The article I shared it with is this:
Fear Of Foreign Interference In U.S. Elections Dates From Nation's Founding
"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence ... the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government."
~ George Washington, September 17, 1796, Farewell Address
There's a link to his farewell address in this article that I just came across while trying to put a dent in my ignorance about America's Founding Father's take on foreign interference American affairs. It's my chosen Saturday night reading assignment, or one of them at least. I don't watch TV so stuff like this happens. Perhaps deciding to share it is a lonely American expat in Japan kinda thing to do? Lonely in the sense of Kurt Vonnegut's observation:
"if you make use of the vast fund of knowledge now available to educated persons, you are going to be lonesome as hell."
But share anyway in light of recent events in my homeland.
US Intelligence briefs congress; tells that Russia is meddling in US elections again. Trump's response was to fire the Acting Director of National Intelligence Adm. Joseph Maguire.
I read a bit about Maguire; he doesn't come off as some "never Trumper" tree hugging liberal to say the least. Likely one thing I'll remember about him is he's a freak'n badass since reading he completed Navy SEAL training with a broken leg. Damn!
It makes me wonder though... how can folks support pardoning of a SEAL accused of war crimes only to applaud (or at least turn a blind eye to) firing a SEAL because one of his aides relayed Intelligence to congress that the president didn't like? The only logical conclusion is propaganda freak'n works.
Works well!
Meanwhile many of the same trash another fellow American, a Presidential candidate who was briefed that Russia is trying to help him too, only he did something Trump has yet to do. He told Putin to go to hell. (in so many words)
Two men's very different reactions to being told a hostile foreign power is interfering in American affairs in an attempt to help them.
Two Very different reactions.
I could live as an expat till I'm 100 yet doubt I'll ever lose the "Hell yah kick ass" feeling that comes upon seeing a fellow countryman or woman tell a meddling foreign power "Don't f#@k with us!
But while I've never been shy about pointing out how she can do better, as an American expat I have and continue to proudly tell folks in the land I'm in of all the great things about my country. Maybe that's why I never did get the whole "again" bit.
Anyhow... interesting read this is.
1 comment:
I love Washington's farewell address. It was an assignment in school, one of the perks of being a history major, and in terms of writing it is lush and rich. Alexander Hamilton at his best. Foreign meddling then was different then it is now. We were a tiny nation, and almost everyone else in the room was bigger and meaner. We didn't even have a peacetime military. We were also a poor nation, having little in the way of exports besides agricultural goods, so we not only needed to keep other interfering nations at arms reach, but paradoxically we also needed to embrace them tightly for continued trade. Today teh power flows in the opposite direction, but the advice was well considered.
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