What do y'all think about George Washington? The key aspects of his administration were his Supreme Court appointments, the national bank, and his foreign policy with England and France, I think. Am I right? I'm also looking for info/thoughts on these things. How inflationary and bad for the economy was the national bank of his day? Were any of his SC appointees as bad as or worse than John Marshall? Overall, how bad of a President was he? Would you rank him in the bottom half?
He was a bit of a stooge for Hamilton.
It is cool how he fought the Whiskey Rebellion, then pardoned everyone.
Still, he laid the foundation for the American system.
Mr Washington in the prism of US history, represents something different to every individual roaming this earth. A man of war, the first face, a fair analysis would be in good taste. Yet the words are not coming to me, and this case of writers block is making it hard to critique Washington objectively. But a few words can be shared, after many years of struggle and turmoil. Mr Washington was the first man to lead the US nation on its new plot of land. Regardless of everyones opinion on America's acquisition, the men and women who made up the country took a huge risk during early intermissions. They shed blood and bled to be "free", a happy ending for the fun loving revolutionary.
liberty student: He was a bit of a stooge for Hamilton. It is cool how he fought the Whiskey Rebellion, then pardoned everyone. Still, he laid the foundation for the American system.
I am going to agree with this here. George Washington was our first President. He laid the foundation for the American system. However, #1- he owned slaves, and #2- he really was in bed (not literally) with Alexander Hamilton. He set the pace for a strong central government. So.... he was some good some bad.
Actually, by "American System", I meant the Hamiltonian mercantilist/fascist/corporatist system.
If he had set a different standard, and been more committed to the ideals of Jefferson, history might have turned out quite differently.
Any good articles on the Washington administration from a libertarian perspective?
I was reading Chomsky's Imperial Ambitions recently. And in one of the interviews he gives a great quote about how George Washington was given such an unprecedented propaganda campaign after his death. Which he said could only be compared to Kim Il Sung in North Korea. The Dear Father. He said this was also part of the movement to make the United States singular instead of plural. And that this treatment of historical figures is pretty much commonplace; this was an aside on how Reagan became a cult figure. Despite majorly different feelings about him during his actual presidency. And totally different things attributed to him than what actually happened ("[Reagan] hated free markets").
Individualist: What do y'all think about George Washington? The key aspects of his administration were his Supreme Court appointments, the national bank, and his foreign policy with England and France, I think. Am I right? I'm also looking for info/thoughts on these things. How inflationary and bad for the economy was the national bank of his day? Were any of his SC appointees as bad as or worse than John Marshall? Overall, how bad of a President was he? Would you rank him in the bottom half?
"It's been a long time since I've seen a Presidential candidate I can get really excited about." ~Some random conservative think-tanker
Reading that quote, I thought that the author's desire for such a Presidential candidate was misguided. That last thing we need, after all, is a President we can "get really excited about"; a populace who is "really excited about" their leader is likely to sacrifice their liberties to this leader.
George Washington, unfortunately, was such a leader.
The Federalists were a group of men who wanted to get rid of the Articles of Confederation and create a newfangled Constitution of the United States. Basically, they were a bunch of politicians who wanted to create a new government and put themselves in charge. They especially wanted to make sure that the loans that Congress had taken out during the American Revolution would be repaid through tax revenues. Basically, the Constitution was written to protect the interests of war profiteers.
In order to achieve their goal, they needed a figurehead who would cooperate with them. They needed this man to be someone that the people admired and trusted. They found that leader in the person of George Washington.
"As long as there are sovereign nations possessing great power, war is inevitable."
John Ess: I was reading Chomsky's Imperial Ambitions recently. And in one of the interviews he gives a great quote about how George Washington was given such an unprecedented propaganda campaign after his death. Which he said could only be compared to Kim Il Sung in North Korea. The Dear Father. He said this was also part of the movement to make the United States singular instead of plural. And that this treatment of historical figures is pretty much commonplace; this was an aside on how Reagan became a cult figure. Despite majorly different feelings about him during his actual presidency. And totally different things attributed to him than what actually happened ("[Reagan] hated free markets").