A Proclamation of Thanksgiving from President Washington to all the nations
A Proclamation of Thanksgiving from President Washington to all the nations
The humility of strong leadership
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Dear Readers,
I was recently surprised to learn that a third of my readers are from the US, including a quarter of my paid subscribers. My Substack is also read in all 50 US states.
What I can only take from this is the following: liberty speaks to liberty, and Americans want to know what is happening in the cauldron of tyranny, which, unfortunately, at this point in time, is Australia. While our tyranny may be ‘smaller’ it is squeezing extremely hard.
I consume quite a lot of American media, and, of course, history. Weaponisation of the Department of Justice against the J6 prisoners, FBI terrorising ‘moms at school board meetings,’ and criminal sentencing based on race are examples of unequal application of the law which is the clarion call of an empire in decline. So too is destruction of history, looting the treasury for war and politicians being compromised by foreign nations (guys, I’m not linking to the laptop).
The US government, by whatever hand, has decided on the course of empires rather than republic. It is as painful for the rest of the world to watch, and to be quite honest, experience, as it is for you.
Australia does all the above things but not because we are ‘empire’ (after all, we are still part of the British empire), but because Australia is suffering a catastrophic crisis of leadership and citizenship that can only be described as a sort of greedy, prideful, selfish, fecklessness wrapped in a bow called ‘virtue,’ conducted by people who have no idea how their lights stay on.
For an Australian example, the Mayor of a Perth suburb uses the police as a ‘compliance force’ when taxpayers (even the elderly) speak objection at local council meetings or use satire to expose socio-political hypocrisy. (Dear American readers, what would happen if your AlexStein99 showed up and did the hilarious free-speech vaccine rap? Never, ever forget the power of satire).
In Australia, and in many parts of the US, it is now normal to have leaders who believe they must be obeyed, rather than understanding they are in positions of servant-leadership. These people are using every lever of the state to bully, silence, terrify and oppress. The use of armed police to enforce compliance in a public forum are not the actions of a confident, thoughtful, humble leader, but betray a catastrophic weakness in leadership and morality.
Unfortunately, this is endemic of the ‘new Australian leadership’ style. Please recognise the signs:
Americans, I have written previously how the fate of our nations are tied – Australia hosts your most important NSA/CIA drone strike facilities in the desert for the purposes of spying and waging war. Our nations are both compromised by the Chinese Communist Party.
I often wonder about how we got here and think about the paintings of John Martin on Empire: weak men make hard times, hard times make strong men, strong men make good times, good times make weak men.
On this Thanksgiving, let us remember a good man, forged in hard times. They even tried to make him a king, but in his humility as a servant-leader he refused. Of course, no one is perfect, but we can look to history for reminders of how to behave in oppressive and revolutionary times.
Happy Thanksgiving from Australia
Yours Faithfully,
ExcessDeathsAU
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
- Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
Washington: the humility of strong leadership
Thomas Jefferson wrote of George Washington’s moral character "His integrity was pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision," Jefferson later observed. "He was, indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man."
When taking the oath of office to become president, Washington bungled his words and was more “agitated and embarrassed…than he ever was by the levelled cannon of pointed musket.”1 Despite running unopposed, a heady position for the first leader of a new nation, Washington was, above all, a gentleman farmer and soldier.
Yet, power tempted Washington in this new country, where, forged in war after decades of oppression, powers dangled in front of him that could only be described as those of a Roman Emperor.
One such instance occurred in 1783 during an army mutiny over salary when a colonel urged Washington to “take the crown” to prevent a military coup. In response, Washington countered their aggression by explaining that he had “not only grown grey but almost blind in service to my country.”2 He was 51 years old.
On October 3, 1789, President Washington declared a Proclamation from New York: the Thanksgiving Proclamation. This Proclamation is unusual that it calls out to all nations to acknowledge the “providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly implore his protection and favor.”
Although written by an American President, this Proclamation was addressed to the world. The Proclamation was that Thanksgiving was to be a day of devotion to God, for us all to unite in His service in “sincere and humble thanks.”
What is most remarkable about this Proclamation is the touching humility of this line: “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.”
Readers, you likely know that the men who signed the Declaration of Independence had their lives ruined:
Each one of the 56 signers knew that the act of signing the Declaration made them traitors to the Crown, and therefore the line in which the delegates “mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor” literally exposed these heroes to execution. By the end of the war, almost every one had lost his property; many had lost wives and families to British guns or prisons; and several died penniless, having given all to the Revolution.3
Reading these words in the Proclamation from 2023, it is Washington’s humility as a leader that catches the breath. I am reminded of Luke 9-14 (the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector)
11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Washington had been through a bloody war and most of the continent at that time was still wild and unexplored. In war, we do things of which we are ashamed that haunt our nightmares. The leaders of today, soft in their cocoons, believe they are projecting strength through oppression, but are in fact displaying their softness and stupidity by their lack of humility.
Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation:
By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.
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—and whereas both 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 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 which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war—for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed—for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled 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 hath 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 shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease 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.
Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
Republic
At Washington’s farewell address, again, full of humility, he gave the American people a warning:
“The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed…
“A republic, if you can keep it.”
– Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia Constitutional Convention, Independence Hall 1787
God Bless you readers, and may God Bless all of those who hold the torch of liberty.
Goldfield et al., American Journey, 226.
Ellis, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (New York: Vintage, 2002), 130.
Schweikart and Allen, A Patriot’s History of the United States, 15th Anniversary Edition (Sentinel, 2019), 88.
Dear readers,
A message from a new subscriber: "ExcessDeathsAU is the home of Courage. Enter absorb then go out and spread it by participating. We are at war. God Bless."
ExcessDeathsAU: The home of courage.
I like it.
Relatedly:
"ExcessDeathsAU, How often do you think about the Roman Empire?"
Every day
"ExcessDeathsAU, How often do you think about 1776?"
Every hour-half an hour
(ASIO gets excited)
Thank you, Excess. As an American subscriber I appreciate the inclusion of Washington and the spirit that initially embodied this country. I hope our future - planet wide- has the wisdom to take what is best from our collective past, as we (eventually) reimagine our future. Best to you.