Liberty, restraint, a role model for all: Remembering Washington

"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." ~ from Henry Lee's eulogy of George Washington

Though today marks the celebration, tomorrow the 22nd actually marks the 290th anniversary of our first president's birthday, the Father of our Country, the indispensable George Washington. And to set the record straight, today's holiday is not “Presidents’ Day.” No such holiday exists in law. Contrary to popular belief and the efforts of salesmen throughout the land, no congress nor president has ever changed this celebration (as far too few states across our land still acknowledge that truth). Nonetheless, it is in fact a celebration of George Washington’s birthday.

There are so many traits to admire about Washington, despite our misdirected woke generation's knee-jerk judgementalism of the past through a modern lens. Given the relentless war on America by our elites, it’s more important than ever to honor our heroes, starting with the man who started it all. So first, let's cover that: Washington and America’s liberty, because without the first we wouldn't have the second...

Historians have called Washington the “indispensable man.” Without him, we would have no country. ...

Washington wasn’t just the leader of our War of Independence, defeating what was the greatest military power in the world in the last quarter of the 18th century. Since the Continental Congress was so weak and indecisive, Washington was the de facto head of state from the time he took command of the Continental Army in 1775.

Before he became our first president, Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Only the love his countrymen had for him could have united the nation — Federalists and Anti-Federalists alike — around the United States Constitution. He saved America once during the revolution and saved it again in its tumultuous aftermath. Washington built America with a sword and a pen.

Do you like living in a country where the rights of citizens are enshrined in a written Constitution and a method was established therein for popular sovereignty? You can thank Washington. ...

The “woke” mob hates Washington because it hates America. If it can take him down, it can get anyone. ... He was a slaveowner — a generation that can afford the luxury of criticizing the past by contemporary standards tells us. Slavery was a great evil, and one which existed for most of human history and on every habitable continent. It exists today, in other guises.

That China has enslaved the Uyghurs didn’t keep it from the honor of hosting this year’s Winter Olympics. The children who sew soccer shirts in Asian factories (some for as little as a penny an hour) are slaves in all but by name.

Karl Marx (whose writings serve as the basis for the international movement that seeks to destroy America) was a racist and an antisemite, a fact that no Marxist party has ever acknowledged. Marxism itself is a form of slavery. The masses of Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea may not have actual manacles on their wrists and ankles, but their subjugation is just as complete as if they did. An army of Simon Legrees guards their borders to keep the field hands on the plantation.

A little more than 100 years after the beginning of the war to end slavery in America, the Soviets and their East German stooges built a wall to stop their slaves from escaping. ...

A nation that allows its heroes to be debunked is doomed. And so, as the 290th anniversary of his birth approaches, let us drink a toast that echoed throughout the land when our republic was young — “To Washington and liberty.” Without the first, we wouldn’t have the second.

Also of note was Washington's restraint, a key tenet of who the man truly was... something not only our current occupant could stand to observe, but also our neighbors to the north, and many others abroad...

Washington is remembered today not only for virtues of bearing, decorum, and personal integrity, but also for making the right choices when they mattered most. ...

Cynics note that Washington was ambitious, but that is beside the point; great men must always be ambitious. A friend and biographer of Abraham Lincoln wrote that Lincoln’s ambition was “a little engine that knew no rest.” What makes a great man in power is not lack of ambition, but restraint. Washington waited for power until he was summoned by the people, and he laid it down of his own accord. In so doing, he set the great republican precedents: Power is given by the people, and it is theirs to give and nobody’s to retain too long.

Restraint also guided Washington’s approach to the law. The people had adopted the Constitution, and it was Washington’s job to obey it. In his Farewell Address, he cautioned that “the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. . . . Resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts.”

And to riff off of an MLK line, what was overall remarkable about George Washington was the content of his character, demonstrative of his status as a role model for all...

Hidden behind myth, written off by revisionists as just another dead, white, male slaveowner, Washington was in fact a man for the ages.

Born a Virginia aristocrat, he carefully cultivated his virtues — self-control, moderation, civility; his strengths physical and moral — to become the most widely admired presence first in the 13 colonies, then in the new nation.

He created two American institutions [shaping the US Army and setting the future course of American government itself]... Yet his importance goes far beyond his résumé. It was Washington who emphasized that America was a republic when he rebuked those who wanted a monarchy or an exalted president.

Likewise, he set the precedent for presidential limits by refusing entreaties that he accept a third term. “Washington’s last service to his country was to stop serving,” writes Richard Brookhiser [in his landmark 1997 book, “Founding Father”]. He was also the only slaveholding founder to free his slaves.

For all these reasons and more, there was no dissent when Henry Lee famously described Washington in death as “first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen.”

Far-left efforts like the 1619 Project now claim that many Americans have no reason to honor Washington. But far more accurate is the understanding reflected in the musical “Hamilton”: One of the show’s most compelling moments is the entry of Gen. George Washington as the American rebels suddenly face 32,000 British troops in New York Harbor.

It’s not just his dramatic, staccato lines (“We’re outgunned. Outmanned. Outnumbered. Outplanned”), but the fact that the guy playing him is black. The show powerfully, magically, claims America’s founders for all of today’s Americans. The principles they fought for belong to us all.

That last piece also made mention towards the end that unlike other notable presidents, Washington left no memorable lines that we continue to quote today. But maybe that's because far too often they're lost on a modern society that's too caught up in its own inundation of meaningless chaff really. So maybe let's rectify that with a few, shall we? It might become clear to us why he's not quoted more in these times...

"Government is at best a petulant servant and at worst a tyrannical master."

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. Experience has taught us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession, and when the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."

"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion."

"But if the laws are to be so trampled upon with impunity, and a minority is to dictate to the majority, there is an end put at one stroke to republican government, and nothing but anarchy and confusion is to be expected thereafter."

"Be Americans. Let there be no sectionalism, no North, South, East or West. You are all dependent on one another and should be one in union. In one word, be a nation. Be Americans, and be true to yourselves."

"Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light."

"Let me ask you, sir, when is the time for brave men to exert themselves in the cause of liberty and their country, if this is not?"

"Where are our Men of abilities? Why do they not come forth to save their Country?"

"Make sure you are doing what God wants you to do--then do it with all your strength."

"Do not let anyone claim tribute of American patriotism if they even attempt to remove religion from politics."

"It is impossible to govern the world without God. It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits and humbly implore his protection and favor."

"Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the Lamb and purge my heart by Thy Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of Thy son, Jesus Christ, that living in Thy fear, and dying in Thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy son, Jesus Christ."

On Honesty: Remembering Lincoln

Today marks what would be the 213th birthday of the most favored & pivotal 19th century president, the Rail-Splitter, the Great Emancipator, and everyone's familiar with the Honest byname, one Abraham Lincoln. And it's that latter alias that's worth highlighting in today's age of lacking honesty, integrity and truth...

The future president was first called "Honest Abe" when he was working as a young store clerk in New Salem, Ill. According to one story, whenever he realized he had shortchanged a customer by a few pennies, he would close the shop and deliver the correct change-regardless of how far he had to walk.

People recognized his integrity and were soon asking him to act as judge or mediator in various contests, fights, and arguments. According to Robert Rutledge of New Salem, "Lincoln's judgment was final in all that region of country. People relied implicitly upon his honesty, integrity, and impartiality."

As a member of the Illinois legislature and later in his law practice, he took advantage of his reputation for honesty and fairness to help broaden his constituency. His good name helped win him four consecutive terms in the legislature.

Lincoln soon moved to Springfield, Ill, and began his law practice, a profession at which he admitted there was a "popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest." His advice to potential lawyers was: "Resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave."

According to Judge David Davis, in whose court Lincoln practiced for many years, "The framework for [Lincoln's] mental and moral being was honesty, and a wrong cause was poorly defended by him." Another judge who had worked with Lincoln agreed, saying "Such was the transparent candor and integrity of his nature that he could not well or strongly argue a side or a cause he thought wrong." ...

By the time Lincoln was president, statements he had made previously, such as "I have never tried to conceal my opinions, nor tried to deceive anyone in reference to them," and "I am glad of all the support I can get anywhere, if I can get it without practicing any deception to obtain it" had become a source of strength for him as a leader.

Everyone, even his bitterest political opponents, knew exactly where they stood with Lincoln. Because he didn't have to waste time convincing his opponents of his sincerity, he was able to devote his energies to solving political issues and winning the war.

Lincoln as commander in chief was honest and straightforward with his generals, always telling them directly what he did and did not appreciate about them. An example of his candor is the following excerpt from a letter to Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker in early 1863:

"I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course I have done this upon what appear to me to be sufficient reasons, and yet I think it best for you to know that there are some things in regard to which I am not quite satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and a skillful soldier, which of course I like . . . I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the army and the government needed a dictator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship."

Finally, in search for the reason Lincoln was so adamant about honesty, a quote by one of his closest friends, Leonard Swett, is revealing:

"He believed in the great laws of truth, the right discharge of duty, his accountability to God, the ultimate triumph of the right, and the overthrow of wrong."

It's worth heeding these lessons towards honesty, whether discussion or debate, throughout today's authoritarian tugs within & without.

If there's one thing we should take away from Honest Abe, it's that honest conversations always approach Truth closer than totalitarian lockdowns of free speech and one-size-fits-all narratives ever will. Lest we forget...

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

Related links: The Truth 2.0
Corporate Media Is The Misinformation Problem
Mark Levin’s Epic Address To The Truckers
Dr. Malone: Media outrage over Rogan is deeper than meets the eye
Tucker: Lawmakers are panicking over this

More Honest Truth (mixed with comedy GOLD): Alexa Refuses To Play Joe Rogan's Podcast
Spotify Just BANNED These 11 Songs For Misinformation
Canadian Freedom Convoy is WINNING?!
Mass Formation Psychosis - 5 Things You Need to Know!

First Principles: Remembering Reagan

Today marks what would be the 111th birthday of my favorite president thus far in my lifetime, the Great Communicator, the Gipper, as Rush always called him, Ronaldus Magnus, the one and only Ronald Wilson Reagan. And I thought I'd share the fantastic words of one great young patriot, who so elegantly reflects on what Reagan meant not just to the conservative cause, but how he exuded American first principles for the common man...

[A]s we near two decades since his passing, President Reagan is still the most influential political figure of modern-day conservatism. Much has changed since Reagan made his exit from the political arena, and both conservatism and America as a whole need his vision now more than ever.

It is difficult to capture an extensive life such as Reagan’s in the space of a single column, but a highlight of his career was his style of messaging that made him an effective spokesman for conservatism. [W]ith Reagan’s ability to communicate enduring political principles into clear, concise and common language... the key to his success as “The Great Communicator,” was the sincerity behind his words and his ability to connect with everyday Americans.

Conservatism is about carrying on the best of what has come before us, and Reagan found much success in articulating the value of traditional ideas, patriotism, respect for the rule of law, faith, free enterprise, peace through strength, individual initiative and appreciation for our ancestors. Those principles were on display throughout his speeches, whether he was making the case for limited government in “A Time for Choosing,” delivering his famous impassioned plea for liberty at the gates of the Berlin Wall, or commemorating the sacrifices of the heroes at the beaches of Normandy.

And although he defended his views confidently, he was able to do so in a positive and respectful way. Nevertheless, in his farewell address, Reagan said, “I never thought it was my style or the words I used that made a difference: it was the content. I wasn’t a great communicator, but I communicated great things” that “came from the heart of a great nation — from our experience, our wisdom and our belief in the principles that have guided us for two centuries.” ...

Reagan wrote that “growing up in a small town is a good foundation for anyone who decides to enter politics,” and his early years in Dixon allowed him to “get to know people as individuals, not as blocs or members of special interest groups.”

[W]hat made him appeal to so many Americans was that he was a leader to whom they could relate on a personal level. Despite his rise to success as both a Hollywood movie star and prominent political leader with dozens of influential friends and acquaintances, he always held on to the values he developed in Dixon. Reflecting on his upbringing, Reagan recalled: “I grew up observing how the love and common sense of purpose that unites families is one of the most powerful glues on earth and that it can help them overcome the greatest of adversities. I learned that hard work is an essential part of life — that by and large, you don’t get something for nothing — and that America was a place that offered unlimited opportunity to those who did work hard. I learned to admire risk takers and entrepreneurs, be they farmers, or small merchants, who went to work and took risks to build something for themselves and their children, pushing at the boundaries of their lives to make them better.”

Those experiences left him with a true hopefulness for the future of America, but Reagan’s optimism was different from that of many politicians. His was not an overambitious idealism that government can create a path to “progress” and solve all of the challenges faced by our country, but it was rather a firm belief that America’s citizenry — ordinary people like parents, farmers, and small business owners — could best serve the needs of their country and bring about positive change through their own initiative. Reagan’s political philosophy came from the understanding that government is most effective when it seeks to create an environment where family, church, civic association, business and local community can flourish.

In his final farewell as president, Reagan remarked that “as long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves, the future will always be ours.” Three decades later, that advice still holds true.

Likewise, this young writers words also seem to coincidently reflect on the essence of this Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, where we implore the Lord to "keep thy Church and household continually" in His Truth, just as Reagan observed "how the love and common sense of purpose that unites families... overcome the greatest of adversities." Both should stir a true hopefulness for the future of America.