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George Washington: Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another...
Yale Law ^ | Farewell Address 1796 | George Washington

Posted on 04/08/2026 8:55:08 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government...

Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith...

The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest...

Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy.

(Excerpt) Read more at avalon.law.yale.edu ...


TOPICS: History; Religion
KEYWORDS: foundingfathers; georgewashington; joooooooooooooooooos; peace; washington
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To: Angelino97

That you maintain an Ode To Losers on your About page is so fun!


21 posted on 04/08/2026 9:46:46 AM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Not all 2,000,000,000 muslims want to murder me. But 200,000,000 probably do.)
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To: Angelino97
No. 47 years of religious fanaticism on Iran's part did this.
22 posted on 04/08/2026 9:47:34 AM PDT by jmacusa ( Liberals. Too stupid to be idiots.)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Hopefully the Weasley Clark “Seven countries in five years” treason dream is finally dead and buried.

The incredible devastation brought to that region by the hubris first hatched by the neocons in the 1990s may never be repaired. A generation of enemies created for no benefit to our country.

The sunrise looked especially good to me this morning.


23 posted on 04/08/2026 9:51:05 AM PDT by Jim Noble (Assez de mensonges et des phrases)
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To: Uncle Miltie

Shouldn’t you be at the gym, living that rich and fulfilling life outside of FR that you told me about?


24 posted on 04/08/2026 9:53:10 AM PDT by Angelino97
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To: Angelino97

“The Strait was open until Israel started this war, and dragged the U.S. into it.”

Ignorance!!!

The Mullah’s in Tehran started the latest iteration of this war, by proxy, on October 7th 2023, and continued to try to expand it, by proxy, from then on. Blaming Israel merely ignores the entire history of the regime led by the Mullahs in Tehran, and the warfare they have attempted to wage by proxies around the Middle East.


25 posted on 04/08/2026 10:03:19 AM PDT by Wuli ( )
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To: Ultra Sonic 007
Be prepared for scores of people to tell you that “isolationism is a pipe dream”...

Washington's wisdom has been quite fitting for some time.

One can easily think of appropriate things intended to be fixed, even in a changing world.

However, the shoes one wore as a child cannot be expected to wear comfortably today.

Distant nations are now our next-door neighbors and are "foreign" in concept only.

The enemy of our neighbor sometimes is, or intends to become our enemy as well even without telling us so and without our involvement.

In recent times, forward deployment as a security measure has served us well - but even that is becoming increasingly unimportant.

Ready or not, the world has changed and is changing.

26 posted on 04/08/2026 10:04:15 AM PDT by frog in a pot (Are they already inside the wire? See open borders and not paying TSA payroll during war.)
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To: Uncle Miltie
The point of...posting a 200+ year old quote

The same point of posting 2,000+ year old Bible verses...

27 posted on 04/08/2026 10:07:35 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege (🩰🌷)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

“Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side”

One has to take a real world view of things to have any meaning of “excessive” partiality, and with that understand that the obverse of that is legitimate partiality, based on due consideration of a government and our relations with that government and its people. To take Washington’s words to mean “no” partiality under any circumstances would ignore things as he and others admitted to in our earliest foreign relations.

“Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious”

Many, understanding little of nations as they were in Washington’s day, will read that to imply, in today’s world, any expression of particular interest of ANY foreign nation, on whom we are on good terms, amounts to an “intrigue” on their part. If so, then what are all other nations to make of our wishes or demands??


28 posted on 04/08/2026 10:18:06 AM PDT by Wuli ( )
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To: Brian Griffin

The towelheads are great at pissing away money on vanity projects. Looking at the map, we need a Panama Canal bypassing the Strait. But the towelhead sheiks can’t spend the money on both bringing in Western whores and Disney and actually defending themselves.


29 posted on 04/08/2026 10:21:49 AM PDT by pburgh01
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To: Wuli
Ignorance!!! ... Blaming Israel merely ignores the entire history of the regime...

If so, it's an "ignorance" shared by Tucker, Megyn, Candace, Ron Paul, and the editorial staff of The American Conservative ... to name a few of the people on the right who have said that Israel started this war.

30 posted on 04/08/2026 10:33:51 AM PDT by Angelino97
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

God is different than men of 200 years ago.


31 posted on 04/08/2026 10:34:24 AM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: kaktuskid

“pt the wars often come to you. In Washington’s day, the enemy took weeks or months to arrive, not minutes.”

Washington was also talking about European powers, not Islamic savages. The calculus is 100% different.


32 posted on 04/08/2026 10:40:08 AM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Sometimes There Is No Lesser Of Two Evils)
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To: Angelino97

“If so, it’s an “ignorance” shared by Tucker, Megyn, Candace, Ron Paul,”

Yes, exactly either their ignorance or intentional self-deception on actual Middle East history and particularly on the maneuvers of the Mullahs in Tehran these last 47 years.


33 posted on 04/08/2026 10:56:28 AM PDT by Wuli ( )
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To: Angelino97

How can the US be neutral toward a country that’s been terrorizing and killing us for half a century?


34 posted on 04/08/2026 11:01:11 AM PDT by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith...

******************

This statement will never be outdated.

Too bad our past & present political leadership doesn’t adhere to it.


35 posted on 04/08/2026 4:04:18 PM PDT by unclebankster (Globalism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. )
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