Have you heard of the new hot play out on Broadway called "Alexander Hamilton?" If not, you should at least look into it. I was recently listening to some of the songs in the play, and one that caught my attention one fine afternoon as I was driving was the following one:
What made this one song stick out to me is because I don't remember ever reading or hearing George Washington's farewell address. So, I went looking and found the actual address. I read it.
What was interesting about the address was that it was less like a farewell and more like a letter from dad to the kids. Allow me to give you a quick and dirty summary, as I understood it.
The first thing that George mentions is that the relationship between the North and the South is a delicate relationship that is also deeply rooted in the dependence that each has on the other. Basically the role of the North in relation to the South was to provide the industry that the South needed to sustain and advance in an ever changing world. The South's role was to ensure that the north had the agricultural backing needed to keep the industry moving forward. The next thing that George goes into is the connection of the East and West. The job of the East in this relationship was to provide the things needed for the West to grow. The West's job was to be the consumer, as it's only connection to the world would be what comes in from the docks on the Eastern shores. So, for him it was important that the country remembered this balance, and made sure to keep it in check.
From there Mr. Washington talks about our connection to the other countries in the world. In short, he recommended that the United States takes up the path of isolation. Basically, he believed that we should not involve ourselves in the affairs of other countries as it may put us into a dangerous and compromising situations. He also understood that alliances were an important and necessary evil to the survival of a country, but under no circumstance should they be long lasting.
The last thing that Mr. Washington touches upon, that I would say is a topic of importance, is the introduction of parties into government. Basically, he warned that if political parties, whether they were geographically organized or otherwise, were introduced to the then young American government, the outcome would be that the people would not be properly represented.
With the 4th of July here in the United States having just recently past, I wondered how George would say we did after his presidency ended all those years ago.
Consider this...
Looking strictly at the United states, if we as Americans were to score ourselves against the topics covered strongly in George Washington's address, it could and should be seen as we have failed. Furthermore, we have failed miserably. Let's look at each part.
Relationship of the Four Directions
The relationships of the North to South and East to West historically were seen to crumble under the weight of many different things. The North and South relationship, which was famously seen to fail in the year 1861, gave way under the weight of the need to change and pride. The North, seeing the need for change in the social structure and move from an old and obsolete practice that slavery was becoming wanted to change to meet the need of industry so that it could compete better by adding a proper workforce to the fold in the African community. The South, who were used to the luxury afforded to them on the backs of these same individuals, were perfectly fine with living with the system as it was, because it worked. To make the changes that the North was implying would mean added expense that they were unwilling to make. Neither side chose to look at the disagreements from the other's shoes, and well, we know what happened next.
As for the East and West, that relationship took a lot longer to degrade. In fact, it is still happening today. Remember that the West's role in the relationship was to be the consumer. That worked out great until a short French ruler (who was technically Italian, but I digress), decided to sell a huge parcel of land he called Louisiana. It was then that the west found it was moving farther and farther down the street from the East, and given transportation of the age, the West knew that they needed to be semi self-sufficient as the products coming in from the East would take more and more time. The Civil war added another wedge as the resources that the West needed were now primarily for the War effort on both sides, not to mention the West's identity was changed as Mason-Dixon line gave a physical presence to a division that was now happening. Add to that was the discovery of gold in many locations in the west, which reversed the roles completely between the East and West. The West now was the producer of gold needed to fuel the money mills of the East, and open the doors of trade further. The West at this point was virtually on the verge of saying that they no longer needed the help of the East, accept they still needed the docks and maritime trade that the East provided.
Today we can see the cultural differences between the four regions. The West harbors a more relaxed personality compared to the need to move move move in the East. The North and South still disagree on how the people should be approached when they are part of subcultures within their borders as strongly as they did over the slaves that were made to be free. Thus, George would shake his head here.
Alliances
The United States have lasting alliances with many countries, partly to help prevent the great travesties that occurred in our most recent century. Fear of the wars of the past has fostered these alliances like security blankets protecting children at night. While we have not taken up arms in aid of an ally who was in a time of need in all reality since the 1960's, we have joined together with allies in the mission to bring peace and justice to the world. And as a financial backer of the United Nations Democracy Fund, the United States provides the most of all the members so that this alliance is funded. While there is a necessity for the alliances, I can see that George Washington probably would have delivered a face palm to himself as he performs the V8 head slap to all of congress and the president of the United States. I can see that he would have objected to the level of involvement that our country has delivered to the rest of the world, as there is a good chance that many of the problems that we see now with terrorist groups may have been prevented. I could be wrong though.
Parties
Ah yes... parties... And not the kind that get Kid and Play to dance to "Ain't my Type of Hype" either.
I don't know if George was a man to use profanity, but I get the feeling that if he saw what the two major parties today are doing, he would come up with a word or phrase worthy of a Scrabble triple word score. In his farewell, he warned the hardest at not allowing the country's government become burdened by the ideals of political parties as the people over time would lose their voice. I think back then the warning was more for Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, since the two didn't really get along after they started working together in George's cabinet. And yet here we are, with one party backing a candidate who has a scowl clearly modeled by Machete for the movie, and the other backing a candidate who didn't trust the government to handle government emails solely through government email servers. St. Peter is probably trying to keep George from returning from death to handle business.
What about the rest of the world? If we take a moment to consider this advice that George Washington gave to the people of the United States at the time as advise to the world, how do you think the world would stack up?
Well, first of all, nearly every country in the world has at least a two party system. And that system is considered an act of Democracy. Secondly, other countries have formed the lasting alliances that are in place for similar reasons as the ones that the United Sates. Some of these relationships are good. Some are suspect. As far as the four directions, that is a little harder to say among countries that are not the U.S., Canada, and several European countries. However, just generally looking at the message that George Washington delivered, the world fails as well.
Perhaps it is time that this address is revisited, and we begin to find ways to incorporate into the way of thinking of world government some methodology that would best satisfy what George had said. His warnings were clear to the people of the time, and should continue to be clear to us now. One thing to remember and consider as I say this is that the idea may have been adjusted if George was able to see the way the world was now. The basic premise would most likely remain the same, which is to ensure that every American has a chance to vote the next president in without any hindrance to the process, that we remember our relationships between the four directions so that we can have a strong bond as a country, and perhaps teach the world to have a strong bond as well between their people and leaders, and ultimately between countries. Perhaps by knowing when to isolate and focus on ourselves and when to focus on our neighbors would have helped us all attain a better connection as a people with each other, and as a nation with other nations.
Who knows what would happen, if we looked at the final words of Washington, one more time.
References:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp
http://www.un.org/democracyfund/contribution-table
http://time.com/4210440/jefferson-hamilton-excerpt/
What made this one song stick out to me is because I don't remember ever reading or hearing George Washington's farewell address. So, I went looking and found the actual address. I read it.
What was interesting about the address was that it was less like a farewell and more like a letter from dad to the kids. Allow me to give you a quick and dirty summary, as I understood it.
The first thing that George mentions is that the relationship between the North and the South is a delicate relationship that is also deeply rooted in the dependence that each has on the other. Basically the role of the North in relation to the South was to provide the industry that the South needed to sustain and advance in an ever changing world. The South's role was to ensure that the north had the agricultural backing needed to keep the industry moving forward. The next thing that George goes into is the connection of the East and West. The job of the East in this relationship was to provide the things needed for the West to grow. The West's job was to be the consumer, as it's only connection to the world would be what comes in from the docks on the Eastern shores. So, for him it was important that the country remembered this balance, and made sure to keep it in check.
From there Mr. Washington talks about our connection to the other countries in the world. In short, he recommended that the United States takes up the path of isolation. Basically, he believed that we should not involve ourselves in the affairs of other countries as it may put us into a dangerous and compromising situations. He also understood that alliances were an important and necessary evil to the survival of a country, but under no circumstance should they be long lasting.
The last thing that Mr. Washington touches upon, that I would say is a topic of importance, is the introduction of parties into government. Basically, he warned that if political parties, whether they were geographically organized or otherwise, were introduced to the then young American government, the outcome would be that the people would not be properly represented.
With the 4th of July here in the United States having just recently past, I wondered how George would say we did after his presidency ended all those years ago.
Consider this...
Looking strictly at the United states, if we as Americans were to score ourselves against the topics covered strongly in George Washington's address, it could and should be seen as we have failed. Furthermore, we have failed miserably. Let's look at each part.
Relationship of the Four Directions
The relationships of the North to South and East to West historically were seen to crumble under the weight of many different things. The North and South relationship, which was famously seen to fail in the year 1861, gave way under the weight of the need to change and pride. The North, seeing the need for change in the social structure and move from an old and obsolete practice that slavery was becoming wanted to change to meet the need of industry so that it could compete better by adding a proper workforce to the fold in the African community. The South, who were used to the luxury afforded to them on the backs of these same individuals, were perfectly fine with living with the system as it was, because it worked. To make the changes that the North was implying would mean added expense that they were unwilling to make. Neither side chose to look at the disagreements from the other's shoes, and well, we know what happened next.
As for the East and West, that relationship took a lot longer to degrade. In fact, it is still happening today. Remember that the West's role in the relationship was to be the consumer. That worked out great until a short French ruler (who was technically Italian, but I digress), decided to sell a huge parcel of land he called Louisiana. It was then that the west found it was moving farther and farther down the street from the East, and given transportation of the age, the West knew that they needed to be semi self-sufficient as the products coming in from the East would take more and more time. The Civil war added another wedge as the resources that the West needed were now primarily for the War effort on both sides, not to mention the West's identity was changed as Mason-Dixon line gave a physical presence to a division that was now happening. Add to that was the discovery of gold in many locations in the west, which reversed the roles completely between the East and West. The West now was the producer of gold needed to fuel the money mills of the East, and open the doors of trade further. The West at this point was virtually on the verge of saying that they no longer needed the help of the East, accept they still needed the docks and maritime trade that the East provided.
Today we can see the cultural differences between the four regions. The West harbors a more relaxed personality compared to the need to move move move in the East. The North and South still disagree on how the people should be approached when they are part of subcultures within their borders as strongly as they did over the slaves that were made to be free. Thus, George would shake his head here.
Alliances
The United States have lasting alliances with many countries, partly to help prevent the great travesties that occurred in our most recent century. Fear of the wars of the past has fostered these alliances like security blankets protecting children at night. While we have not taken up arms in aid of an ally who was in a time of need in all reality since the 1960's, we have joined together with allies in the mission to bring peace and justice to the world. And as a financial backer of the United Nations Democracy Fund, the United States provides the most of all the members so that this alliance is funded. While there is a necessity for the alliances, I can see that George Washington probably would have delivered a face palm to himself as he performs the V8 head slap to all of congress and the president of the United States. I can see that he would have objected to the level of involvement that our country has delivered to the rest of the world, as there is a good chance that many of the problems that we see now with terrorist groups may have been prevented. I could be wrong though.
Parties
Ah yes... parties... And not the kind that get Kid and Play to dance to "Ain't my Type of Hype" either.
I don't know if George was a man to use profanity, but I get the feeling that if he saw what the two major parties today are doing, he would come up with a word or phrase worthy of a Scrabble triple word score. In his farewell, he warned the hardest at not allowing the country's government become burdened by the ideals of political parties as the people over time would lose their voice. I think back then the warning was more for Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, since the two didn't really get along after they started working together in George's cabinet. And yet here we are, with one party backing a candidate who has a scowl clearly modeled by Machete for the movie, and the other backing a candidate who didn't trust the government to handle government emails solely through government email servers. St. Peter is probably trying to keep George from returning from death to handle business.
What about the rest of the world? If we take a moment to consider this advice that George Washington gave to the people of the United States at the time as advise to the world, how do you think the world would stack up?
Well, first of all, nearly every country in the world has at least a two party system. And that system is considered an act of Democracy. Secondly, other countries have formed the lasting alliances that are in place for similar reasons as the ones that the United Sates. Some of these relationships are good. Some are suspect. As far as the four directions, that is a little harder to say among countries that are not the U.S., Canada, and several European countries. However, just generally looking at the message that George Washington delivered, the world fails as well.
Perhaps it is time that this address is revisited, and we begin to find ways to incorporate into the way of thinking of world government some methodology that would best satisfy what George had said. His warnings were clear to the people of the time, and should continue to be clear to us now. One thing to remember and consider as I say this is that the idea may have been adjusted if George was able to see the way the world was now. The basic premise would most likely remain the same, which is to ensure that every American has a chance to vote the next president in without any hindrance to the process, that we remember our relationships between the four directions so that we can have a strong bond as a country, and perhaps teach the world to have a strong bond as well between their people and leaders, and ultimately between countries. Perhaps by knowing when to isolate and focus on ourselves and when to focus on our neighbors would have helped us all attain a better connection as a people with each other, and as a nation with other nations.
Who knows what would happen, if we looked at the final words of Washington, one more time.
References:
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp
http://www.un.org/democracyfund/contribution-table
http://time.com/4210440/jefferson-hamilton-excerpt/
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