Presidents' Day

On this Presidents' Day, something to think about:

George Washington left the Presidency after two terms. There were no "term limits." He did so voluntarily. Most Americans expected him to serve for life. At the end of the American Revolution, commanding a victorious Continental Armry, even George III, the king of Britain, asked, "What will George Washington do now?" He was told by John Adams, "I suspect he will go back to his farm." To which G III replied, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man on earth." Even when he reluctantly accepted political office, he waited until he was summoned by popular election.

Consider these two voluntary cessions of power. The 18th Century world was one where leaders had always grabbed for more power, more authority. Contrast Washington's behavior with that of a contemporary, Napoleon Bonaparte. To step down, again voluntarily, was the most majestic democratic move Washington could have made. He silenced a small, but growing Republican opposition that was warning of an American monarchy. He established an enduring legacy of limited Presidential terms, until the egocentric, self-anointed Franklin Roosevelt.

When you go out to your mailbox and find no mail delivery on Presidents' Day, ponder this.