Thursday, September 3, 2009

Advice from George Washington

The miracle of the Revolution in the United States was that after the dust settled from war and we found ourselves self-governing, our first President, stepped aside and insisted there be another man in the top seat as was the original and agreed to plan. He was a pretty decent man and many good Americans wanted him to continue as President, even as a king. He knew better than that. And, it helps to want to go home to a beautiful place like Virginia. Where has that ever happened? We must be "everready" to defend freedom.

We saw a documentary (on History channel?) about Russia the other day from the time of the enlightenment to the time of Lenin and we saw how very close to democracy they came. The problem seemed to arise from the very real threat of physical harm both toward the aristocracy and the serfs. Then the extremists of both sides decided God or some rightousness was on their side and struck out or struck back. You can not hit. Don't we teach our children this? No biting, no slapping, no fists... Not that you can deny anger or don't require self-defense. But if your opponent moves toward your position in any way, the game is in your court and the civilized thing is to move toward him. You owe that to him for a period of time and then you can revolt if he refuses to budge.

Anyway here is George Washington's advice. Apparently he got it from a 17th century French Jusuit College.

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