George Washington, Profit or hopeless romantic?

By on Sep 23, 2017

In 1789 as George Washington reluctantly became our first President he wrote a 70 page inaugural address which was never used. In it Washington expresses his faith in the American people and their ability to judge good leaders:

“until the people of America shall have lost all virtue; until they shall have become totally insensible to the difference between freedom & slavery; until they shall have been reduced to such poverty of spirit–as to be willing to sell that preeminent blessing, the birthright of Freemen, for a mess of pottage; in short, until they shall have been found incapable of governing themselves and ripe for a master those consequences, I think, can never arrive…”

George was nothing if not wise. The prescience shown by the string of “untils” demonstrates his knowledge of the character of man. Now, a pessimist would argue those “untils”, contrary to Washington’s belief, have indeed arrived while the optimist would argue George was quite correct in his assessment.  I believe Trump’s election is the definitive argument that President Washington was correct.