George Washington looked through his leveling instrument when he heard the sound of hoofs. He looked up, and saw the rider approaching.
A small cloud of dust rose, tracing the path the rider was taken down the dirt road that worked its way through the plantation.
It was wonderful here. He appreciated the life he had now. Was it life? He wasn’t sure. He didn’t care. He simply enjoyed it.
The rider pulled up.
“Mr. President,” the rider said, tipping his hat.
“Mr. President,” Washington replied, returning the salute.
“Are you going to see the results of the election?” John Adams, the rider, asked.
“Is it December already?”
“No, this is the November election,” Adams replied. “The electors won’t actually meet for another month. But the November election is always fun to watch.”
“I don’t know,” Washington said. “We didn’t set up the presidency to be voted on by the masses. We set up a system of electors to handle that job. And with good reason. If you turn it over to the masses, you could end up with … Lord knows what.”
“Trust me, George, you’ll enjoy it,” Adams insisted.
“Let me get Nelson, and we’ll go.”
* * *
The two men entered the room and brushed the dust off of their clothes. They always tied up close at the end of the building, where the other horsemen tied. Or Adams did. Washington rarely came here.
It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy the company of the other Presidents, but … Okay, maybe he didn’t enjoy the company of the other Presidents. But was that so wrong?
Washington looked around for the faces of men he knew. Really knew.
There was Jefferson, who had been his Secretary of State for a time. Good man. Didn’t agree with him always, but still, a good man.
He didn’t see Madison at first. Small man, easy to miss. But such a mind! The man knew how to write. And what to write. One of Jefferson’s best decisions was to put Madison as Secretary of State.
John Adam’s boy was also there. He had been Ambassador to the Netherlands and later, to Portugal.
And there was Monroe. Good warrior. Wounded at Trenton. College boy. He was a good President. And a good man.
Monroe, Adams (the elder), and Jefferson all died on July 4th. Adams and Jefferson, the same year; Monroe five years later. But all on the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Not far away was Jackson. He didn’t know Andrew Jackson as well as Monroe or Madison, for instance. But he was a soldier, and he respected that. Jackson had even been a prisoner of war, as had Washington. Jackson understood. He may not have known Jackson all that well, but he liked him.
Harrison was there. Both the grandfather and the grandson. He didn’t know either very well, but the elder was named after Benjamin Harrison, who was there to sign the Declaration of Independence, and who served as Governor of Virginia. Benjamin’s boy turned out to be a decent soldier himself, though, Washington thought, never should have run for President. Too old.
The younger Harrison, he didn’t know. But, if he was anything like his namesake, he was a welcome addition to this elite club.
But the rest of these men? He hardly knew them.
The loud man over there? Washington knew who it was without looking. There was no mistaking Theodore Roosevelt’s voice. You could feel his presence in the room without seeing him, without even hearing him. Roosevelt was one of those kinds of men.
Some of the others, he thought could be good men. But he’d have to get to know them better. Maybe one day.
“Well, well, well. You here to watch the election?” Grant asked.
Washington turned around, nearly started.
“General,” he nodded.
“General,” returned Grant.
“I have decided to see how the populace handles things today,” Washington told Grant. “I’m not very comfortable with this. But we shall see.”
Grant chucked. “Let’s give it watch, shall we?”
* * *
It was a strange process, Washington decided.
Many people were upset with the current President, it seemed. Washington knew that feeling. He, himself, had called out the militia to put down protesters in 1794. But, sometimes, as President, you have to do what you have to do, regardless of whether it’s popular. The current man in the office knew that, he could tell.
But this anger with the current President was being directed at another man. A good man. A sailor, who, like Washington, had been a prisoner of war. A man who loved his country and had served it proudly. However, he seemed to have committed one unforgivable sin: he was a member of the same political party as the current unpopular President.
That’s one of the reasons I never did like political parties, Washington thought. It leads to …
Grant’s loud voice interrupted. “Anyone know anything about this guy that’s winning?”
Those assembled murmured, but really said nothing.
“Hey, Lincoln! This one of yours?” Grant yelled.
Abraham Lincoln glanced over at Grant. “Had nothing to do with this one. Nothing at all. Not descended from any of the slaves freed during the war. His father was not even from this country.”
Nixon watched the exchange. “I met that McCain fellow, once. Young man. Good man. But a little hot-headed at times. But that, I certainly understand.”
Eisenhower spoke up. “You can say that again.”
The conversation went back and forth for hours. It would continue for hours more, but Washington had seen enough.
“John, I think I’ll be going now,” he told his former Vice President.
Adams took a quick drink. “Wait up. I’m coming with you.”
* * *
The two men approached Washington’s place, riding slowly. Hardly a word had been said along the way.
Washington broke the silence.
“Did you see all of that? I was never a fan of taxing a man’s income. But giving money from taxes on income to those who don’t pay taxes on income?” Washington said.
“Yes,” Adams said.
“A man that called our Constitution ‘fundamentally flawed!’ The Constitution that you, I, Monroe, and others worked so hard to craft!”
“Yes,” Adams said again.
“A man whose friends fought against and preached hate towards our country!” Washington said. “Our country, that we fought so hard to establish.”
“George, it’s been heading that way for some time,” Adams replied.
“I know. I know. But it’s like a rock that’s slowly sliding towards a cliff. When it actually heads over the edge, it’s more dangerous than the slow slide to the edge,” Washington said.
“So, you think we’ve headed over the edge?” Adams asked.
“Perhaps,” Washington responded. “Perhaps.”
Bravo! Well said, sir.
And having said that, the Rock Man fell fast asleep.
Glad I don’t have to pay taxes.
::sigh::
Absolutely eloquent, absolutely frightening, more than likely absolutely true.
Well, you can feed them through welfare or you can feed them in the work camps. Wait… where was I going with that?
Very well done.
Bravo; I almost shed a tear.
I’m impressed. Well done.
I got chills. Thank you sir.
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Jefferson Davis replied ” I feel a secession coming on. Revolution anyone?”
I’ve built so much of my life on respect for the past and hope for the future.
Now both are destroyed in a single night by those with no knowledge of the past and no wisdom for the future.
Obama studied the first two years of Clinton and determined that they “overreached” by trying to socialize medicine right away and caused a backlash (Newt Gingrich). They’ve apparently decided to do things more slowly, much as the nazis did with the jews, I suppose. I’ve often said that the 20th century was marked by the fast genocides of communism and nazism and the slow genicides of abortion and low western birthrates. The fast ones caused men to take up arms – to fight and win. Meanwhile the slow ones were relegated to demographic and political issues, festering continually and causing ten times the bloodshed.
We may be dealing with a slow communism that doesn’t result in backlash, so much so that we think we are OK while our country is slowly eaten out from under us.
I remember watching something where they talked to Jews about the early days of Hitler, when the brownshirts had parades and were considered a childish political movement. The jews said they weren’t worried because they knew a lot of the brownshirts had jewish girlfriends. Lotta good that did them, didn’t it?
Interesting commentary, Bas. Pithy.
When people vote with their dollars, their votes mean something. As of right now, the three most-frequently quoted stock market indices (Dow Industrials, NASDAQ, and S&P 500) are down 1.7% to 2.0%.
Very well done.
This deserves a wide readership.
Just amazing. Truly Awesome.
::chills::
Basil – Good Job very well thought out.
Kent at #12 –
With all due respect, get a grip.
Barack Obama is not a frickin Nazi, he is not a communist tyrant, he is the president elect of the United States. Like all of the non-trolls who read this site, Obama was not my first (or second, or third…Or 1,458th for that matter) choice to fill that position, however in a democracy we need to deal with the fact that occasionally the majority of our countrymen will disagree with us. He won an election, not a civil war.
Also realize that unlike Russia in 1917 or Germany in 1933, the US military is committed to the ideals of Democracy. The guys with the guns (like Joe Foo’) are not gonna stand for putting people into camps and as long as the guys with the guns are on the side of what is right, we are gonna be OK.
As conservatives we need to act like grown-ups, not like the developmentally arrested children that inhabit the Daily Kos or Democratic Underground.
We need to hold the remaining republican Senators feet to the fire an minimize the idiocy for two years then fix the mess in 2010.
Freaking out, going over the top, making the Obama=Stalin signs in revenge for 8 years of the BushHitler crap ain’t gonna get the job done, no matter how attractive it looks right now to get some petty revenge. Going into a funk and whining for 4 (or eight or twelve) years ain’t gonna get the job done.
Time to roll up the sleeves and get back to work.
Brian The Adequate: In your answer to Kent, well said. Basil, that was truly awesome.
1776 – 2008
Tears (even with no cameras) and bleeding from the heart…
Good job Basil and Brian.
I am a avid Obama supporter and i enjoyed this work as a piece of fiction, which is exactly what it is.
I think it is a great act of hubris to imagine what someone would say or think about what is going on in this world today. But no matter the subject material well written and interesting.
But I would like to make a single point.
I believe that the most unamerican we can be is when we allow ourselves to be foolish enough to believe that America is without flaws. While the ideals of this country uplift and astound us, we are still a country of humans and to be human is to be imperfect. Hell if America was perfect then neither liberal or republican could complain about anything. We have so much to fix and to work on to make this country better than it is now.
This is the fundamental point of President Obama’s campaign that we can as American’s do something better than what we have. And it is the denial of this or the thinking that to believe that America is imperfect is to be unamerican, that I believe really hurt McCain and the republicans as a whole.
I will agree that even I, a serious Barack supporter am skeptical of the level of change Obama will be able to generate. But it is the direction that the country needs to go, less it will sink into oblivion and none of us will be happy. Obama understands the work that needs to be done.
Hopefully, over the next few years. Republicans (and some angry Democrats) will understand what is really going on here. That we aren’t rebuilding a nation, but STILL building a nation. That we put our hopes on Barack not because of his experience but because of his drive and his vision for an America that deep down all of us want. And maybe we can stop all of this squabbling and start achieving something truly greater than either party could have ever imagined.
Thank you
Absolutely spot on, Basil.
Brian, you are correct. Few service members would stand by while their country men were marched into camps. Remember, the service members ready to stand up and fight are doing just that right now. What better time to overthrow the castle and storm the throne room than while the defenders are on the walls?
Responding to the “American4Life”……how true your comments are about America being “imperfect” and “flawed”. A perfect example is your “messiah” Obama…..no experience to be POTUS……a closet follower of a false cultic religion (Islam)……a worshipper at the throne of abortion (which will flow even heavier with the blood of innocents)…..a man who wants to disarm every American citizen (if not with his interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, then with regulation to the point of madness)……a man who pretends to be a christian (not the lower case “c”) yet cannot possibly be one (note the Islam reference earlier and his insistence there are “many paths to God”) which makes him a non-Christian as well as a really bad follower of Allah. Lastly he is a racist….he hates white people. He will accomplish nothing except to deepen the divisions between Americans and deepen our national debt by giving away the store.
I don’t mean to sound like a mad man, but just hear me out: What if Obama gets assassinated? I mean, I’m pretty sure Biden would make much better president than him.
DC-
I am not sure about Biden being better than Obama, but if you really want a good scare, contemplate what would happen if they were both killed. If you can hold the thought of President Pelosi in your mind without your legs going to jello, you are made of much sterner stuff than I.
Let’s not go down the ‘assassination porn’
route the crazy dems have been on,
some college twits stormed the White House last night-
(well the mouthy pansies didn’t get close enough to be shot at,
just enough to be on cable news)
to demand Bush’s eviction from the place.
I heard today that a Soviet flag was flown there in the mob.
~~~~~
I’m glad Presidents Washington and Adams missed that.
My own response to American4Life:
You are correct; human beings are fundamentally flawed. You will get no argument from any conservative about that. But you are wrong in your assessment that we conservatives viewed this election, it’s candidates, and our country as perfect, that anyone who disagreed with us is unAmerican. Conservatives know perfectly well that this country is flawed. Look at the unfairness in the legal system, with criminals getting off on technicalities and the innocent being persecuted, in taxation, in the way people get hired or get cheaper schooling because of their skin color. We understand that as well as you do, especially when we had a candidate who we considered far from perfect.
We understand, that our country – our government, run by flawed human beings, is also flawed. In fact, this is partly why we argue for smaller government. Our politicians (and not just Obama) are constantly promising us perfection, hope, paradise… a utopia where only the rich pay taxes and there’s clean renewable gas in every car, health care for every child, and a chicken in every pot. But how can a system run by flawed individuals deliver on any of those promises? Obama ran on hope, but hope in what? In something that can never deliver?
As for hating the country being unAmerican, I would argue that statement is actually correct, because you’re missing half of the equation. To be American is to both love the country and to hate it at the same time. G.K. Chesterton said we must be both extreme pessimists and optimists at the same time; that we must love the world and be patriots to it, yet hate it for all of the unfairness and terrible things that go on in it. That’s the only right perspective, and only that kind of passion can fuel the “change” we really need. There are certainly some republicans out there who will only extol the goodness of America, but they are as wrong as you are. If you see only the good, you will never tear down the bad. But at the same time you certainly cannot build a country on hate. And hate is all that we have seen from Obama and the rest of the democrats. This is why we see you as unAmerican. We saw no love for the country in the democrats in this election; you wanted to tear down all the good along with the bad, and remake it all in some collectivist vision. You don’t love America. You love your vision of a fantasy country, founded on utopian socialist ideals.
You don’t love the America the founding fathers had in mind. They believed in the ideal of Responsible Freedom. Not freedom to do whatever you pleased. Not responsibility to the state and the mob, to whom you would be forced to give everything. Responsible freedom. Free the way God made us, but responsible for our own actions. Freedom to work, to speak our own minds, to practice our religion, to own our own property, and the responsibility to work for the common good and curtail our own vices.
Would anyone have been happy with the direction John McCain would have taken us down? Probably not. But I promise you no conservative (and anyone else with common sense or forced to pay taxes) is going to be happy with the direction Obama and the Democrat senate and house are about to take us down either.
And about this sitting down and achieving greatness — you can’t work together when you have no common ground. Our ideal Americas are nothing alike. I would strongly suggest you find some way to articulate your vision of America, because that’s the only way you’re going to be able to enter the debate. And if you want to have an intelligent conversation, I would also suggest you figure out what you’d have to do to get your ideal America, and what the consequences would be. No one ever thinks of the consequences these days…
Thank you
Thank You, gentlemen. Let’s remember that Americans, true Americans will Fight! We may not use weapons of steel and lead against our brothers, but we will still Fight! We have the Pen, the Keyboard, the Radio and Television to use as weapons. We will begin now, and Fight for the Life of our Country…. We simply need a General to lead us. A Conservative, young, strong, articulate… we will prevail.
I’m going to the library to find a copy of Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”.
C.S. Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Terry Pratchett… I read too much fantasy and philosophy, and not enough practical history.
If I can’t find a Heroic Leader to follow out there, I’ll look for one in the mirror.
Too often I’ve asked, “What can we do?”;
but until I ask, “What can I do?” nothing will change.
Good Job Basil! Good Stuff.
Perhaps we’ve gone over the edge, but, as designed, a president is not a king. The people have spoken. When the voice of the people chooses leaders contrary to the founding principles of the nation, we will face the consequences, but they won’t be permanent.
The Constitution will prevail, and the United States will continue to be the greatest nation and a beacon of Freedom. A simple thing like the election of a Marxist by obliviots will not change that. We The People ultimately still make the nation.
Can I reprint this? It’s too good not to share.
[Of course. If you do, please link to IMAO: http://www.imao.us/ – B]
Thank you Basil. That was amazing.
Obama never said the Constitution is fundamentally flawed. How is this the interpretation you’ve pulled out of his statements? He was talking about the Warren Court’s interpretation of the Constitution, strict rather than liberal, something I learned about in 9th grade civics. To say that the Constitution is made up of negative liberties is correct. It says what citizens and governments CAN’T do or CAN’T take away from people. There are no mandates for action in the Constitution. His comments after that focus on how the people and historians have focused on the legal actions during the Civil Rights movement, rather than the social actions, outside the federal law changes. He realizes that society helped bring those changes WITHOUT RADICAL CHANGE to the Constitution. I’m not saying he’s the Messiah, but I will say that most of the people on this board need to brush up on their reading comprehension.
I do agree that John McCain is a patriot and I have all the respect in the world for him; but George Washington’s point of view, as skewed as the author wants to make it, has very little use in the modern age. Things aren’t the same as they were in 1786. Being obsessed with the past will get you left behind in the global arena.
So much of this is off base. As inspiring as some people might find it, I think it’s a presumtuous dishonor to our previous President’s to PUT WORDS IN THEIR MOUTHS to scare people.
[Listen to this:
The part where he says the Constitution “reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day” is what I’m talking about.
That good enough for you?
– B]
Incendiary claptrap.
And, the constitution IS flawed. Many of our former presidents owned slaves, constitutionally. It needed to be fixed, and finally was. The framers never thought it was a perfect document, which is why they added amendments almost immediately.
So sad, so gullible, so FOXNEWS.
I note that your insulting inflammatory response reveals much more about yourself than it says about me.
No matter, write what you will. I shan’t be returning to this site again.
[Mission accomplished. To coin a phrase. – B]
Bacon for Basil!