What About {George] Washington?

Last Thursday, Dartmouth kicked off a nearly month-long Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration that comprises 26 events and will climax with the cancellation of classes on Jan. 17.

In contrast, the College completely ignores George Washington’s birthday, otherwise known as President’s Day, as well as Columbus Day, the two other federal holidays that honor individuals who supposedly contributed to American history in a major way. The reason for not celebrating the latter is obvious — Columbus was a bloodthirsty tyrant who ruthlessly murdered and enslaved Native Americans. The College’s attitude towards Washington is more baffling, however.

Many people are reluctant to pay homage to Washington and other founding fathers because they owned slaves. It’s important to bear in mind, however, that the mores and expectations of 18th century society were very different from our own. Washington abhorred slavery, . . .

He actually makes a sensible point, that the norms and expectations of the 18th century were different than today. He doesn’t realize that the politically correct crowd of today abhor the founding fathers because they didn’t have a politically correct conscience. Depending on the aggrieved group complaining, the founding fathers were racist, sexist, homophobic, elitists, denied the vote to women, minorities, anyone who didn’t own property, denied the vote to all of us by setting up the electoral college, and so on and so on.

I’m sure you’ve heard that when Jefferson wrote that all men were created equal, the liberals complain that he literally meant only men, and white men at that. So to the liberals of today, our founding fathers were worthless human beings because they were not politically correct according to the standards of the 21st century.

New Hampshire was the last state to recognize Martin Luther King’s birthday as a holiday. It drove the Libs nuts because there were no sports teams to boycott like Arizona and blacks didn’t make up a significant part of the tourism industry, mainly skiers and foliage visitors. There was nothing they could do until enough libs moved up from Massachusetts to ruin the state.

"Washington abhorred slavery"

I think that's probably overstating it. Adams did, Franklin did, even Lafayette did. Washington however displayed an amazing ambivalence toward it throughout much of his life, but over time certainly came to regret both its inherent economic inefficiencies as well as the horrible moral truth about slavery. Like so many of the Founders who ardently fought for liberty, he displayed an amazing split personality on the subject (no one did more so than Jefferson). It is true that the issue of slavery, had it been pushed, would likely have derailed any attempt at forming a durable union and would have scuttled the Constitution. It was also an economic transition that would have ruined Washington and his contemporaries; perhaps the primary reason it occurred only upon the event of his death. Washington seemed to comprehend what needed to be done, and like many of the Founders, knew that the slavery issue was the elephant in the room. That they were not able to overcome this last impediment is regrettable and made the American Revolution imperfect and incomplete, and set the stage for the tragedy of the Civil War, but in all the annals of human history there is nothing that even approaches its success. What was accomplished by the Founders, and the one truly indispensable man, Washington, is nothing short of miraculous. The example he set is unparalleled, and the nation he founded has done more to advance human liberty than any other in history. Despite his imperfections - and he was a man, not a god - there is no more laudatory individual in American history and no one more deserving of honor and remembrance by his countrymen. That we fail to set aside a day solely in his honor is a scandal.

New Orleans changed the name of George Washington school because they didn’t want to honor someone who owned slaves.

They changed the name of the school, and renamed it after some African king from African history. This was supposed to honor someone worthy of honor. It probably allegedly helps the self esteem of New Orleans youth, who no longer have their sensibilities offended by attending a school named for a slave owner. New Orleans youth are very sensitive about the issues surrounding slavery. They are taught their history.

To say that Columbus was "a bloodthirsty tyrant who ruthlessly murdered and enslaved Native Americans" is hyperbole.

Columbus certainly had his faults, but his misdeeds are not in the same league as some of the Spanish conquistadores, and I'm not aware that he murdered anyone.

Of course "America" as a name wasn't even invented until after Columbus was dead.

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