[Arrian]

Never agreed w/this bellicose comment from Washington, asserting:
“There is a rank due the United States among Nations...
.....reputation of weakness.....avoid insult.....secure peace.....rising prosperity.....ready for war.” What?
This was uttered, when we were but 4 years old, effectively unknown to the world; barely having a functioning postal system much less a military.
A much greater man, James Madison, saw war for what it always was (in paraphrase):
“ War is the mortal enemy of liberty and the spawn of debt and taxes, the instruments for concentrating power within the State among those who would exercise that power ruthlessly to insure their survival at any cost.”

[Olog-hai]

Madison’s lack of readiness gave us the War of 1812. Good thing he learned at the last minute.

And does your handle imply anything?

[Olog-hai]

PS. It’s the lack of readiness for war that results in having to face “continual warfare”, which Madison was concerned with in his 1795 observation and you chose to omit, thus distorting the context. If “(w)ar is the mortal enemy of liberty”, then it must be won as quickly as possible to preserve liberty rather than avoided in a cowardly manner, which again vindicates Washington (whose quote you dishonestly butcher here) and puts Madison at no disagreement, frankly.