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The Courage of Washington

George Washington was not a great president. He was an average farmer and aloyal but solitary if dispassionate husband and neighbor. When it came to peopleand relationships, public speaking, pressing the flesh and gushing; Mr.

Washington had a lot of room for improvement.

Its a good thing Washingtons mission was none of those things. I dont presumeto know exactly what his vocation or lifes mission was, all I know is that few havecome close to the tenacity and courage he exhibited during the eight years of theRevolution.

At the time colonial America found itself pushing back against an entrenchingEnglish Parliament, Washington was a retired military officer of the Crown. Hisloyalties had been to the British Empire and he had been happy to serve hiscountry. Retiring due to illness, he settled into a life of the gentleman farmer.

As early as 1765, Washington records his alarm at signs of an over reachingnational government and greedy English merchants. While serving in VirginiasHouse of Burgesses (1759-1774), Washingtons concerns increased as Parliamentcontinued to usurp British-American liberties.

When the Continental Congress determined that the Parliament had finallyoverstepped their role as a governing body and unofficially declared hostilitiesagainst the England, General Washington was appointed the head of all colonialAmerican military forces.

What followed was eight long years of hardship, privation, and treachery.

Washington however, never faltered and was courageous to the end. Courage hasbeen defined as not being the absence of fear, but the ability to move forward inspite of it.

So what is the point of this short history lesson? The point is to lay thegroundwork for some very significant comparisons to modern America.

Historically, the colonies were sovereign states that had allegiance to the Crownonly. In his writings, Adams (see The Revolutionary Writing of John Adams)shows it to be a matter of historical fact that the colonies were in no way underthe jurisdiction of the Parliament.

Similarly, the burden of the usurpation of state power and sovereignty underwhich we currently exist is a gross violation of the system of federalism initiatedby Americas founders.

When the Continental Congress engaged in self-defense and later declaredindependence from Great Britain, they were in every sense of the act, expressingto the world their state of liberty and abhorrence to tyranny. This feeling carried

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over into the convention of Philadelphia and directly into the form of governmentwe have inherited. The policy of nullification practiced primarily by the southernstates from 1800 to the American Civil War was an extension of this sense ofindependence and sovereign status.

In our day, we seldom see the states expressing any knowledge of this inherentfundamental right or a desire to revive it. The constitution has been modified(16th, 17th amendments, Federal Reserve etc.) to weaken that true nature offederalism and the members of that federal union. However, there still remainsat least one remnant of that former institution: Article V.Fear and trepidation seems to be the foundation from which those who opposethis last vestige of power operate. The founders must have known that the daywould come when this provision would have to be activated as a way to reset thecourse of our fair nation. Why else would they have left it for us to use.

Rather than run from a power that we fear might be used against us, let usembrace it and use it to rectify the wrongs of the past 100 years. Let us exemplifythe courage of Washington and the men and women who served under him.

Some say that such an act would disrupt society and weaken the stability of ournation. All historians know that a little social disruption from time to timefounded in sound principles is good for a people. Jefferson was fond of sayingthat the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood ofpatriots and tyrants.

Whats even better is if such a revolution can occur without the bloodshed. Thatis exactly what the founders gave us, a means to have a revolution, to overthrow

stagnated, toxic government without violence or bloodshed. But we would haveto each become responsible for our own governance and participate in such anoverhaul for it to have a positive outcome.

So thats it. We don't have to be perfect, in fact we can be pretty average. But forfreedom to survive we must show courage. Will we claim the responsibility of ourown governance? Will we risk today to ensure a free tomorrow? Or will weforfeit the future for a tranquil present?