For this week’s newsletter I take a trip back in history to the beginning of the United States of America giving you a peek into the deliberations that took place regarding the founding of our country. But before I get into today’s history lesson, lets pause while I pass along a few brief messages.
Keep spreading the word and not the virus! And the word to spread of course is we still have shares to sell!
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Don’t forget to spread the word and not the virus (never hurts to remind people).
Farm News
Still fixing things that break. Still planting in the greenhouse. That’s pretty much it though hopefully soon we can start some outdoor farming!
Today’s History Lesson
There is a reason the first President of the United States was George Washington. And there is a reason George is on the one dollar bill. And the reason is not what you think. Sure he was a smart man. Sure he could never tell a lie (not a current requirement to be President). And being born in a log cabin was never a requirement to be president. No, the real reason George Washington was the first president is that the founding fathers wanted us all to know how important washing is. Washing your hands. Washing your clothes. And especially washing your food. By electing George Washington to be the first president they knew that subconsciously we will all be more likely to wash things. Who knew? And by putting him on the one dollar bill we’d see his face and think, “Have I washed lately?” Of course they never imagined such recent innovations as the credit card or ApplePay. They realized though, that the more we wash things the more likely we are to survive and therefore the more likely the country would survive. Great forefather foresight!
Now personally I think we’ve gone a little overboard with the anti-bacterial soaps and such. But we have to remember, though those founding folks were quite smart, back in their days they didn’t know much about bacteria much less antibacteria so how were they to know the consequences on the environment of using antibacterial soap? But I’m getting away from myself.
It is said that the original second amendment to the U.S. Constitution read: “A well washed Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and use soap, shall not be infringed.” Many people do not know this. It was James Madison, who everyone knew did not typically wash his hands after using the bathroom, who changed the text and meaning of the second amendment. He felt that having Washington as the first president was more than enough to remind people of the benefits of “washing” (his air quotes, not mine) and that more government intervention into the lives of ordinary citizens was unwarranted. In fact he was so against forced government washing that he felt people needed to arm themselves to prevent the government from coming into their homes and, at gunpoint I might add, demanding people wash their hands. This is a little known fact about the second amendment. We can see today Madison’s wisdom as Dr. Anthony Fauci is only able to constantly reminds us to wash our hands and not walk into our living rooms — guns blazing — grab us by the wrists and force us into the bathroom to wash our hands. If we had the original second amendment we’d all be cowering in the corner of the basement not social distancing like we’ve been told to do by our tyrannical government. Thank you Jimmy Maddog (that’s what the other founding fathers called him) for your insight into our future!
Now I don’t know if you are a strict constitutionalist or in the “constitution is a living document” camp but many in today’s society are ruing the day Maddog got his grubby little hands on the second amendment. If not for Madison’s pen, the Trump administration would not have to enact the Defense Production Act to force us to wash our hands — it would be unconstitutional for us not to wash, at least that is what the “constitution is a living document” camp would say. Strict constitutionalists would just go out and buy more soap and soap dispensers.
My point for bringing this all up is not just as a distance learning objective for those of you in US History class, but also to those of us who are US citizens and those who would like to become US citizens: Wash your hands. Wash your produce. Wash your cutting board prior to cutting your produce. Wash, wash, wash, wash, wash. It is not just a good idea, it is your constitutional imperative!
As always, feel free to send in comments, questions, corrections, and share payments. We always love to hear from you! And if I’ve failed to mention it earlier, spread the word not the virus!