The idea of the United States became real when Washington voluntarily relinquished control of the army rather than become a despot or king. We have fallen so far from that act and that strength of character.
I am struck by the eloquence of Washington’s language. Language has tremendous power, far beyond the words themselves. It is a multi-purpose tool we carried with us from one administration to another. Words, as we know, can inspire us to be our best selves. They can raise us to unimaginable heights and feats of glory when used to tap our sensitive souls and minds in the service of humanity and the highest calling of our country; its democracy.
Trump knows how to wound that democracy with words that cut and eviscerate that living democracy. It used to be a force with which we expressed our trust because, as Washington knew, that democracy lived in the hearts of its people. Its intentions were known by the words and deeds of its leaders in the service of all.
On this Presidents Day, it helped heal my sore heart to read Washington’s words. They reminded me that we once had eloquence personified in the White House. Maybe this fact doesn’t matter to some people. Maybe they think such lofty expression is out of date. I, for one, find it refreshing. I realize how much I have missed it. Maybe this reminder that a democratic spring has visited in the past and can come again will be enough to sustain us in this hard, hard winter of authoritarianism. I sure hope so. Gonna read this again…and again.
It’s hard to express just how much. These days, I may be grasping at straws, but even if I draw the short one by reading words from Presidents in the ‘way back machine’…I’ll hold it close!
I love the words, as well. Beauty in fluency. I long for discussions with my father, who enlightened. I miss my university mentors and our special coffees. I am thankful for Steven and his gifts.
Trump's most heinous of crimes--of the many--is his relentless cleaving of the American people. We have fallen so low, family against family, institution against institution, white against color, party against party. We are torn apart with seemingly no way forward. But I believe in my heart that the seeds of unity remain in the resistance, that we will find ourselves free of this monster and his regime, that MAGA will become ostracized out of existence and that we will reclaim the faith, liberty and justice that has been squandered by this man. This is what the fight is all about and I for one am all in.
Thanks. It's awfully hard to maintain that perspective, day by day, but then I see the polls, Minnesota, the flailing of Bondi, Noem and Hegseth (dolts, all) and am heartened. Keep your wonderful work coming, Steven. It really inspires me and lifts me from the darkness.
Yes the founding documents were general and aspirational. Not a rule book which people had to follow and it was subject to penalty theft psychopath greed. IE all the things that plage society. There are a lot of wonderful people but seemingly not enough. My epiphany for today
Thank you, Mr. Beschloss. What frightens me is that SCOTUS looked right in the eye of what Washington and other Founders warned about and gave djt a pass. They saw him in action. They knew we was a give-him-an-inch-he’ll-take-infinity kind of sociopath and SCOTUS flipped Americans a big middle finger and turned loose the wrath of that sociopath. SCOTUS doesn’t deserve all the credit - never stop blaming mitch. Americans have been betrayed for money and power.
And I need to remind everyone to read it to the end, but in reality I’m just trying to remind MYSELF to read it to the end (which I haven’t done yet—please, I beg you, don’t ban me!).
There is so much going on these days, and so much bad, and so much evil. It’s hard to keep up.
Thank you Professor Beschloss. Have read and reread George Washington’s farewell address so often. Everytime find many words of his wisdom, insights and even a premonition that he warned us all about that so many may have never taken heed. Our country has always been a challenge, messy and contradictory at best.
What held often true is that our better angels came to our own rescue. Find that we have better angels more and more. To those marching in the No Kings Protests. To the citizens of Minneapolis all that can’t be named, standing out in protesting from our own government paramilitary. From mothers standing in guard of children attending school, people delivering food and needed supplies to families in fear of ever peeking outside. So much that can’t even be articulated other than Minnesota is/has definitely exceeded its states motto — L'Étoile du Nord (The Star of the North). That this is carried over and over in other places in our country that ICE has descended upon that there are more “good people” that will continue to work against everything that this so-called President stands for.
When we truly understand that the office of the executive and the legislative branches are only to be temporary maybe we’ll get that “we as the people” who move this democracy forward will comprehend our power that was intended at our nations inception.
George Washington Farewell Address ~
“….In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.
How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them…”
Washington's Farewell Address
1796
What currently is sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is utterly, completely the total opposite of what was intended as written and seen by our founders and being a George Washington. Why anyone selected this abomination a second time totally alludes me still… He’s beyond abhorrent..
Washington, and the Founding Fathers in general, clearly anticipated things that could go wrong and threaten the Republic. But I doubt that in the 18th century it would have been possible to put in place all the guardrails necessary to prevent what we’re dealing with now. It’s regrettable that the Constitution wasn’t updated periodically as technology and societal norms changed, as I assume the Founders intended.
As an aside, reading Washington’s words makes it clear how much the public discourse has been dumbed down.
To think that a plumber needs a license, an electrician needs a license, driving a car requires a license, but being the President of this country requires no testable skill set. What could possibly go wrong.
Steven, for the next three years will be calling this day, “Not My President’s Day”. With this guy, we have nothing but daily wreaked havoc. Of course, we had that after he was elected in 2016 also. I guess people have poor memories of those 4 years. When I think that we could have had Hillary or Kamala…
This is a wonderful tribute to George Washington, (and buying mattresses on sale.) ☺️
My mom made Cherry pie.
Anyway, I am not downplaying the serious attributes of warnings, as they are pertinent.
I couldn’t help thinking of the level of intelligence Washington exhibited in his writings and use of vocabulary and mentally comparing it to the devoid of intelligence - insulting dialogue of this Regime.
Thank you for sharing the quotes, Steven and some humor.
This is my favorite
Excerpt:
“…it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness;
that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it;
accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity;
watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety;
discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned,
and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest,
or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.”
Such marvelous vocabulary and sentence structure aptly addressing the perils we might face.
I am not a historian, but I love to learn. Our Constitution was an effort to find a middle ground between two very different, often hostile groups of citizens, as reflected in southern and northern mentalities and values. To sum up the conservative Republican beliefs and values, they are the opposite of those of the liberal Democratic system. The conservative Republican agenda promotes small, limited government that allows for economic freedom, with little support for social programs that help all citizens. They believe that the government should not interfere in an individual's life.
I see our country as an endless tug-of-war between those who want universal government-provided care and those who want no government and no concern for others, and no one wins; they keep pulling. When Democrats control Congress, they try to pass bills that serve the common people, and when Republicans are in charge, they work to undo the progress made by the Democrats.
Do we need that? A tug of war!
I have tried to research the bills that Republicans have submitted and passed under two major Republican presidents, Eisenhower and Reagan. Eisenhower championed the interstate highway system and signed the first civil rights bill. Although he is listed as a Republican, his policies were democratic. Reagan was famous for his Reaganomics (tax cuts for deregulation) and for strengthening the military and reducing the size of the federal government. Reagan believed in “trickle-down economics,” a theory suggesting that tax breaks and deregulation for the wealthy would benefit the general population. I cannot find any bills passed solely by Republicans that would increase the welfare of the common person, but I easily found numerous bills that would increase the income of the wealthy and fortunate.
Can you imagine what our country would be like if we did not have Republicans? Whatever the benefit of the Soft Secession would be, we would still have Republicans in our country whose politicians think differently from those of us who want to care for our fellow brothers and sisters. I cannot imagine that these Republicans will not be around in 10 years, and so we would have to live with them for at least 10 more years. By the time that time comes, at the rate they are destroying our country, we will not be living in a democratic, proud country. At my age, I will not be around, but I do love our country, and I have two grandchildren whose world we have not defended, but it will be their world.
As painful as America’s downgraded democracy & economy may become under this ignorant & careless govt, the benefit is that they are making themselves so detested that they will become a sufficiently feared & hated party for at least 2 more election cycles, long enough to repair the damage & usher in the needed remedies to prevent a repeat of such atrocities.
— ‘Republicans do things TO people, Dems do things FOR people.’
* Personally, I pray for God’s will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Can we imagine what the country (and the world) would be like under divine guidance?
— They may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.) 🕊️🌿
Sharing this with everybody from Reverend Benjamin Cremer:
“It was "protect the children" until it came to immigrant children.
It was "protect the children" until it came to gun violence.
It was "protect the children" until it came to children in Gaza.
It was "protect the children" until it came to LGBT kids.
It was "protect the children" until it came to food assistance.
It was "protect the children" until it came to healthcare.
It was always “protect the children” until it came to USAID.
It was "protect the children" until it came to the environment.
It was "protect the children" until it came to the Epstein files.
It was never really about protecting children.
It was just an empty slogan used to stoke fear in order to win votes.
It was always about protecting power.
“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.” -James Baldwin
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed." -Proverbs 31:8”
Beautiful piece. It lays open the possibility that we can have better days before us if we remember our better foundational truths. I especially appreciate Washington’s words on education. I look forward to our remaking of America with that at the forefront.
The idea of the United States became real when Washington voluntarily relinquished control of the army rather than become a despot or king. We have fallen so far from that act and that strength of character.
Eisenhower expressed concern about military. Nobody listened
Yep. Too much money to be made. 🤨
I am struck by the eloquence of Washington’s language. Language has tremendous power, far beyond the words themselves. It is a multi-purpose tool we carried with us from one administration to another. Words, as we know, can inspire us to be our best selves. They can raise us to unimaginable heights and feats of glory when used to tap our sensitive souls and minds in the service of humanity and the highest calling of our country; its democracy.
Trump knows how to wound that democracy with words that cut and eviscerate that living democracy. It used to be a force with which we expressed our trust because, as Washington knew, that democracy lived in the hearts of its people. Its intentions were known by the words and deeds of its leaders in the service of all.
On this Presidents Day, it helped heal my sore heart to read Washington’s words. They reminded me that we once had eloquence personified in the White House. Maybe this fact doesn’t matter to some people. Maybe they think such lofty expression is out of date. I, for one, find it refreshing. I realize how much I have missed it. Maybe this reminder that a democratic spring has visited in the past and can come again will be enough to sustain us in this hard, hard winter of authoritarianism. I sure hope so. Gonna read this again…and again.
Thank you, Steven.
Thank you, Ellen. Glad you found it healing.
It’s hard to express just how much. These days, I may be grasping at straws, but even if I draw the short one by reading words from Presidents in the ‘way back machine’…I’ll hold it close!
Eloquence tops my list of qualities that I so very much appreciated from President Obama. I so miss him.
Oh, Elizabeth…so do I. A man like him comes along once in a generation.
I love the words, as well. Beauty in fluency. I long for discussions with my father, who enlightened. I miss my university mentors and our special coffees. I am thankful for Steven and his gifts.
So well said, Cynthia!
Trump's most heinous of crimes--of the many--is his relentless cleaving of the American people. We have fallen so low, family against family, institution against institution, white against color, party against party. We are torn apart with seemingly no way forward. But I believe in my heart that the seeds of unity remain in the resistance, that we will find ourselves free of this monster and his regime, that MAGA will become ostracized out of existence and that we will reclaim the faith, liberty and justice that has been squandered by this man. This is what the fight is all about and I for one am all in.
I appreciate the optimism, Robyn.
Thanks. It's awfully hard to maintain that perspective, day by day, but then I see the polls, Minnesota, the flailing of Bondi, Noem and Hegseth (dolts, all) and am heartened. Keep your wonderful work coming, Steven. It really inspires me and lifts me from the darkness.
Nice to hear.
“Cleaving” is a perfect word, Robyn.
Yes the founding documents were general and aspirational. Not a rule book which people had to follow and it was subject to penalty theft psychopath greed. IE all the things that plage society. There are a lot of wonderful people but seemingly not enough. My epiphany for today
Exactly. And AI has no soul. Its programmed for good or evil and whatever developers want.
VENALITY! NOT penalty
🧵Not only what you say, Steven, and Al says in reply, but Washington wrote a slim BOOK about VIRTUE in private & public life.
About the need to govern with virtue and in good faith.
——
Not to mention the EMOLUMENTS CLAUSE in our Constitution. IT is not even an Amendment: It’s included IN the Constitution as a matter of course!
Thank you, Mr. Beschloss. What frightens me is that SCOTUS looked right in the eye of what Washington and other Founders warned about and gave djt a pass. They saw him in action. They knew we was a give-him-an-inch-he’ll-take-infinity kind of sociopath and SCOTUS flipped Americans a big middle finger and turned loose the wrath of that sociopath. SCOTUS doesn’t deserve all the credit - never stop blaming mitch. Americans have been betrayed for money and power.
Right you are, Jane.
Speaking of SCOTUS, apparently Epstein was emailing Kavanaugh right before he was picked for the judicial seat. All in the Trumpstein files…sigh.
PT Barnum warned us about trump voters.
True.
🧵You really have done your homework here, Steven.
And I need to remind everyone to read it to the end, but in reality I’m just trying to remind MYSELF to read it to the end (which I haven’t done yet—please, I beg you, don’t ban me!).
There is so much going on these days, and so much bad, and so much evil. It’s hard to keep up.
Thank you Professor Beschloss. Have read and reread George Washington’s farewell address so often. Everytime find many words of his wisdom, insights and even a premonition that he warned us all about that so many may have never taken heed. Our country has always been a challenge, messy and contradictory at best.
What held often true is that our better angels came to our own rescue. Find that we have better angels more and more. To those marching in the No Kings Protests. To the citizens of Minneapolis all that can’t be named, standing out in protesting from our own government paramilitary. From mothers standing in guard of children attending school, people delivering food and needed supplies to families in fear of ever peeking outside. So much that can’t even be articulated other than Minnesota is/has definitely exceeded its states motto — L'Étoile du Nord (The Star of the North). That this is carried over and over in other places in our country that ICE has descended upon that there are more “good people” that will continue to work against everything that this so-called President stands for.
When we truly understand that the office of the executive and the legislative branches are only to be temporary maybe we’ll get that “we as the people” who move this democracy forward will comprehend our power that was intended at our nations inception.
George Washington Farewell Address ~
“….In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.
How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them…”
Washington's Farewell Address
1796
What currently is sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is utterly, completely the total opposite of what was intended as written and seen by our founders and being a George Washington. Why anyone selected this abomination a second time totally alludes me still… He’s beyond abhorrent..
Washington, and the Founding Fathers in general, clearly anticipated things that could go wrong and threaten the Republic. But I doubt that in the 18th century it would have been possible to put in place all the guardrails necessary to prevent what we’re dealing with now. It’s regrettable that the Constitution wasn’t updated periodically as technology and societal norms changed, as I assume the Founders intended.
As an aside, reading Washington’s words makes it clear how much the public discourse has been dumbed down.
To think that a plumber needs a license, an electrician needs a license, driving a car requires a license, but being the President of this country requires no testable skill set. What could possibly go wrong.
Steven, for the next three years will be calling this day, “Not My President’s Day”. With this guy, we have nothing but daily wreaked havoc. Of course, we had that after he was elected in 2016 also. I guess people have poor memories of those 4 years. When I think that we could have had Hillary or Kamala…
And to think, they voted for him after hundreds of thousands of Americans died of COVID as a result of lies and incompetence.
It is mind-boggling, is it not?! We have to admit that we live amongst the most ignorant people. Sigh
Some of that (willful) ignorance is actually based on hatred.
— racist & sexist hatreds esp.
This is a wonderful tribute to George Washington, (and buying mattresses on sale.) ☺️
My mom made Cherry pie.
Anyway, I am not downplaying the serious attributes of warnings, as they are pertinent.
I couldn’t help thinking of the level of intelligence Washington exhibited in his writings and use of vocabulary and mentally comparing it to the devoid of intelligence - insulting dialogue of this Regime.
Thank you for sharing the quotes, Steven and some humor.
This is my favorite
Excerpt:
“…it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness;
that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it;
accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity;
watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety;
discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned,
and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest,
or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.”
Such marvelous vocabulary and sentence structure aptly addressing the perils we might face.
Thx!
By the way
In my journey through the limited access I can afford for the NY Times
Small windows popped up including one of a title link to your: “Do We Take Freedom For Granted?”
That made me smile you were “there”!
👏
DO WE NEED REPUBLICANS
OR WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT THEM
I am not a historian, but I love to learn. Our Constitution was an effort to find a middle ground between two very different, often hostile groups of citizens, as reflected in southern and northern mentalities and values. To sum up the conservative Republican beliefs and values, they are the opposite of those of the liberal Democratic system. The conservative Republican agenda promotes small, limited government that allows for economic freedom, with little support for social programs that help all citizens. They believe that the government should not interfere in an individual's life.
I see our country as an endless tug-of-war between those who want universal government-provided care and those who want no government and no concern for others, and no one wins; they keep pulling. When Democrats control Congress, they try to pass bills that serve the common people, and when Republicans are in charge, they work to undo the progress made by the Democrats.
Do we need that? A tug of war!
I have tried to research the bills that Republicans have submitted and passed under two major Republican presidents, Eisenhower and Reagan. Eisenhower championed the interstate highway system and signed the first civil rights bill. Although he is listed as a Republican, his policies were democratic. Reagan was famous for his Reaganomics (tax cuts for deregulation) and for strengthening the military and reducing the size of the federal government. Reagan believed in “trickle-down economics,” a theory suggesting that tax breaks and deregulation for the wealthy would benefit the general population. I cannot find any bills passed solely by Republicans that would increase the welfare of the common person, but I easily found numerous bills that would increase the income of the wealthy and fortunate.
Can you imagine what our country would be like if we did not have Republicans? Whatever the benefit of the Soft Secession would be, we would still have Republicans in our country whose politicians think differently from those of us who want to care for our fellow brothers and sisters. I cannot imagine that these Republicans will not be around in 10 years, and so we would have to live with them for at least 10 more years. By the time that time comes, at the rate they are destroying our country, we will not be living in a democratic, proud country. At my age, I will not be around, but I do love our country, and I have two grandchildren whose world we have not defended, but it will be their world.
As painful as America’s downgraded democracy & economy may become under this ignorant & careless govt, the benefit is that they are making themselves so detested that they will become a sufficiently feared & hated party for at least 2 more election cycles, long enough to repair the damage & usher in the needed remedies to prevent a repeat of such atrocities.
— ‘Republicans do things TO people, Dems do things FOR people.’
* Personally, I pray for God’s will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Can we imagine what the country (and the world) would be like under divine guidance?
— They may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.) 🕊️🌿
Sharing this with everybody from Reverend Benjamin Cremer:
“It was "protect the children" until it came to immigrant children.
It was "protect the children" until it came to gun violence.
It was "protect the children" until it came to children in Gaza.
It was "protect the children" until it came to LGBT kids.
It was "protect the children" until it came to food assistance.
It was "protect the children" until it came to healthcare.
It was always “protect the children” until it came to USAID.
It was "protect the children" until it came to the environment.
It was "protect the children" until it came to the Epstein files.
It was never really about protecting children.
It was just an empty slogan used to stoke fear in order to win votes.
It was always about protecting power.
“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.” -James Baldwin
"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed." -Proverbs 31:8”
Beautiful piece. It lays open the possibility that we can have better days before us if we remember our better foundational truths. I especially appreciate Washington’s words on education. I look forward to our remaking of America with that at the forefront.