Posted on 02/17/2014 10:51:10 AM PST by Reagan79
Sometimes I recoil a little when somebody declares that there can be an American president greater than George Washington. Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee declared Washington, “First in the hearts of his countrymen.” Washington is great for many things, but perhaps he is greatest for the manner in which he surrendered power not once but twice.
One of the best recent commentaries written on Washington is David Boaz’s, “The Man Who Would Not Be King.” In the piece from 2006, Boaz wonderfully sums up the depth of Washington’s immense character and what that means for liberty and America. The entire commentary is worth reading but the conclusion is especially poignant:
From his republican values Washington derived his abhorrence of kingship, even for himself. The writer Garry Wills called him “a virtuoso of resignations.” He gave up power not once but twice – at the end of the revolutionary war, when he resigned his military commission and returned to Mount Vernon, and again at the end of his second term as president, when he refused entreaties to seek a third term. In doing so, he set a standard for American presidents that lasted until the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose taste for power was stronger than the 150 years of precedent set by Washington.
Give the last word to Washington’s great adversary, King George III. The king asked his American painter, Benjamin West, what Washington would do after winning independence. West replied, “They say he will return to his farm.”
“If he does that,” the incredulous monarch said, “he will be the greatest man in the world.”
Washington’s moral model of leadership is timeless. In everything he said and did, he affirmed the spirit of the American Revolution. His fellow Virginian, Thomas Jefferson noted, Washington would “rather be in his grave than in his present situation [the presidency]; that he had rather be on his farm than to be made Emperor of the world.” All Americans should study Washington because he is the embodiment the principles of liberty. His peers would all argue and did, that in America there was no leader who possessed greater virtue. Charles Francis Adams, the son of President John Quincy Adams, declared of Washington:
More than all, and above all, Washington was master of himself. If there be one quality more than another in his character which may exercise a useful control over the men of the present hour, it is the total disregard of self when in the most elevated positions for influence and example.
The US would not have been created nor would it have lasted very long without the personal example of George Washington. He is our country’s greatest president and what all Americans should strive to be like today.
and it pisses me off to see them trash him in a variety of assinine commercials for president’s day. i tell you i will never buy a freaking honda.
“From his republican values Washington derived his abhorrence of kingship, even for himself.” Exactly!
Otherwise, we would have probably de-evolved into a dictatorship. There are certainly a few leaders in modern times who would love the role as dictator which doesn’t bode well for our future.
Because he wasn't a member of some useless party.
He is the greatest President because he did not WANT to be President.
G. Washington ping!
Most young people have NO conception of how truly exceptional, great (albeit, fragile) the whole American enterprise has been.
They are playing with fire and risking it all on the toss of the dice... just for immediate, personal, material (and I believe, temporary) gain.
HOW SHABBY!
He is the greatest because he could have been a king and chose to be like Cincinnatus of old and return to his farm. He is the embodiment of service to country.
IIRC
After the war, there was a general meeting of the officers of the Continental Army. They very disillusioned regarding pay and other issues. They encouraged Washington to lead the army to Philadelphia and take over the government. Washington told them no. After the meeting he rode to Philly and surrendered his sword to the continental congress to acknowledge civilian control of the government and over the army.
I think it was George Will who said, Clinton may not be the worst president, but he is the worst man to be president. You can say that if Washington was not the best president, he was the best man to become president.
He understood what needed to be done to get the country going, the role of the president, and he set an honorable example.
“The common man eloped with history and ran off to the United States of America. Mr. Jefferson and his friends re invented politics ... Mr. Ford, Mr. Carnegi and Mr. Ford took it from there.” Eric Hoffer (?)
Correction:
“The common man eloped with history and ran off to the United States of America. Mr. Jefferson and his friends re invented politics ... Mr. Ford, Mr. Carnegi and Mr. Rockerfeller took it from there.” Eric Hoffer (?)
 |
 |
 America demands Justice for the Fallen of Benghazi! |
 |
 |
It's not called The 5000 Year Leap for nothing!
I’ve always thought the whole “greatest President” bit was pretty simple.
Washington was the greatest president of the 18th century, Lincoln of the 19th and Reagan of the 20th.
But I think both of the others would have agreed George deserves the #1 spot.
He was great because he was dedicated to a free America, and he paid a very high personal cost to help the founding of this country.
On December 25, 1776, all was lost. Most of his army had gone home, the hopes for foreign aid and intervention were about gone, and a hangman’s noose awaited him in the spring when the British would come gunning for him.
Still, with his ragtag group of soldiers, many with rags wrapped around their feet, in the bitter wind and cold, took a bunch of hidden, donated boats and forged through the ice floes across the Delaware and captured the Hessian garrison at Trenton.
A “Hail Mary” pass in the annals of war if there ever was one.
Thirty minutes decided the fate of whether America would be stillborn or whether it would die.
Valley Forge was a year in the future then.
But George Washington trusted in God and fought for freedom.
Then he set the example as President. His first act after inaugaration, on April 30, 1789, in New York City, was to march the entire Congress up the road to St. Paul’s Chapel for a worship service to consecrate the new government to God’s care.
Then, when everyone wanted him to be king, he said no, and went home to Mt. Vernon. Two terms, and that is it.
When you visit beautiful Mt. Vernon, and realize this man stayed a total of eight full years away from his home in the service of his country before he became president, you realize what a sacrifice he made for us.
To found a country is an enormous undertaking, fraught with peril. To found a country based on the principles of the Declaration of Independence was unthinkable in that age.
Yet this man, and a whole generation of men, blessed of God, did just that.
And that is why we cannot allow Obama and the Democrat Communist Party of America take our heritage away.
To do so would dishonor all that George Washington fought and lived for.
cuz he claimed he didn’t wanna be king; but he did want veto power over the states, etc. and then he led the militias, personally, as CINC, in the whiskey rebellion to get taxes,,avd the list is looong!!!
He was a de facto Federalist. The opposition to him was, you guessed it, the ancestors of the current Democrat Party.
You left out Calvin Coolidge.
Coolidge was great because he didn't have an agenda other than governing, vetoed almost every bill he saw and made a concerted effort to stay out of the news.
"Silent Cal"
Wouldn't that be a blessed relief?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.