Although the exact date of February 22nd is rarely celebrated these days, his actual birthday, “President’s Day,” is actually still officially Washington’s birthday.
And that’s entirely correct and appropriate. All Americans should be happy to honor our first Secretary.
The most notable thing about Washington was the content of his character (to mock his companion, who celebrated his birthday last month).
Richard Brookheiser rescued this view of our first president in his 1997 landmark book, The Founding Fathers.
Hidden behind myths and dismissed by historical revisionists as just another dead white male slaveholder, Washington was actually a man from the past.
Born into a noble family in Virginia, he carefully cultivated the virtues of self-control, moderation, and civility. His physical and mental strengths make him the most widely admired figure, first in the Thirteen Colonies and then in the new nation.
He founded two institutions in America.
The first was the Army, which he commanded from 1775 to 1783, building a ragtag group of untrained, undisciplined soldiers into a fighting force that defeated the world’s superpower, Britain.
He also set the future direction of the U.S. government itself.
Presiding over the first few years of government, from 1789 to 1797, he set a precedent that he believed should continue, even though many disagreed about the precise form that government should take. I understood that I was making a
But his importance goes far beyond his resume. It was Washington who emphasized that America was a republic when he rebuked those who wanted a monarchy or a high-ranking president.
Similarly, he set a precedent for presidential limits by rejecting entreaties to accept a third term.
“Washington’s final act of service to his country was to cease service,” Brookhiser wrote.
He was also the only founding slaveholder to free his slaves, albeit against his own will.
For all these reasons and more, there was no disputing that Henry Lee famously described Washington’s death as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his fellow men.”
This November, America will likely face a choice between two people who are diametrically opposed to Washington: Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
Two candidates who lack precisely the qualities that Washington exemplified: civility, moderation, self-control, and moral and physical strength.
They both have a casual habit of lying and embellishment, becoming more and more miserable as they age, and if they have a moral weakness, it’s a weakness.
Neither can crouch down and criticize ideas they disagree with. ad hominem attack
Witness Biden denouncing all conservatives as fascists and opponents of democracy, and the endless string of name-calling and nicknames.
Exactly meaning Of rudeness.
As for moderation and self-control, both are completely lacking.
Both have shown a willingness to prioritize crude, material self-interest over the national interest, and in Biden’s case, quite literally sold his reputation as a politician for money.
And both are eager to abandon the Constitution’s deepest principles (and oldest allies) in their quest to gain and maintain power, with Biden using the power of the federal government to go after his critics. There is.
Furthermore, both lack the wisdom necessary to know when to step back.
Yes, Biden was a disaster for the country in a completely different way than Trump.
But that cannot hide the flaws that Trump shares with Biden.
No wonder Americans don’t want either of them to be president.they both come last In the hearts of their compatriots, there is a good cause.
Indeed, their candidacy itself is an embodiment of the bipartisan political culture that Washington and the other Founders feared.
Unlike other famous presidents, Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR, JFK, and Reagan, Washington did not leave any memorable lines that we continue to quote today.
But, as Brookhiser says, “his life still has the power to inspire those who study it.” try out.
All the more so if the two almost certain to be the party’s nominees can’t learn from Washington. we To do so.
