Ye Olde RevWar/Colonial Hiftory/General Washington ping lifte
Note to admin mod: while I was allowed to post full text from this site, I excerpted it anyway.
Are we allowed to post full from it? Thanks...
Posted on 03/05/2010 7:14:11 AM PST by Pharmboy
Our first president had some excellent advice in his farewell address to the nation, which he delivered via newspaper publication in September 1796.
The entire speech remains worth reading today. Some of his points were specific to a time when the United States was young and fragile–the Constitution was less than a decade old, after all–but much of his wisdom continues to hold value. Pay attention.
Pay attention.
It doesn’t hold value simply because he’s George Washington, Super-President of Historical Myth and Noble Chopper of the Cherry Tree and Crosser of the Delaware. (Even Washington was not a perfect human being. A great one, yes, but great does not equal perfect.)
No, it holds value because we can look around today and see that he was right. His concerns have been validated by our collective mistakes over the years.
snip...
Finally, there’s the subject of debt.
“As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear.”
Read that last bit again. On this point, we have failed miserably. But he chose not to. He limited his power, by his own free will.
That’s how you set an example. Let’s make sure we pay attention.
(Excerpt) Read more at northstarnational.com ...
Ye Olde RevWar/Colonial Hiftory/General Washington ping lifte
Note to admin mod: while I was allowed to post full text from this site, I excerpted it anyway.
Are we allowed to post full from it? Thanks...
John / Billybob
Very interesting...thanks. I did not know that.
Jefferson also had a great deal to say about public debt. These guys eclipse anyone around today in wisdom.
BTTT
Sounds like Masonic Temple speak to me.
If only our leaders today were students of Masonry...as many of our Founders were.
Very true and sadly forgotten by those in the city named for him.
There’s not too many organizations who dedicate a month to Constitutional Observance. American Masonic lodges are such places. It’s nice to say the Pledge of Allegiance with your neighbors once a month.
I was thinking this would be a nice program to put out to the public. Take portions of the Farewell Address, copy them to PDF, blow them up to poster size, and display them around the walls of the meeting hall. Invite a few local pols of all persuasions and let the people wander and ask questions.
It’s good to see this at the top of my page this morning, and even better to read an excellent commentary. Thanks!!
Your Obdt. Svt.
P____y
Many thanks!
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Thanks Pharmboy. |
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