I remember clearly as a boy soldier watching in our barracks day room President Reagan’s Farewell Address. Of all the words of advice to their nation by outgoing presidents, I think Presidents Washington and Eisenhower’s were the most significant. What did the Father of his Country advise and how accurate have his warnings proven to be?
1. Avoid foreign influences. The European continental powers, given their close proximity to one another, have fought a long chorus of bloody wars; one of which is grinding on as we speak. President Washington understood America’s unique geographic fortifications provided us with the opportunity to avoid wasteful bloodshed resulting from pacts made to foreigners.
We will speak at length of the catastrophe which was the Great War when we get to that scoundrel Wilson; and God knows only Russian restraint has kept us out of a nuclear exchange stemming from NATO’s thirty-plus year push eastward at the behest of reckless globalists. Was President Washington correct about avoiding foreign entanglements? Spot on.
2. Avoid factionalism. Over the years, I’ve heard professors say President Washington missed on this second piece of advice. I beg to differ. It is also often cited that George Washington had no political party affiliation. I further beg to differ. President Washington's sympathies clearly aligned with the Federalists, and therefore I have no qualms with labeling him as one of our two Federalist presidents.
I judge (No man may judge the eternal disposition of another man’s soul (“out” OR “in”); but God gave us a brain to make judgments about everything else.) President Washington’s advice concerning politics had to do with a warning about those in his day (and ours; human nature never changing) who placed petty politics above the well-being of the nation. There’s good and evil in this world, and both have clearly had natural homes throughout the history of our two-party system.
Tallying it up then, President Washington couldn’t have nailed it any better with his parting words had he been gazing into a crystal ball. And what did I do this summer while standing at the foot of General Washington’s sarcophagus? I rendered a smart hand salute, of course.
Next Week: President John Adams’ Foreign Policy Big Idea
Shane Morris is a retired soldier and teacher. Contact at sigm11@yahoo.com (Subject: NtC)
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