Look around. What do you see? We are afflicted with a disease – internal disaffections, uncorrected misunderstandings, intentional misinterpretations, lack of appreciation for history. We act like adolescents, elect adolescent leaders. The pillars of our republic quiver. George Washington would be aghast. A republic is hard work, requires unity or perishes. Simple but hard.
As a Nation, and most know this, our Founders were Christian. They believed in free will, pledged tolerance of all faiths, “Hebrews” to “Mohammedans,” if they respected others’ freedoms and were of “good conscience,” what Ben Franklin called a “continual Christmas.”
But today, we have lost that horizon, what our founders envisioned and why. We have lost our compass, and few – literally or figuratively – can navigate by the stars, see the joy in a “good conscience.” We forget what it means to seek that joy, being patient with the misguided, educating those unaware of our extraordinary history.
Instead, we give in to political exhaustion, meet disaffection with disaffection, pull our sword and cross it, rather than deploy a shield, keep eyes on the far horizon: Preserving the Republic.
Where does a society end up – from the Greeks and Romans to Carthaginians and Phoenicians (both Semitic), Sumerians and Akkadians (both Mesopotamians) – when it fails to educate itself, keep the compass, restore perspective for those who have lost it?
It ends up lost, internally weakened, and then worse things can happen. None of the societies above … still exist. They had their day and flamed out, got weak from internal division, and fell.
True, they did not have our founders, were not centered on Christian and pluralist ideas. They did not share our commitment to limited government, contesting ideas, forgiveness, self-correction.
Those societies, early Egyptians to Babylonians, had no grasp of the strength that resides in tolerating differing ideas, trial and error, self-correction through self-awareness. So, they fell.
Missing today is what our founders had – fortitude, patience, and understanding forged in the furnace of war, two wars in 40 years that nearly ended it. In 1776 and 1812, they nearly lost it all, so they appreciated what they had. They knew self-correction was worth the effort.
So, what would Washington say? Maybe what he wrote in 1783: “Essential to the well-being, to the existence of the United States… is prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposition among the People … which will induce them to forget their local prejudices … to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to the general prosperity.”
More: “These are the pillars on which the glorious fabric of our Independency and National Character must be supported; liberty is the basis, and whoever would dare to sap the foundation, or overturn the structure, under whatever special pretexts … will merit the bitterest execration…”
Final paragraph, speaking to the American people: “I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you and the State over which you preside in His holy protection … that He would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit … to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens … particularly for their brethren who have served in the field …”
Handing back command, Washington asks that God “…graciously be pleased to dispose us all … to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion…,” because “without … these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.”
Three years later, Washington writes friend John Jay, hopeful but worried. He insists the society must bind their differences. People must step up, since forging and holding a republic is hard.
“There are errors in our National Government which call for correction, loudly … We are certainly in a delicate situation …” but “the people are not yet sufficiently misled to retract from error!”
Washington, still four years away from chairing the Constitutional Convention (1787), six from becoming president (1789) is calm … but also worried for America’s future, so is engaged.
“To be plainer, I think there is more wickedness than ignorance …” and a Convention “is necessary to revise … the Articles of Confederation,” as “something must be done or the fabric must fall. It is certainly tottering! Ignorance and design are hard to combat. Out of these proceed illiberality… evils which oftentimes, in a republican government, must be sorely felt before they must be removed.”
While Washington’s appeal to common sense, social unity, and flexibility is heard, he holds certain principles firm, which will become – with others – part of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Washington’s real point was simple – and relevant. Republics are hard work. They require education, understanding of freedom, unity in its defense. The idea was shared by all founders.
As Franklin noted, “We must all hang together, or we will surely hang separately.” In short, we are afflicted now by ignorance, indifference, fatigue. We must still step up, vote, care. Simple but hard.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
“…[I]nduce them to forget their local prejudices … to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to the general prosperity.”
What I’ve learned over the past decade or two is that most people who vote for democrats choose their hot button issues (“concessions” of singular interest), over those broad issues that affect the greatest number of people (“general prosperity”). Some are more concerned that trans individuals receive all the drugs, support, and surgery they need, regardless of age. Others vote for the party that portrays a seemingly more sympathetic stance toward radical environmentalism and full-term abortion, or against fossil fuels, organized religion, and corporate profit.
Some are so disgusted by President Trump’s brash, New York demeanor that they could never vote for him regardless of his proven record. The democrat party has become the party of misfits, misanthropes, and the marginalized. They’ve become angry, hateful, and overly emotional.
Our founding fathers (and mothers) envisioned the opportunity for a country to remain independent and civil despite our individual differences and the different attitudes and aspirations among the states. But it is an opportunity, not a guarantee. We have to continually work on maintaining that vision without marginalizing particular sectors of our population. And that’s especially difficult because we have become accustomed to getting our way, having our own needs met, and overblowing our own importance. It’s all about “Me, Me, Me!” At least half of this country’s citizens have lost sight of the big picture…the “general prosperity”.
The Constitution deliberately avoided all the minutiae of what the government will be and do, and what the people are expected to do. Instead, the thinkers and writers of the day wrote this brief manifesto as a blueprint for our commonality, providing the “common denominator” for living in a free society. Unfortunately, as today’s generations have become so self-absorbed that they’ve lost sight of the nation’s general welfare, they also denigrate others who disagree with them. Our ideas have become so disparate that I fear the chasm between the two main parties will never heal. It might require a war or a horrendous act of domestic terrorism before we come together once again and recognize the greatness of a Constitutional republic.
What George Washington wrote in 1783 – about the qualities required for the general prosperity of the Country – referring to those qualities as the pillars upon which our Independency and National Character must be supported – then commenting on the value of Liberty , that sure enough defined the heart of the situation . The history of the winter encampment at Valley Forge 1777 – 1778 helps to understand the National Character at that time ,which included the civilians contributions to the cause of freedom as well as the Army with General Washington doing the best they could with what they had. This is a very important article you wrote RBC – that spirit that George Washington recognized as being vital is understandable , clear and gives an enthusiasm to wanting to make things right . The sort of honorable mindset that is needed now as it was then.
We trod up a bumpy, difficult hill. Presently, it feels like a mountain. The biggest difference is that our presence ruling class and business leaders do not have a “love of country,” our Founders had. The elite at the top, disdain the citizens they are suppose to lead. That is a difficultly the Founders did not have.
Nailed it again, Mr. Charles! Yes, indeed we must “step up, vote care,” but first we must do what God advised King Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14. Humble ourselves, pray & seek His face to save our Constitutional Republic. Then we will see a turn around!
If we forget God he will forget us. Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 tells us all we need to know about what will happen to us when we forget God. It is almost too late for our once great country.
Those words are timeless, united we stand .Left, that thrives on chaos and disorder knows it and hates it. That is why it destroys all that is not post modern Many became one and created something of a miracle. Left is trying to remake one into many and create a disaster, on which it thrives. George Washington and many others including MLK are turning in their graves.
This is a Washington quote I have used on several occasions:
“If freedom of speech is taken away,
then dumb and silent we may be led,
like sheep to the slaughter.”
George Washington 1732-1797 AD
Wow; we are definitely afflicted, having lost our near unanimous Moral compass with a slow resurgence as those Awake realize our current state as an Nation, more importantly that the God of the Bible is allowing individuals to spiritually realize that Sin( unholiness,
“Step up” and “vote” AGAINST all DemocRAT, liberal, “progressive”, and “woke” political candidates at ALL levels, whether for local, state, or federal positions! If you truly “care”, vote CONSERVATIVE, America! To quote DJT, “What’ve you got to lose?”………
Wonder what George Washington would think about all the censorship by democrats including Facebook and Google listening to your conversations through your phone. Not to mention the illegal and unconstitutional Witch Hunts against President Trump from them committing election interference.
From what I have read and gleaned from a couple of people on this forum, they certainly do not appreciate the framework of our Constitution. They are free to comment due to our First Amendment freedoms and, based on those freedoms, are allowed to be “idiotic” with their presumptions.
George Washington, founder of our country
George Washington, adulterer