Message from the Number 1 President of the United States

Version of the “Betsy Ross” design of the first flag of the United States. In the public domain. Author: Devin Cook.

by Kathie MM

Dare you ignore him?

He was not just the first President of this country, he was a philosopher, a psychologist, a great and highly revered historical figure.

He has been called the “Father of the nation.”

He refused to run for a third term.

It’s not his birthday yet, but maybe we can honor him today by considering his message:

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.

But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.

The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual…

[S]ooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

It [the alternate domination of one faction over another] serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration.

It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.

It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption.”

George Washington

You recognize the name.  What do you think about the warning? Is it still relevant over 200 years later? if so, what are the solutions?

Thank you, George

George Washington portrait
Portrait by Gilbert Stuart in public domain. Photo by Metropolitan Museum of Art.

American schoolchildren learn at least a few things about George Washington—that he fought the British to help achieve independence for the American colonies, that he was the first President of the United States, that he refused to become King.

But how many of them have learned of Washington’s views on war? He said, among other things:

“My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth.”

“Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all.”

Foreshadowing President Dwight David Eisenhower’s familiar warning about the military industrial complex, Washington said, “Overgrown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty, and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.”

And perhaps foreshadowing the movement toward government of, by, and for the wealthiest and most powerful, Washington commented, “Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”

Washington, like all great individuals, was a complex man influenced by his historical context even while offering much great advice for a better future.

A few other messages from him to consider on Presidents Day (Monday, February 20):

  • “Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”
  • “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.”
  • ”Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire, called conscience.”

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology