Volume 1 - Heretic

To understand my life, you must understand the deeper impact that it had on the generations to follow. On the surface, it is a story of a man who rose from obscurity to prominence and influence. But at its very soul, it is the story of the creation of an identity that would supplant religion as the beacon of hope in the hearts and minds of millions of citizens. This is the story of a person who - through compassion, wisdom, and business savvy – crafted an image that would elevate his stature to a legendary, “Demi-God” status who would embody all of those values that Americans believe to represent exceptionalism. If American Exceptionalism is a religion, then I, Ben Franklin, am its prophet.

So it would seem appropriate to begin my story with an epitaph I wrote at the age of 22 years old that turned out to be eerily prophetic. In “The Prophecy”, I make an analogy to a decaying book whose words will be republished in a Corrected and Amended new edition. Considering that my story has been remembered through my famous Autobiography, my inscription – which was initially intended to be written on my gravestone – would aptly imply that this album is that new edition! Its purpose is to complete my unfinished autobiography while clarifying past ambiguities and setting the record straight from history books.

With that introduction I quickly move into the first of my Demi-God 100 series. In the first verse of The Demi-God, I lay out my credentials for you to understand my status and my credibility. I am the very face of both capitalism and scientific innovation. But I didn’t start out that way. Verse two highlights my beginnings – in the 1710s - as a brilliant and rambunctious Boston kid whose typical Boston childhood of fighting and schoolwork was spicened up by my invention of the swimming flipper. Throughout the rest of the album (my life), I will occasionally sprinkle in more songs from the Demi-God 100 series to serve as an analysis of my progress towards that seat of legendary status.

But first, I become involved in a conflict, in 1722, that will play a pivotal role in shaping the American Spirit! I’m a printer’s apprentice for my brother, James (one of our first “Founding Fathers”, who has established the first independent-minded newspaper in all of the colonies, The New England Courant. In Boston Rebel – the first of the series – I tell the tale of James’s newspaper war for freedom of speech against the Boston Puritan clergy. During his battle, I am able to sneak in my own writings as a middle-aged woman named Silence Dogood, much to James’s eventual annoyance. James was the major casualty of this war. Not only did he eventually lose his paper, but his tension with me boiled over and caused me to run-away from Boston at the age of 17. It would be years before James and I made amends.

After I left Boston, I arrived in Philadelphia, which would become the base of all my operations for years to come. The city had a different vibe than New England as it was run by the Quakers to be a colony based on one idea: religious toleration. The first of my Lib City series, Holy Experiment (Lib City), introduces me and the listener to the bustling, diverse capital imagined by William Penn (another “Founding Father”). It tells the tale of William Penn’s life and his idea that all religions could worship freely and harmoniously. While this makes for a wonderful chapter in the fairy tale of American lore, the reality was from happy as the various religious groups did not trust each other, nor did they like each other. This experiment was not a complete success but it crafted a blueprint of societal harmony that could be improved upon.

But it did nothing to stop my religious skepticism. I had been turned off to the extreme nature of the Puritans’ belief that most people were pre-destined for Hell as well as their tyrannical practices to maintain their absolute authority. But I could see similar patterns of power-lust in the eyes of the pacifistic Quakers. So I did what any teenager would do, I rebelled against authority. In Heretic, the next in the Demi-God series, I lay out my argument against religious institutions that undermine their morals and principles in the name of power. I question the policies of the church and make a stand in determining my own faith, which would establish my moral compass away from any institution of religion. I maintained a faith in God, but I was a kid without a religion to call my own.

And then I found one!

In The Thesis (G.W.U.P), I introduce the listener to a new religion established during the Enlightenment, Deism, which based its principles around logic. It was perfect for a skeptical teenager like myself. In the meantime, I spend verse 1 discussing my initial impact in the city. I impress everyone including the Governor who sends me to London to buy all of the equipment I need to be Pennsylvania’s new printer (not bad for 18 years old…). However, it quickly becomes clear that he had no friends in London who would do business with him, thus leaving me stuck in London. No worries though! I get a job and then spend the next two years working hard and playing hard. I make friends with other Deists and create my own philosophical pamphlet arguing that “God Wants Us to Party” because sin is not actually real. However, I notice over time that other Deist friends don’t have the same moral code of mine (the Golden Rule is paramount) and are degenerates. This causes me to realize that, while I don’t need religion to keep me on a virtuous moral path, others do. I vow, moving forward to not be obnoxious to other religions and, instead, support them in order to ensure a community of good humanitarian principles.

With that, I end part 1. To recap, I found a faith that fit perfectly with my belief in logic and my natural skepticism. I also have battle scars from the first foray against censorship and tyranny. More importantly, I’ve matured from the rambunctious, rebellious teenager, and I have now become a man of the world who is ready to apply all that he has learned to become successful.