-By Warner Todd Huston
I don’t celebrate “President’s Day.” I celebrate the presidents individually, not the whole gaggle of them at once. But I most certainly don’t celebrate George Washington, the father of our country, as just another president. These days, George Washington has been relegated to that “truth telling guy” to be seen on the one dollar bill and on TV commercials at the end of February or that guy lumped in with Lincoln on “President’s Day.” And that is a shame, indeed, for, without George Washington, our presidency and nation might have had a far different attitude.
But, what made Washington such a giant for our times as well as his? For one thing, he knew how to act in public.
Back in the 1700’s
In the year 1759 a man named William Robertson wrote a book called The History of Emperor Charles V, a book some claim was the standard after which modern historical study and writing has come to be patterned. Mr. Robertson, who became Principle of the University of Edinburgh in later years, introduced a salient point into the era of the Scottish Enlightenment. That idea was that “Politeness” in society would result in becoming a civilized nation. And it was a politeness perpetuated and spread through capitalism that was the best avenue to achieving that civilized level.
He wrote “In proportion as commerce made its way into the different countries of Europe they successively … adopted those manners, which occupy and distinguish polished nations.” So, as the theory goes, man by his very nature craves material possession and property. To get that property he must work for it with his best skills. To make use of these skills he must rely on neighbors to get supplies to employ such skills as well as to become customers for his skills. This leads man to act in a solicitous manner of his neighbors so that they will be disposed to employ him and his abilities. This “politeness” employed by the individual inculcates the action in society at large which, in turn, enlarges that field of involved persons to counties and then the country in general, neighboring countries and, ultimately, the world and the governments they create.
Continue reading “
Where Have you Gone George Washington?”
My recent flap with the extreme leftists in the comics community brought home once again the simple fact that liberals don’t understand the definitions of words, cannot think logically, and don’t have the tiniest ability to understand complex concepts. Despite their mental incapacities, though, they are sure they are smarter, more civilized, and more tolerant than those they hate and all this they assume while they name-call everyone that disagrees with them. To top it all off there is a surfeit of self-esteem, no doubt instilled in them boy our liberal, and failed, public school system.
There was an earlier attempt to do this, but here it is again. Senators Dale A. Righter (R, Matoon) and Chris Lauzen (R, Aurora) have introduced the 
When you are asked what is the “worst car of all time,” what first runs through your head? The Le Car, the Corvair, maybe the Edsel? Cars that had horrible sales records, bad safety or engineering records or were just all around failures? Aren’t these the sort of cars that first runs through your head? Doesn’t worst equal failure or unsafe?
The 
Well I’ve now written six — this makes seven — articles criticizing certain failures of the Tea Party movement thus far. They are all meant to be constructive criticisms, though, not dismissive nor derogatory of them. It’s measured introspection I employ in each of these articles. No name calling, no laughing, no hate. There is just no logical way to construe what I’ve written thus far as hate against the Tea Party movement. But this whole Tea Party thing reveals several things to me. First of all it shows that there is still a lot of passion for them and that is a very good thing. I want the Tea Party groups to succeed and I want them to become a force that can teach the GOP a lesson. The other main thing it shows me is that too many people can’t read for comprehension these days.
Marvel Comic’s Captain America is the mightiest soldier with the super powerful secret soldier formula that makes him a super man. Sadly, this muscle bound hero that took on the whole Nazi army during WWII seems to be afraid of those American people who’ve joined the Tea Party movement. Not only is Cappy quaking in his little red booties, but he’s sure that the Tea Party folks are dangerous racists, too.
A federal immigration judge in Tennessee has awarded political asylum to a German couple who were threatened by the German government with having their children forcibly removed from their home because the couple chose homeschooling instead of sending them to state approved schools.
Pollster Frank Luntz is trying to hawk his new poll on gun laws commissioned by the left-wing group Mayors Against Illegal Guns. He’s trying to sell the concept that NRA members are just as interested in “common-sense gun policies” as anti-gun nuts and that legislators should take this into account when crafting future anti-gun legislation. The problem is that this poll is misleading in some important ways. The problem here is that the devil being in the details is glossed over by the poll. (Download .pdf of poll 
Louisiana State Senator 
Neil Cavuto of Fox News had a visit with former Vice President Dan Qualyle on Jan 13. Ostensibly the interview was about the earthquake in Haiti and the efforts that Quayle was saying needed to be made for the victims there, but Cavuto also asked the former veep about his feelings about the Tea Party movement. Quayle’s reply was revealing in that he proved that he really didn’t know how to think about the Tea Partiers. I think that Quayle is in exactly the same confused state that most of the old guard GOP is. They just don’t get it.
As if there were ever any doubts, the unions bosses that descended upon the White House earlier in the week appear to have