In Difficult Times Good People gravitate towards Absolute Truth
We Are Being Led By A Mad Man!
I am sorry if you got excited because you thought the Mad Man in the Subject above was President Trump and you do not like President Trump so you were glad I was calling President Trump a Mad Man but the Mad Man I am referring to is not President Trump.
The Mad Man I am referring to is General George Washington.
This Foolishness...Or Is It is about to turn into a History Lesson without much, if any, Foolishness...
General Washington probably was labeled a Mad Man by those who knew what was really happening to the American Revolution at the point in the war where he decided to Cross the Delaware River.
At that point in our War for Independence the odds were against winning the war. The odds were so against winning that any sane General Who Knew Anything About Being A Not Insane General would have given up and gone back to the farm (provided he were not hung by the neck until dead for Treason by the British)...
Ø At this point Washington was disgusted with lots of things...
>The Weather
>The Clock
>His Subordinates
>His Army
>His Government
>Himself
Ø He was also mad about lots of things...
>The Pretentious European Officers under his command who were continually trying to stab him in the back.
>Those Cautious Councils of War all around him.
>Being Ridiculed by his Enemies.
>Mostly he was mad about Losing Every Battle he had Fought.
Ø The colonies had created a Continental Army of 20,000 men on January 1, 1776.
Ø Washington had taken that army to New York City and it had gotten caught in the meat grinder called the British Army (the most professional and best trained army on the planet).
Ø It was only because of a crazy desperate plan he concocted and unexplained weather happenings (many have called it a miracle) that his army was saved from complete annihilation.
Ø He was trying to fight a war against the British Army which had written the book on Military Operations during that century.
Ø When caught in the open, without earthworks for protection, his amateur soldiers did not stand a chance.
Ø His army was best at running away from battles.
Ø His army was getting smaller due to deaths in battles and also because day after day, mile after mile, they fell back, and for every hour spent in retreat, soldiers slipped away and went back home.
Ø All of them would be going home soon because, this was late December, and on December 31st their enlistments would expire.
Ø He was about to not have an army at all.
Ø As the remaining days of his soldiers' enlistment trickled down to zero, Crazy George managed to regroup all the men under his command.
Ø With some 6,000 men under his control, he conceived an insane plan that he thought might revive the spirits of both his Army and the Nation.
Ø General Horatio Gates was second in command of the Patriot Forces and he was not near as crazy as George.
Ø Gates pointed out that Crazy George was proposing to have three widely separated bodies of men, most of whom lacked proper training, experience and discipline, cross a wide river choked with ice, and make a converging attack on a force of veteran professional soldiers.
Ø He judged this whole attack plan to be crazy suicidal.
Ø Gates was determined not to be seen as crazy as George so he reported himself sick and road off to Philadelphia.
Ø Crazy George felt he had listened to his subordinates before and that they were lacking in the determination necessary to win the war. But what did he know? He was crazy and they were not crazy.
Ø On this occasion Crazy Ole George decided he was going to listen to his Crazy Ole Self.
Ø On Christmas Eve Night Crazy George called together his officers and revealed his nutty plan.
Ø As the officers left the meeting in the early hours of Christmas Day, they found snow falling and large cakes if ice swirling in the current of the river.
Ø There was little to celebrate on that Christmas Day because there was little food but the citizens of Philadelphia had sent out a couple of wagons filled with old clothes to supplement the Army's ragged uniforms.
Ø At dark on Christmas Day the Army started crossing the river.
Ø As they headed toward the boats, freezing rain soaked them.
Ø What mad man had come up with this idea?
Ø Many were thinking why did Crazy George wait till darkness was upon them to start his boat ride because now they were stumbling around and bumping into each other trying to find and climb into the boats.
Ø Because of the darkness and confusion the entire crazy operation fell behind schedule.
Ø As the night wore on and daylight was approaching, they were all thinking that their chance of surprising the Hessians was fast slipping away.
Ø It was heavy on their minds that Crazy George was about to secure another major defeat because of his Crazy Idea.
Ø Crazy George was aware that many of his men saw him as nothing more than an aloof, fox-hunting Virginia Aristocrat.
Ø He would have felt worse if he knew that they saw him as nothing more than an aloof, fox-hunting Insane Virginia Aristocrat.
Ø After crossing they still had to march 9 miles to attack Trenton.
Since this is near the bottom, I'll give you the Bottom Line...Crazy George's Insane Plan Worked like a Charm, and on that night, Crazy Insane General George Washington took a big step toward transitioning from Nut towards becoming a Military Genius.
Would I kid u?
Smartfella
Lagniappe: Thomas Paine was not in those boats but his words published only 6 days before the General's Boat Ride were there, "THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."
Lagniappe Again: There probably were no NFL Football "Heroes" in those boats with Crazy George.
Go Back
The Mad Man I am referring to is General George Washington.
This Foolishness...Or Is It is about to turn into a History Lesson without much, if any, Foolishness...
General Washington probably was labeled a Mad Man by those who knew what was really happening to the American Revolution at the point in the war where he decided to Cross the Delaware River.
At that point in our War for Independence the odds were against winning the war. The odds were so against winning that any sane General Who Knew Anything About Being A Not Insane General would have given up and gone back to the farm (provided he were not hung by the neck until dead for Treason by the British)...
Ø At this point Washington was disgusted with lots of things...
>The Weather
>The Clock
>His Subordinates
>His Army
>His Government
>Himself
Ø He was also mad about lots of things...
>The Pretentious European Officers under his command who were continually trying to stab him in the back.
>Those Cautious Councils of War all around him.
>Being Ridiculed by his Enemies.
>Mostly he was mad about Losing Every Battle he had Fought.
Ø The colonies had created a Continental Army of 20,000 men on January 1, 1776.
Ø Washington had taken that army to New York City and it had gotten caught in the meat grinder called the British Army (the most professional and best trained army on the planet).
Ø It was only because of a crazy desperate plan he concocted and unexplained weather happenings (many have called it a miracle) that his army was saved from complete annihilation.
Ø He was trying to fight a war against the British Army which had written the book on Military Operations during that century.
Ø When caught in the open, without earthworks for protection, his amateur soldiers did not stand a chance.
Ø His army was best at running away from battles.
Ø His army was getting smaller due to deaths in battles and also because day after day, mile after mile, they fell back, and for every hour spent in retreat, soldiers slipped away and went back home.
Ø All of them would be going home soon because, this was late December, and on December 31st their enlistments would expire.
Ø He was about to not have an army at all.
Ø As the remaining days of his soldiers' enlistment trickled down to zero, Crazy George managed to regroup all the men under his command.
Ø With some 6,000 men under his control, he conceived an insane plan that he thought might revive the spirits of both his Army and the Nation.
Ø General Horatio Gates was second in command of the Patriot Forces and he was not near as crazy as George.
Ø Gates pointed out that Crazy George was proposing to have three widely separated bodies of men, most of whom lacked proper training, experience and discipline, cross a wide river choked with ice, and make a converging attack on a force of veteran professional soldiers.
Ø He judged this whole attack plan to be crazy suicidal.
Ø Gates was determined not to be seen as crazy as George so he reported himself sick and road off to Philadelphia.
Ø Crazy George felt he had listened to his subordinates before and that they were lacking in the determination necessary to win the war. But what did he know? He was crazy and they were not crazy.
Ø On this occasion Crazy Ole George decided he was going to listen to his Crazy Ole Self.
Ø On Christmas Eve Night Crazy George called together his officers and revealed his nutty plan.
Ø As the officers left the meeting in the early hours of Christmas Day, they found snow falling and large cakes if ice swirling in the current of the river.
Ø There was little to celebrate on that Christmas Day because there was little food but the citizens of Philadelphia had sent out a couple of wagons filled with old clothes to supplement the Army's ragged uniforms.
Ø At dark on Christmas Day the Army started crossing the river.
Ø As they headed toward the boats, freezing rain soaked them.
Ø What mad man had come up with this idea?
Ø Many were thinking why did Crazy George wait till darkness was upon them to start his boat ride because now they were stumbling around and bumping into each other trying to find and climb into the boats.
Ø Because of the darkness and confusion the entire crazy operation fell behind schedule.
Ø As the night wore on and daylight was approaching, they were all thinking that their chance of surprising the Hessians was fast slipping away.
Ø It was heavy on their minds that Crazy George was about to secure another major defeat because of his Crazy Idea.
Ø Crazy George was aware that many of his men saw him as nothing more than an aloof, fox-hunting Virginia Aristocrat.
Ø He would have felt worse if he knew that they saw him as nothing more than an aloof, fox-hunting Insane Virginia Aristocrat.
Ø After crossing they still had to march 9 miles to attack Trenton.
Since this is near the bottom, I'll give you the Bottom Line...Crazy George's Insane Plan Worked like a Charm, and on that night, Crazy Insane General George Washington took a big step toward transitioning from Nut towards becoming a Military Genius.
Would I kid u?
Smartfella
Lagniappe: Thomas Paine was not in those boats but his words published only 6 days before the General's Boat Ride were there, "THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated."
Lagniappe Again: There probably were no NFL Football "Heroes" in those boats with Crazy George.
Comments
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George Washington was a great man, and a wise president; starting this nation off on the perfect foot.
Remember how "Crazy George" did not back the French against the British, when we were too weak and ill prepared to do so. We would have been most wise to follow the George Washington blueprint in Viet Nam, when Ho Chi Minh and his band of Communist patriots threw the French out of Viet Nam. It would have saved the lives of nearly 59,000 young Americans; not to mention how the horror of that war wrecked so many lives of those that made it home. Yes, "Crazy George" was a wise president. |
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Thanks for the reminder. For those who difficulty with the search here is the link to Alex's article:
beaufortcountynow.com From 1776 until 1787 we basically had a Jeffersonian States Rights government (Confederation) which deteriorated into the mess that Alex describes. The distrust of a central government due to The King George III experience was so strong that we essentially had a schizophrenic government with 13 different countries. We may never get this right. My former workmate said it best when he often commented " you can run into the ditch on both sides of the road." |
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Bobby or Tony & Stan,
I know you both have committed my blogs to memory but, in case you may have forgotten this one, I am referring your to this one... Terrible! Awful! Never Been Worse!...Or is it? Published: Saturday, August 13th, 2016 @ 11:56 pm Read it slowly. It is hard to imagine how bad it really was. I'm glad they stuck with it (building our nation) and did not take a knee. Smartfella |
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Thanks Alex for a reminder of one of our great leaders.
This country was extremely lucky to have a George Washington as our first President. His above the fray leadership pointed the way before the constant bickering and outright war between Hamilton and Jefferson (ongoing even today) almost destroyed the newly formed United Colonies before they in fact became United States in reality. He knew how fragile the Union was then as it is now, and cautioned against overly partisan excesses. Excerpt from his farewell address: "I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy. The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism." |
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Today, as we learn that Bowe Bergdahl pleaded guilty to desertion while in a combat zone, after repeatedly pronounced a national hero by Barack Hussein Obama, and on multiple occasions by his right-hand-woman Susan Rice, who, stupidly, gave up 5 high level Taliban terrorists in exchange for the deserter, I am reminded just how ridiculously bad a president can be.
As President Trump struggles to clean up the unconstitutional mess of ObamaCare, the idiotic Iran Deal, and the neglect of North Korea as they work to aim their nuclear tipped missiles at America, I am encouraged that we now how a real, working president elected by real Americans, knowledgeable Americans. |
| An Evening with Nelson DeMille | Foolishness...Or Is It?, Public Perspective, Body & Soul | Not all Flashbacks are Traumatic |
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George Washington and Ben Franklin were the adults in the room when the kids were bickering over the how many angels could dance on the head of the pin. Ben Franklin knew the fatal flaw of the Constitution regarding the Steak of Slavery but his goal was a larger Union that would solve the divisions once they solidified into a true Union of States.
Thomas Jefferson was a dreamer and ideologue who "was not a profound political thinker. He was, however, an utterly brilliant political rhetorician and visionary. The genius of his rhetoric is to articulate irreconcilable human urges at a sufficiently abstract level to mask their mutual exclusiveness." (Jefferson - An American Sphinx PG 10)
Most people do not know that George Washington never spoke or corresponded with Jefferson after Jefferson left Washington's cabinet. Jefferson did all he could to undermine Washington while he was his Secretary of State as he also did as John Adams' Vice President. It is perhaps fitting that they are next to each other on Mount Rushmore where they can spend eternity not speaking to each other.
Martha Washington, had no love for Jefferson because of his undercutting measures of George Washington both during and after his presidency.
"After George died on December 14, 1799, Martha was so devastated that she couldn't bring herself to step outside for the funeral. The day she lost her husband was, understandably, the saddest of her life. However, what she considered the second most painful day she had to endure is a little more surprising: it was Thomas Jefferson's visit to Mount Vernon in 1801.
This was a terrible event because Martha disliked and disdained Jefferson, sentiments she harbored due to his involvement with political attacks on her beloved husband. As Martha later revealed to a clergyman, she considered Jefferson "one of the most detestable of mankind" and his election to the presidency "the greatest misfortune our country has ever experienced." Basically, if you messed with George, Martha didn't forgive or forget." (biography.com/news/martha-washington-biography-facts)