Ben Franklin would have just invented Seattle a new basketball team, by Davin Michael Stedman

My boy Benny Franklin refused to patent the Lightning Rod and his Franklin Stove, because he said,

“Look, I’m rich. I’m already hella’ famous. I have enough money. What am I gonna’ do horde all this money like some chump, and have my own vanity Space Program?”

America rose because of people like Ben. But it will fall if we keep believing these hacks that were born at the right time, and are cunning and desperate enough to screw somebody else out of a billion dollars are something you should really aspire to be.

These men (and hey some women) are slaves drivers pretending they are working 100 hours a week between back massages, as their employees crack under the pressure and are replaced by the next ship full of suckers.

It’s a sham. Be careful, it’s an Amazon out there.

But it doesn’t have to be. In a better and even braver world, great leaders would invest more in retaining employees and improving the community, and miss the Trillion mark by making the lives around them better.

Money can’t save you. A really good Billionaire that touched the lives of so many artists in our community, Paul Allen couldn’t beat cancer with all the money in the world. Neither could Steve Jobs.

I have said it many times, I am a Capitalist pig, and if I were a master of the universe, or a Captain of industry I would use the hell out of Socialist ideals to keep this Rube Goldberg machine rolling.

So would Franklin. He and his working class drinking buddies came up with America’s first free lending library and non religious university, which is open to this day.

And Benny was also pro partying. He was a freak in the bedroom or back alley, but all business at the print shop.

Back to my own quest for self improvement.

But seriously…take note. This is one of the best dudes we ever produced. He’s in Philly’s Top 5 with Dr J and sandwiches.

Yet never forget, Big Ben was a hustler. When Washington needed scratch to mount an insurgency against The British, Ben put on that coon skin cap for the first time and worked the Aristocratic and Bourgeois women of France he called Mistresses until The French arrived with guns, troops, and money.

He wrote home,

“Yo yo yo yo…Send me all those coon skin caps and I’ll pretend to be the backwoods Quaker. can’t out dress these dandies, but I can under dress them.”

It’s OK to get money. Just don’t hoared it. Like Mr. Franklin, spread it around. And that’s why he’s on the $100. He basically dressed like a cowboy and made French women scream like he was Elvis Presley covering The Beatles.

– Musician and writer Davin Michael Stedman has many ventures, such as the AMAZING blog, 100milesofmusic.com. Davin’s new song has become a global earworm and Caribbean dancehall hit. Listen here on Reggaeville: DAVIN MICHAEL STEDMAN & ANTHONY RED ROSE – FREE YOUR MIND FEAT. SLY & ROBBIE WITH LENKY MARSDEN. The video is now available on Youtube. His single with British band Sherlock Soul is available here.