Quote of the Day (George Washington, on ‘Virtue and Happiness’)

“[T]here is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity: Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” —President George Washington (1732-1799), “First Inaugural Address,” April 30, 1789

In New York City nearly 235 years ago, George Washington demonstrated the qualities Americans hoped for in their President.

In a New York City courtroom yesterday, a former and still-aspiring occupant of his office was found to be notably wanting in virtue and sense of duty.

It was frustrating to watch this latter individual fill that job with neither a sense of decorum nor of honesty. But maybe now, the “eternal rules of order and right” that Washington hailed will at long last begin to be vindicated.