Poorer Richard's America: What Would Ben Say? - Hardcover

Tom Blair was born in England during World War II. His father, an American serviceman married to a young British girl, was killed at Normandy in 1944. He has been a tremendously successful businessman, starting and going public with several companies. As a long-term Washingtonian, he has keen insights into the political process, and clearly, Blair understands Wall Street, though he does not think of himself as a driven businessman. For him, business has always been a means to finance his passions, particularly American history, economics, and aviation. He has the world’s largest personal collection of WWII British aircraft, many of which he flies. Blair has three children and fifteen grandchildren. He lives with his wife, Alice, in the Washington Metropolitan Area.

"Mr. Blair skillfully weaves his own thoughts on financial excesses, national will, journalism, entertainment, generational legacies and the popular culture with the real and imagined reflections of his hero, Benjamin Franklin. . . . Tom Blair rightly asks, 'Where is our Benjamin Franklin and why aren't we listening to the original?'" ----Tom Brokaw, from the foreword

"Blair, a successful entrepreneur, using the style found in Franklin's 'Poor Richard's Almanack', complete with excerpts of speeches, quotes and aphorisms ("The learned fool writes his nonsense in better language than the unlearned; but still 'tis nonsense."-1754) examines many of our national ills in a series of essays in just over 200 quick-turning pages. . . . Blair reminds us that as Americans, we have been given a great gift of Liberty. But, just because we have a few victories under our belt, our sense of exceptionalism is not preordained; with our current set of policies and personal behavior choices, our current path is outright ruinous. Blair openly and rightly questions where we got off course, but also shows us how our central and shared beliefs can help right the ship. . . . Blair's point is not to merely point out the flaws that Franklin might see in modern-day America, but he also seeks to remind us of the great promise that our form of government, as envisioned by the Founders, provides us. And, most importantly, that we still can change." ----Bearing Drift, Political Blog Network, Washington Post