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The Daily Signal
George
Washington Deserves His Own Day, Not Presidents Day
David Azerrad
February 12, 2016
Poor George Washington. His birthday, spontaneously celebrated since
the revolution and formally declared a holiday in 1879, has slowly
morphed into the insipid Presidents Day you’ll hear about Monday.
Washington, the “indispensable man” of the revolution who was rightly
extolled for being “first in war, first in peace, and first in the
hearts of his countrymen,” has now been lumped together with the likes
of James Buchanan, Jimmy Carter, Franklin Pierce and John Tyler.
It gets worse. Washington’s good name and great legacy are now
shamelessly invoked to justify positions that he would never have
envisaged.
In a Time Magazine special edition on Washington, historian Joseph
Ellis matter-of-factly remarks: “He began the political tradition that
produced a Union victory in the Civil War, the Federal Reserve Board,
Social Security, Medicare and, more recently, Obamacare.”
Washington, who called on Americans to display “pious gratitude” for
their Constitution and warned against any “change by usurpation,” is
now a partisan of the sprawling welfare state and the unprecedented
individual mandate.
Ellis even has the gall to hail Washington—the man who gracefully and
voluntarily relinquished power after two terms when he could have
stayed on for life—as the father of “strong executive leadership” and
the precursor to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who stayed in office for an
unprecedented 12 years.
The true Washington still has much to teach us, in particular when it
comes to the presidency, foreign policy and religious liberty. Although
much has changed in the past two centuries, his sage advice and conduct
in office have lost none of their relevance, anchored as they are in
the timeless principles of the founding and a sober assessment of human
nature.
Washington, like every president after him, swore the following oath
upon taking office:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the
Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my
ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United
States.
Unlike many presidents in the past 100 years, however, Washington took
the oath seriously and did not try to place himself above the
Constitution.
He understood himself to be the president of a republic in which the
people, through their elected representatives in Congress, make
laws—not some visionary leader who must define what progress requires
and lead the unenlightened masses there.
Washington took care “that the laws be faithfully executed,” as when he
quashed the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. He did not try to make the laws
himself, either by issuing executive orders that circumvented Congress
or by regulating what could not be legislated. He left behind no
“signature” legislative accomplishments as we would say today. He only
used his veto twice—once on constitutional grounds and once in his
capacity as commander in chief.
Washington gave, on average, only three public speeches a year while in
office—including the shortest ever inaugural address. And, of course,
he had to be persuaded to serve a second term.
As a president who took his bearings from the Constitution, Washington
devoted considerable attention to foreign policy. Our first president
sought to establish an energetic and independent foreign policy. He
believed America needed a strong military so that it could “choose
peace or war, as our interest guided by justice shall Counsel.” His
Farewell Address remains the preeminent statement of purpose for
American foreign policy.
No survey of Washington’s legacy would be complete without
acknowledging his profound commitment to religious liberty. Many today
seem to have lost sight of the crucial distinction he drew between mere
toleration and true religious liberty. As he explained in the memorable
letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport:
All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the
indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of
their inherent natural rights.
On Monday, as we celebrate our greatest president, let us remember why
he—and not Polk or, heaven forbid, Wilson—deserves a national holiday.
Read this and other articles at The Daily Signal
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