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George Washington’s Farewell Address-Sage Advice

February 22, 2013 By 1 Comment
George Washington

George Washington

by George Washington

Friends and Citizens:

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both…. [Read more...]

Filed Under: American Founding, American Republic, George Washington February 22, 2013

Our First Ex-President

February 22, 2013 By 3 Comments

by Steve Klugewiczpresident

As Pope Benedict XVI nears his retirement at the end of this month, questions abound as to how the Vatican—and the Roman Catholic world—will deal with the first living, former pope in more than seven hundred years. What will be done with his papal seal? (It is usually destroyed after a pope’s death.) How will he be addressed? (Aides have disagreed, one saying he will return to being known as “Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,” whereas another says he will still be called “His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI). More broadly, what influence will the former pope exert on his successor and the Church herself? Benedict has stated his intention to live a secluded life of prayer, “hidden from the world,” in another building on Vatican grounds. Still, how the Church hierarchy and individual Catholics respond to the fact of an ex-pope remains to be seen. [Read more...]

Filed Under: American Founding, American Republic, George Washington, Steve Klugewicz February 22, 2013

The Platonic Imagery of Mumford & Sons

February 22, 2013 By 4 Comments

by Gary L. Gregg IIPlatonic Imagery

I am not someone who should ever review music, my tastes being without pattern when they exist at all. But, my students and an old friend have recently introduced me to a very intriguing band who released their second album to great fanfare in late 2012. Mumford & Sons, a quartet from west London who play a version of American folk rock music, have travelled the U.S. in their “Gentlemen of the Road” tour. Last evening a friend who has gone to their concerts described them to me as full of “20-somethings who love the music and 40-60 year olds who are there pondering the deep meaning of the lyrics.” Since I am in the latter age category, I’ve got a few thoughts about some of their lyrics which I find full of Platonic imagery and deep meaning.

This week the students in my political leadership course at the University of Louisville and I discussed Plato’s famous Allegory of the Cave and, though I don’t assume to know what the song writer meant, the parallels between the Mumford & Sons song The Cave, and the Platonic story are impossible to miss. (As are illusions to Homer and other ancient texts, but I won’t confuse things too much today).

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Filed Under: Art, Books, Gary Gregg, Music, Plato February 22, 2013

George Washington: Indispensable Man-Featured Book

February 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Washington-The Indispensable Manwashington

In honor of the anniversary of George Washington’s birth The Imaginative Conservative recommends this dramatic and concise single volume distillation of James Thomas Flexner’s definitive four volume biography of George Washington. Flexner received a Pulitzer Prize citation for the four volume work. Books on George Washington may be found in The Imaginative Conservative Bookstore. (In the American Founding category see The Presidency of George Washington and George Washington: Collected Writings. Find essays related to George Washington here.) [Read more...]

Filed Under: American Founding, American Republic, Books, George Washington, TIC Featured Book Tagged With: , February 22, 2013