Quote of the Day (George Washington, on Disunity and ‘Arbitrary Power’)

“It is only in our United Character, as an Empire, that our Independance is acknowledged, that our power can be regarded or our Credit supported among foreign Nations—the Treaties of the European Powers with the United States of America will have no validity on a dissolution of the Union. We shall be left nearly in a State of Nature, or we may find by our own unhappy experience, that there is a natural and necessary progression from the extreme of Anarchy to the extreme of Tyranny, and that arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of Liberty abused to Licentiousness.”—George Washington (1732-1799), commander in chief of the Continental Army and first President of the United States, “Circular to the States,” June 8-21, 1783, on the National Archives’ “Founders Online” Website

He certainly had his faults, but George Washington has long held an honored place in this country’s history for his vision, wisdom, and integrity. 

The above quote demonstrates why, as does his example of renouncing power and returning to private life when he could easily have become a dictator.

Like many Americans, I have taken for granted that important documents like the above source from our nation’s past would not only be preserved but disseminated in digital form for all of us to ponder.

The way things are going, who knows what will be maintained anymore? Oh, you hadn’t heard that the Presidential administration that came to power in January is forcing out the top leadership at the National Archives?

This is as good a time as any to remember George Orwell’s warning about history in 1984: “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”