The Myth of George Washington

I was watching Jeopardy and saw the following clue:

In an important precedent, Washington served this many terms as president, though others wanted him to stay on

I was amused. Shows like Jeopardy contain hidden pro-State messages.

In your State brainwashing center, you learned

George Washington decided that no President should serve more than two terms. He graciously declined to seek a third term.

However, this is a lie. George Washington declined to run for a 3rd term because he knew he wouldn't get reelected! Rather than suffer the embarrassment of running and losing, he declined to seek a 3rd term.

In 1796, there were two main political factions. There was Thomas Jefferson, who believed "We should have a Federal government, but make sure it stays small." By 1796, most of the Anti-Federalists were supporting Jefferson.

There was the Adams/Hamilton faction. They believed "We like having a strong government because we like stealing! The main purpose of government is for insiders to line their pockets!"

George Washington was inbetween the Jefferson faction and the Adams/Hamilton faction. Both sides disapproved of the way Washington's government was going. Jefferson wanted a limited government and Adams wanted a Police State. Washington wasn't freedom-minded enough for Jefferson. Washington was too freedom-minded for Adams.

The election of 1796 illustrated a defect in the Constitution. The #1 electoral vote recipient was President, and the #2 candidate was Vice President. This led to the awkward situation of having Adams as President and Jefferson as Vice President, people from opposing factions.

This flaw was rapidly fixed via an Amendment, the 12th Amendment. The 12th Amendment introduced separate elections for President and Vice President. Now, it's impossible for the President and Vice President to be from two competing political parties.

President Adams got Congress to pass the Sedition Act. This made it a crime to criticize the Federal government and its policies. "Freedom of the press" rapidly went out the window. Benjamin Franklin Bache was arrested for violating the Sedition Act.

The leading Anti-Federalist and Jefferson-supporting newspaper editors were rounded up and sent to jail. This was an intellectual purge similar to the Cultural Revolution in China. Jefferson pardoned all of them when he became President, but the damage was done. Benjamin Franklin Bache died of "natural causes" while awaiting trial. The Anti-Federalist newspapers went bankrupt and folded while the owner was in jail.

There was a similar purge while Lincoln was President; he arrested newspaper editors who criticized the Civil War. Many people in the North thought that the Southern states should be allowed to secede.

Some State parasites want to make it a crime to criticize the President or the government. They are looking for a modern version of the Sedition Act, to stifle freedom of speech on the Internet.

While watching Jeopardy, I pointed out to my father "George Washington didn't seek a 3rd term because he wouldn't be reelected." My father said "That's nonsense. You shouldn't believe everything you read on the Internet." Pro-State brainwashing is very effective.

State brainwashing centers present history in a biased pro-State troll fashion. By mentioning certain facts and suppressing others, this creates bias. For "great statists", the good things they did are hyped and the bad is downplayed or omitted. Once I started learning real history, and not the pro-State troll version, history seems a lot more interesting. For example, "history of banking in the USA" is not normally taught in State brainwashing centers. It's interesting to read about how bad laws and bad Supreme Court precedents eroded the American people's freedom.

A lot of mainstream "history" is sanitized pro-State propaganda. "George Washington graciously didn't seek a 3rd term." is an example of sanitized history. It downplays the real conflict between the Adams faction and the Jefferson faction.