by Joe Kandra (cartoonist) and Kathie MM
Tag: George Washington
Message from the Number 1 President of the United States
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?
Honoring the Peace President
The birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln will be celebrated in various ways today and school children around the United States will celebrate a week’s vacation.
But we at Engaging Peace want to celebrate another American president, a man of character and honor who has worked tirelessly for peace and social justice: Jimmy Carter. He is a man of rare principle, whose message of peace and brotherhood has been matched by his deeds.
President Carter is a model of moral engagement.
He does not use euphemistic language when referring to aggression by America and its allies.
He chastised the Bush administration for using “lies and misrepresentations” to involve the U.S. in an unjust Iraq war, has urged the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison and an end to its human rights abuses, and has criticized the use of drones to murder terrorist suspects and to spy on Americans.
Moreover, he is not just a talker but a doer, a man of moral agency. As President, for example, Carter:
- Brokered the Camp David Accords, a peace agreement between Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachim Begin
- Signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, despite enormous criticism from war hawks who considered efforts to limit nuclear proliferation a “sell out.”
Post-Presidency, he has:
- Established, with his wife Rosalyn, the Carter Center, a nongovernmental nonprofit organization devoted to advancing human rights
- Served as a peace ambassador in many troubled parts of the world.
Not surprisingly, Carter has many vocal critics—members of the power elite, the military-industrial complex, the war profiteers, and idolizers of bullies who are terrified at the prospect of a man of peace being a role model for the American people.
Despite what those critics do to detract from Carter’s image and his quest for peace and social justice, he is a President who earned and continues to be worthy of his Nobel Peace Prize.
Kathie Malley-Morrison
Thank you, George
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