Today America celebrates Presidents' Day, with George Washington's traditional birthdate falling later in the week, on February 22.
On this day, I am wondering what George Washington would think of the current state of affairs in this country he helped to found.
Legend has it that a young George Washington admitted to cutting down a cherry tree by saying that he "cannot tell a lie." What would he think of a president who led this country into a war of aggression justified only by lies?
During the Revolutionary War, George Washington instructed his troops to treat their captured prisoners of war humanely. "Treat them with humanity," he told his troops, "and let them have no reason to complain of our copying the brutal example of the British Army in their treatment of our unfortunate brethren." What would he think of Abu Ghraib, and the Bush administration's fetish for waterboarding?
Last year on Presidents' Day, George W. Bush said that George Washington's example "guides us in our time." In that same speech, Bush seemed to compare himself to the first President, praising how Washington had fought for freedom, and then segueing into a song and dance about how he, George W. Bush, is now working "to advance the cause of freedom around the world."
What nerve!
George Washington must be spinning in his grave.
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http://www.maryshawonline.com
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she may be associated.
Most of the original founders of the U.S. Government were very pluralistic and democratic in their views on religion. They did their best to establish freedom of religion and freedom from religious bigotry, and to ensure that there was a wall of separation betweeb church and state so that no religion or religious sect was favored or had special influence.
People like Bush and the leaders of the so-called "Christian Right" would have been scorned by most of the founding fathers. And I would like to direct your attention to an article that speaks very eloquently to that.
Number 1 would probably retch after reading the transcripts of the hearings leading up to the impeachment of President Clinton. Washington would ask himself "A President of our country behaved this way? Where is the dignity and honesty and why wasn't he convicted?" We all would retch right along with him if we haven't already. And Clinton didn't stop. He is still a disgusting human being, but now his own party and supporters are beginning to finally realize it. He hasn't changed. He was always that way.
by
Mad Jayhawk (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 221 comments)
on Monday, February 18, 2008 at 1:41:25 PM
Aside from his foolish error and indiscretion with Monica (which was, by the way, a private matter), Clinton was the best president we've had since Kennedy.
The Clinton Administration balanced the budget and produced a booming economy.
During the eight years under President Clinton, the U.S. did not use its military might to protect any American-supported foreign dictators or American economic interests in foreign countries. Clinton deserves credit for being the first American president to accomplish that since 1945, establishing a precedent which should have been followed, but was not.
Clinton was reviled by right-wing "conservatives" because he dared, at least a little bit, to expose their greedy schemes.
Clinton could have done that far more, except he found he had to move to the right of the middle out of political expediency. He found that was the only way he could get elected in the political climate at the time. Yet, even so, his presidential policies and initiatives were for the most part to the benefit of most of the people in this nation and in the world.
Bush, on the other hand, is a disgrace. Plain and simple.
