonist
Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are protagonists
Those who have hooked us on social networking and the list
 

IPLG's skewering of TJ is entirely factual--but I like him anyway. Nobody's perfect.

I also love TR--but there are plenty of historians who could write a page of scathing criticism on the his presidency and character. But, as I say, I agree with the positives enumerated.

For me it really comes down to King, Lincoln, and Washington.

Washington was flawless--by choice; he was the sine qua non of the AR. Washington carried us. He persevered--and we are here today b/c he was so amazingly disciplined.

Lincoln, the most unlikely of heroes, preserved the experiment during a moment in which few other leaders could have had the fortitude, humility, and vision to keep moving forward.

And King freed us.

All great characters--worthy of worship and emulation.
 

Strangely, I don't think I could identify a political figure that would be the protagonist of the American story. Because, to me, politics and policy are not what drives America. What drives America is a rugged individualism and its people. It isn't, or isn't supposed to be, politicians and policy makers. So, I would look for the characters, the individuals, that really drove that American spirit. That shaped and defined a broader sense of what it means to be an American than any politician could have.

And of course, in that spirit, I would choose the only logical choice...

Elvis
 

Ignatius Jacques Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces.
 

The slaves, the civil rights workers in the '60s, the suffragettes who went on hunger strikes and nearly died . . . there are many equally compelling protagonists who make up the story, as RRL says.
 

Why all the real life political figures? When I think of the quintessential protagonist of the American story, I think of Jay Gatsby or Charles Foster Kane.