The Daily Hatch

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George Washington’s Farewell Address

I am hoping to go see UCA boys basketball team play this Saturday. I sat with them on a plane from Dallas to Little Rock this morning. I asked how they did in their game and they said not too good. Coach Williamson was wearing sweats and I told him that it may have helped if he got on the floor. He said that would have felt good.

In the next few days I will post portions of the speech (which really was just a newspaper article) but since it is so long I will put an outline of the speech that is provided by David Barton of Wallbuilders.

1. Spirit of Party.
   1. Parties are “potent engines” that men will use to take over the “reins of government.”
   2. Washington warns against parties’ “baneful effects”:
      1. leads to the absolute power of an individual
      2. “discourage and restrain” the spirit of party
      3. leads to “jealousies and false alarms”
      4. “animosity of one part against another”
      5. can lead to “riot and insurrection”
      6. opens “door to foreign influence and corruption”
      7. “it is a spirit not to be encouraged.”
2. Spirit of Encroachment.
   1. Leads to “a real despotism.”
   2. There is a necessity of “reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power.”
   3. If a problem arises, correct it by an amendment, not by “usurpation.”

Little known fact about George Washington:

As a young man, Washington was confronted by death many times. He suffered and survived dreadful diseases like malaria, smallpox, pleurisy and dysentery. He nearly drowned when he accidentally fell of the raft into the icy river while returning from an expedition to the French Fort le Boeuf. In 1775, bullets grazed his coat, but he was unhurt.