On this episode of Newt's World, it's part of Founding Father's Week.

I'm talking about the lives and legacies of our original founders and the impact they've had in our country.

On this episode, I'm going to talk about one of my favorite Founding Father's,

somebody that having been born in Hasworth, Pennsylvania,

spent a large part of my childhood going to Philadelphia, surrounded by Franklin,

and the impact he'd made in the world.

I've always felt that the breadth of what he did, the extraordinary range from

businessperson to publisher to writer to inventor,

not just inventor in the sense of physical things,

like lightning rods and bifocal glasses and the Franklin stove,

but inventor in the sense of inventing the University of Pennsylvania,

inventing the volunteer fire department,

inventing the American Philosophical Society.

Franklin had such an extraordinary love for life, such a deep work ethic,

and such a cheerful willingness to go out and turn ideas into projects and projects into achievements,

that there's almost nobody like him.

There are lots of other people who've done great things,

but almost nobody has covered the range from business to politics,

to diplomacy, to science, to invention, to social leadership that Franklin personified.

And so I think he's well worth spending some time,

and he clearly is by any standard and immortal.

The

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