Maybe he's saddened because no one told him when Israel was made the 51st state...or maybe because he thought George Washington had it right when he counseled his fellow Americans to avoid foreign entanglements:
So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.
As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils 7 Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.
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. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. 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.
--George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
You mean foreign entanglements like fighting the Nazi's? They didn't attack us, Japan did. So according to your views - we shouldn't have been involved.
After Iran expressed it's goal "wipe Israel off the map" - we should again "avoid foreign entaglements"? And do nothing?
What should we do? (don't tell me what we SHOULDN'T do) - tell me what we SHOULD do about Iran's threats?
So George Washington would be for the DPW deal, I take it?
I like Washington's wisdom. But the rise of communism, fascism and Islamofascism changed the world. The kings of europe battling it out for trade advantages and the like were perfectly fit to ignore. The evil spectre of the three philosophies above needed/need to be crushed. I can understand the argument that letting Hitler own France should have been no skin off our nose. But letting him dominate Chechoslavakia, Poland, and most of Europe with a good chance of defeating the mother country (Britain)was unacceptable. Same with communism. It looked like the USSR was going to dominate the world when Carter was in office. But just as God gave us George Washington during our country's birth, God gave us Ronald Reagan to halt the advance of the commies and to halt the decline of the US. And it will only be the US that is responsible for killing off Islamofascism. It is the burden we now have.
one of general washington's best allies was a jewish man named Haym Solomon who helped finance the revolutionary war...
I thought that phrase rang with an unpleasant sort of familiarity... so: I Googled it.
Pat, is that you?
Welcome to FR! :)
These are very perilous times. If Iran gets an atomic bomb, don't think for a second they couldn't figure out a way to deliver it to an American city, or very close to one. President Bush is facing problems Washington never dreamed of.
Question, was there nuclear missles during Washington's time?
An ally is not the same thing as a state. France is not the 51st State and we came to its rescue. We can certainly rescue Israel. So climb out of the 18th century and get into the game.
Where were you on 9/11?
Oceans shielded us in Washington's day, they don't help much anymore. We need to neutralize the forces that want to destroy us and Israel is a useful ally.
Like it or not, we've been thoroughly entangled with the greater world since the Nazis, the Communists and now the islamics. The alternative is to give it all up and go home, become a second-rate nation and hope our enemies don't come sneaking in to bomb us out of our beds.