Washington's Thanksgiving speech

In honor of Thanksgiving, I've decided to post here the very first Thanksgiving proclamation by our First President, George Washington. He wanted to create a Holiday where we give thanks to the Lord for helping us create this great nation.

Note that he does not mention anything about Pilgrims and Indians.

WHEREAS, It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor;

WHEREAS, Both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted' for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

--George Washington - October 3, 1789

To learn the true story of the first Thanksgiving, click here.

FDRs Second Bill of Rights

FDR was irritated with the Supreme Court for finding some of his programs unconstitutional, so he threatened to stack the Supreme court with liberal judges and he threatened a 2nd Bill of rights. He hated the separation of powers. He wanted to be a totolitarian dictator and force socialism on the nation in the name of social justice.

He did not like the Supreme Court overruling ideas and programs he decided should be enacted for our own good. And therefore he opted to change the Constitution itself.

Thankfully he failed at both efforts. If he would have succeeded, he would have had king-like powers, and he would have made the U.S. a socialistic nation.

Here is FDRs 2nd Bill of Rights:

1. The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation.
2. The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation
3. The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living
4. The right of every business man large and small to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home and abroad
5. The right of every family to a decent home
6. The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health
7. The right to adequate protection from economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployemnt
8. The right to a good education

These are not rights. These are attempts to create socialism. These are attempts to create the progressive ideal world, the same ideal world Stalin, Mussoline and Hitler tried to create and failed.

It was socialism in disguise.

Presidential candidates used to be humble

A trivia question: What would happen if a person who would have been one of the most qualified presidents hated the idea of campaigning?

Answer: he would not become president.

I good example of this came in 1996, when Colon Powel decided he did not want his humble throat slashed by the media. Another example is Fred Thompson's lackadaisical 2008 bid for the presidency.

When asked about his paltry campaign, Thompson said, "If people really want in their president a super type-A personality, someone who has gotten up every morning and gone to bed every night thinking for years about how they could achieve the presidency of the United States, someone who could look you straight in the eye and say they enjoy every minute of campaigning -- I aint that guy."

The charge against Thompson, according to Andrew Ferguson of the Weekly Standard, was that "he didn't get out enough on the campaign trail, and, when he did, he didn't hold enough events."

So, did you know, that presidential presidential presidents did not campaign until very recently.

George Washington did not campaign. He was nominated because he was a superior General. The same can be said of every other General who ran for president up to Dwight David Eisenhower.

Despite the history books portraying Teddy Roosevelt as kissing baby's at train stations, Teddy hardly left the train station of his home town. In fact, up until the recent run of presidential candidates, presidential candidates did not leave their home towns.

How is that for a cool fact. Historically speaking, the first candidate to get off the couch and spread the word of his "paper thin" record of William Henry Harrison when he showed up in Columbus, Ohio, to give a speech in 1840.

Of course we all know his presidency lasted way less than a year as he died of pneumonia.

For the most part, according to Ferguson, until the late 1970s, presidential "candidates stayed home, receiving visitors and maintaining a quiet dignity while occasionally uncorking a speech in the neighborhood so the newspapers had something to report. Meanwhile, surrogates scattered around the country, leading parades, holding rallies, and telling lies for which the candidates themselves couldn't be held responsible."

There were a few exceptions to this rule, like in 1948 when Harry S. Truman was so far behind in the polls that "he could risk looking desperate and undignified." In that year, he left his home town on a major barnstorming mission. He beat Dewey in a very tight race.

Why were traditional candidates so restrained? Well, there was no way to travel for one thing. But even after cars were invented, candidates still maintained "restraint." Ferguson writes that the reason for this campaigning restraint "wasn't arrogance and sanctimoniousness."

In fact, there was a basic theme of presidential candidates going all the way back to George Washington, who not only did not seek public office, he stepped down voluntarily. The theme was this:

By not seeming overeager -- no matter how eager they were -- candidates paid tribute to the democratic idea that political power is best sought, taken on, and used reluctantly."

Al Gore spent his entire life pursuing the presidency. So too did John F. Kerry. I'm certain that George W. Bush started dreaming of it the day he quit drinking. And John McCain decided to run the moment he became Senator, as becoming president is probably the long term dream of most Senators.

Obama decided he was not going to run for president before he decided to run. Actually, I think Obama was the grassroots leader of a movement, as he was chosen by this movement to run for president, as opposed to deciding on his own. I remember two years ago a friend of mine saying he'd vote for Obama, when Obama was just elected to the Senate.

I would never make a good candidate. I might make a good one (yeah right), but I certainly wouldn't want to poke my head out every door smiling brightly when it would just be a superficial smile indeed. I hate the idea of being fake.

Sure I have a sense of humor and I smile on occasion, but nobody smiles all day long like Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama and John McCain. I'm tired of seeing them smile. I'd rather see a leader on the campaign trail. Where's our version of Abraham Lincoln. He was a tall, skinny, ugly man who became the first republican president. He was a true, great president.

Yet, Abraham Lincoln would not qualify as president by 2008 standards, where it's more important to be fake than real.

Okay, so I better stop there. Did you know, that Abraham Lincoln was traveling by train to make some speeches to which his "surrogates" were to listen and travel the state for him. And of which the media was going to listen to and write articles of in the media to spread the word of this candidate.

As he stopped at one of the train stations, a little girl was there. Lincoln stopped to talk with this little girl. The little girl said, "Mr. Lincoln, I think you should grow a beard. If you grow a beard, I think you will win the election."

Yep, Mr. Lincoln, cover up that ugly face. Of course we all know that not only did Lincoln get elected, he became the 2nd best president ever, according to most polls. But who cares about the polls: Abraham Lincoln was the 2nd best president ever, second only to the first president ever.

I have written about this before (click here) that we may never have a great General as president ever again because of the head chopping by the media, the constant demand for fake smiles, and the never ending traveling.

So, there you have it. Before the trash talking, enemy stomping, negative ads, head chopping, name calling, world traveling, baby kissing, lying, word twisting, flip-flopping, denying, great looking, fake smiling of today's political candidates, there were humble people running for president.

And if the candidate wasn't humble, then he portrayed himself as a log cabin candidate, as even William Henry Harrison did, even though he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

That, my political friends, is the political history of the day.