“Yet knowing how way leads on to way..”
Robert Frost
At the onset of the first tenure, after he had slugged it out through storms of snow, storms of rain and wind, storms of bullets and blood, storms of death, of victory, of defeat, of no provisions, of untrained men, of the uncertainty that comes with facing the most formidable army the world had at that time, George Washington was dealt a final battle of temptation. There is a myth that after all he had co-fought as he led the Continental Army to crush the British Red Coats, Washington was asked if he wanted to be King…to be The King of America.
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If this myth be true, knowing how way leads on to way, could it be that General George Washington foresaw that power had to rest in the people, less the future of America repeat the ravages and unfair plight it eventually began to experience as an extension to an unfair monarchy?
The Continental Congress, as it seems, led on with the energy and passion of John Adams, stayed a course in the rough, uncharted seas of defining what liberty could be, creating an experimental vision of what representative governance should be, replete with limits and clear purpose, not to exceed, or impinge on the rights of the individual. It was scripture-reading John Adams who was Washington’s trusted supporter in the Continental Congresses, while he maneuvered and marshaled forces to meet the well-trained armies of the Britannia of that time. One man worked in the field, while another orated before the likes of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. Surely, many American leaders flanked both of these men, yet, these two, Adams and Washington, were the driving energy of humility, boldness, and Godly-principle which separated them from all other men. It was John Adams who kept the fire of liberty alive. It was George Washington who was tasked with leading and inspiring armies of men who had never fought before. Washington had to be the example of poise, confidence, determination and inner strength from which his soldiers derived the will to fight long past the point of exhaustion. It was Adams who connected God’s Word to the foundational doctrines which were being created through discourse, before the likes of James Madison, James Monroe, Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin.
Adams was recognized as humble, without avarice or guile, not seeking self-gain, but seeking onto the welfare of the individual human rights of the people through a system of representative government. Adams and Washington were a kind of ‘anti-hero,’ or mighty men who eschewed glory and kept to the awesome duty of the creation of a new republic. It was a needful set of traits to have, given that spies and oppositional forces were keen to disrupt the establishment of an America birthing forth with the intention to self-govern itself. These traits attracted others to Adams and Washington, creating a template for leaders to emerge mirroring such characteristics.
Inspiration and leadership grew rapidly in this soil of humility and selflessness. At the end of all the battles, with the culmination of the American Revolution being fought with orated and written word and slugged out in towns, in water, and in the colonial country-side, the final battle, goes the myth, was placed squarely on General George Washington. It has been alluded that he was asked if he wanted to be the King.
If it be so, the temptation would have been non too difficult for the Commander of the Continental Armies to disdain, given the reason for all the struggle to free the colonists from such a chain. As is human nature, future king’s far removed from the hardship and experience the colonists underwent would have soon followed suit, as is the way of powerful king’s, and would have begun to grow their power through the strengthening of the state, safeguarding it through the subjection of the people, and overriding the democratic principles of individual liberty.
A strong executive office, as one of the three branches of the United States of America’s representative government is needful, less the powers beyond and within our borders undermine a ship with a weak captain, even taking over the tiller and direction of the nation through policies of trade and finance, which do not place the representation of the American populace first, but their own establishment of vision and growth as the priority. Quite easily, international organizations and powerful foreign heads of state can seek to grow their spheres of influence at the expense of what has become the only superpower in the world. The United States needs a strong leader at the helm who governs according to the ever-alive principles of liberty found in holy scripture. It is this attunement to God’s Word which was the source of power upon which the founding fathers were led, and which can continue to guide the vision and purpose of what is supposed to be a government of, and for the people.
As it is, the United States of America is a nation of 320,000,000 inhabitants, with the last twenty years being an era of tremendous immigration levels (an influx of about 16,000,000 people entered) from Central America into the U.S. We are a nation that respects the right for people to openly practice their faith and beliefs without fear of reproach or persecution, and this means there is room for all the world’s religions within this great land of freedom. Be it as it may, the growth of community, culture, education, and all the human rights enjoyed in such a state as that which places the rights of the individual citizen as a check and balance on the organs of the state, need to be continuously governed by a leadership that firstly values the perfect law of liberty, as it is put forth in Judeo-Christian holy scripture. This humility of leadership which subjugates the will of man and woman to the will of the loving, Almighty Creator is what has allowed for America to continue in its existence nearly two hundred and fifty years after its founding. The strength and confidence of a strong Executive Office does not stem from the dictates of a leader who knows best above all, but from a leader, man or woman, whom again and again seeks God, and God’s will as the compass and guiding light to steer the ship. From here confidence is brought forth, from here boldness is exercised, and from here, humility is continually refreshed.
“And they departed not from the commandment of the King..”
2 Chronicles 8:15a
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