Dear Patriots:

Dear Patriots:

William Grant Burmer

As we approach a New Year I find that I cannot rest without expressing how blessed we should all feel to be able to call ourselves Americans . . . still.

If I may be so bold, America stands upon the brink of total annihilation of all our God Given Liberties. Sadly there exists a systematic destruction taking place right under our noses of all the principles which have, in the past made us a great nation and a blessed people. We are allowing a minority in congress and a majority in the Senate and the Chief Executive to assist in this effort. They must be stopped or America risks becoming not unlike any other dictatorial power in the world.

The Solutions to our problem are simple, we must make our representatives at all levels of government adhere to Constitutional principles of small government, and the Ten Commandments.

When George Washington was elected our first President and after being administered the Oath of Office, with his hand still upon the Bible he added "so help me God." William Livingston, Chancellor of New York who administered the oath shouted "Long live George Washington, President of the United States!" and the People responded "God Bless our President!"

There after Washington read his inaugural address within the Senate Chambers of Federal Hall. At that time the people were denied hearing his address in a public forum but were later made privy to the written word.

The new President had but one specific suggestion for the first congress and that was his undeviating faith in God and the imperative need for national reliance on goodness and truth. A clear plea was given to carefully avoid every alteration of the Constitution that the rights of the People might be secured.

Later Washington was heard to express his nagging feelings of inadequacy to his calling, and had but one solid foundation on which to stand: Said He "The Constitution of the United States, and the laws made under it, must mark the line of my official conduct." He thus set a precedent for his successors, but also a not so subtle mandate for all elected officials to adhere to.

Another concern of the President was that of arguments, or squabbles between the Federalist and Republican Parties. He feared the opposing philosophies of political ideology and its destructive influences upon those affiliated with them. It would in his opinion lead to a "frightful despotism." Washington then emphasized the need for morality in government.

A familiar ring or deafening tone might be affecting your senses as you have read thus far. Two months after Washington published his farewell address, standing before Congress he said: "I cannot omit the occasion to congratulate you and my country on the success of the experiment," nor to repeat my fervent supplications to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and Sovereign Arbiter of nations that his Providential care may still be extended to the United Sates, that the virtue and happiness of the people may be preserved, and that the government which they have instituted for the protection of their liberties may be perpetual."

He worried over continuing partisan dependent attitudes of many of Americas citizens who aligned themselves with foreign powers or English politics. he Said "if our citizens . . . instead of being Frenchmen or Englishmen . . . would be Americans, America could prosper even in the face of confrontations with France and Continuing tensions with England."

Washington died December 14, 1799 at age 67 at his home in Mt Vernon. Virginia Governor Henry Lee uttered the most lasting tribute ever given at the time: "First in war, first in peace, and first n the hearts of his countrymen."

Thomas Jefferson later wrote of Washington saying: "The soundness of his judgment gave him correct views of the rights of man, and his severe justice devoted him to them. He has often declared to me that he considered our new Constitution as an experiment on the practicability of republican government, and with what dose of liberty man could be trusted for his own good; that he was determined the experiment should have a fair trial, and would lose the last drop of his blood in support of it." Jefferson went on to say "I felt on his death, with my countrymen, that verily a great man hath fallen this day in Israel."

I long for the day that we can return to a time when we have a President whose faith rests with God, a Senate and a Congress composed of a mighty majority who love America, its' founders and traditions. Those who would be devoted to preserving American liberty and the Constitution---before self.

All of my quotes have come from the book The Real George Washington Volume 3 National Center for Constitutional Studies.