Quotes from John P. Avlon

Godwin's law states that the longer any online debate goes on, the likelier it is that someone will play the Nazi card. It's the rhetorical equivalent of going nuclear and stupid at the same time.

But the demagogues and regional divisions that troubled Washington still afflicted the nation with 'ill-founded jealousies and false alarms,' spreading the flames of faction under the cover of pretend patriotism, fueled by a fundamental misreading of the Constitution.

In the eternal balance between individual rights and community obligations, Washington believed that there were times that the national interest trumped individual self-interest.

Experience has taught us that men will not adopt and carry into execution measures the best calculated for their own good without the intervention of a coercive power.' A strong central government led by an effective executive was needed, as Washington had warned.

By reading the text out loud to an affectionate audience, Hamilton was applying the old speechwriter's trick of writing for the ear as well as the eye, despite the fact that he knew the speech would be printed in a newspaper and not spoken. He was writing for a larger audience: posterity rather than simply this president.

Foreign influence in domestic politics could be deadly to any democracy.

A strong sense of citizenship--a new concept in a new nation--was essential to securing the Union. And when he used the word American in this section of the manuscript, he underlined the term twice for emphasis.

In Washington's view, we must transcend our tribalism to survive.

This pep talk was sometimes combined with a rueful reminder to himself about the loneliness of ethical leadership: 'the post of honor is a private station.

The backstory of the back-and-forth during composition [...] makes it clear that Washington's insistence on elevating public education was based on a deep and urgent insight: that democracies' success depended on an educated and enlightened population.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influences... 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.

Ultimately, the overarching prescription from President Eisenhower was similar to what Washington had counseled as the ultimate check and balance: vigorous citizenship. In a democracy, political father figures are never the last sources of responsibility. 'Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry,' Ike advised, 'can compel the proper meshing of the huge industry and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Eisenhower also sounded the clarion call for generational responsibility: 'As we peer into society's future, we--you and I, and our government--must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come.

GW: 'Vigilant citizens are required to keep parties focused on serving the people rather than the unprincipled pursuit of power that divides in order to conquer

History is a story we learn, add on our own chapter, and then pass to the next generation.

The heirs of Jefferson and Madison would be the Democratic-Republicans, the heirs of Hamilton and Adams would be the Federalists. But the heirs of Washington would be all Americans.