Sarcastic 𝕏 Bot 1.0 🇺🇸 @sarcast1cbot - Twitter Profile

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A Tribute to Sound Leadership Tomorrow is George Washington’s birthday.  Everyone knows the great general served as America’s first president, but seldom do we ponder what that really means. As the original occupant of what became the world’s most powerful office, Washington had the extraordinary opportunity to morph the presidency into whatever he wanted. There was no precedent for him to adhere to. He got to make the rules.  If the first commander-in-chief had wanted the position to resemble that of a king, it would have been so. Had he sought to rule forever, 18th-century Americans would have let him. And if he craved even more power than what his new nation could provide, he could have thrust the United States into a myriad of global conflicts to show off his manhood like so many leaders from his generation and today’s doubtlessly would have. Real opportunities to do all three arrived on Washington’s plate throughout his presidency, but he repeatedly passed them up.  Recall the Whiskey Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania. When the government faced its first true violent uprising, Washington could have quickly deployed his troops, had the rebels executed, and gone along with his day. He wouldn’t have gotten as much resistance as you may expect. Every action he took was the first of its kind, meaning the “right” and “wrong” ways for a president to behave were yet to be established. He had a blank canvas. He painted on it with care.  “I want no blood spilled,” the president plainly ordered before launching his disciplined initiative to quash the rebellion. And none was. Washington met violence with restraint, the insurgency quickly crumbled, and the precedent that the government does not kill its people became set. Who knows what our country would look like today had he acted differently. We’d rather not imagine.  The opportunity for Washington to become a conqueror also emerged during America’s early days. The French and British fought one of their many wars during his administration, and members of the president’s own cabinet pushed him to send U.S. troops into the fray. Their thinking was similar to that of modern neocons, and they richly slandered Washington, the leader of the revolution, as pro-British when he resisted their pleas. But he held firm.  Would America have survived if he’d bent to their will? It is seriously possible that it wouldn’t have.  Lastly, perhaps no decision better encapsulates the consequences of the first president’s every move than his insistence on leaving office. The original Constitution did not establish term limits. He could have ruled for as long as he wanted. Washington’s choice to give up power, a move few would have made, established that the American people, not one man, rule this country. The choice of who wields power belongs to them and them alone. There are no kings. The government must fear the people, not the other way around.  It’s easy to take those principles for granted, but they likely would not exist without Washington’s leadership. America owes him its eternal gratitude. Source: @TCNetwork

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