George Washington on Government
Pat Sajak ·
May 5, 2011 at 5:51pm
Apropos of nothing in particular, I just happened to run across this quote from George Washington. I'm sure many of you are familiar with it, but I wasn't:
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
He figured it out early.
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Comments :
Mar '11
Re: George Washington on Government
Washington feared force. Mao embraced it.
Feb '11
Re: George Washington on Government
It's a great quote, but it's not clear that Washington ever actually said it. Link
Re: George Washington on Government
Please don't tell me he didn't chop down a cherry tree, either!
Feb '11
Re: George Washington on Government
Chopped down a cherry tree and used the wood to build housing for the poor! Had to lie to his father because his father wanted the poor to suffer!
Think I can persuade a textbook writer to include that story?
Edited on May 5, 2011 at 8:12pmApr '11
Re: George Washington on Government
Hey, even if Washington never actually said it, I'm sure he thought it. The important point is that Washington and his fellow founding fathers all BELIEVED it. Thanks to that belief, we have enjoyed over 200 years of freedom (not counting certain years under FDR, et.al.)
Apr '11
Re: George Washington on Government
david foster: Chopped down a cherry tree and used the wood to build housing for the poor! Had to lie to his father because his father wanted the poor to suffer!
Think I can persuade a textbook writer to include that story? · May 5 at 8:11pm
Edited on May 05 at 08:12 pm
That would be the only way you get a textbook company to mention Washington these days.
Aug '10
Re: George Washington on Government
In his Farewell Address, Washington said, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensible supports... Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education... reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
Clearly, we moderns have invested government with all the power and authority which used to be reserved for religion. We're worshiping the falsest of all gods, human authority, money, power, and charm. We've turned almost 180 degrees from the course we set back in 1776. No wonder we're in such deep effluvium.
Our rights and liberties are finite, and every one - or portion - we give up to authority diminishes us. It's a zero-sum game.
Sep '10
Re: George Washington on Government
George doesn't get the respect of a Jefferson or Madison because he was not as educated. He was, however, very wise. If he didn't say the quote above, he certainly said and did a lot of good things to establish our system of government. Without him, the Constitutional Convention would have failed. Both Jefferson and Adams, who were p9litical rivals, acknowledged his indispensable role in America's founding.
Jun '10
Re: George Washington on Government
Pat Sajak
Please don't tell me he didn't chop down a cherry tree, either! · May 5 at 6:36pm
He said it. They intentionally wrote it down incorrectly. Damn that MSM.