George Washington & The Red Pill

A description of George Washington’s transformation from gentleman planter to Revolutionary Patriarch of a Nation, as a real-life template for Neo  –  motion picture protagonist of The Matrix  –  a character likewise awakening to a seminal role as a Revolutionary Agent of Liberty after swallowing a Red Pill.

As a youth, young man and then ambitious Virginian gentleman planter George Washington sipped the sweetness of partaking – despite the Vine of Tyranny sending out evermore encompassing & invasive tendrils to imperceptibly envelop the unfettered Trellis of Liberty that Virginians had constructed for themselves.

In retrospect, it was an idyllic state  –  so like the intended manner of living Providence had provided for men, as to be almost…dream-like.

Then, as Liberty began to recede under the weight of Tyranny, clutched by tendrils of taxation, legal bindings & the exertions of Monarchical Force upon People of the Colonies  –  up to and including the shedding of blood  –  a maturing Washington began to awaken through circumstance & the shared counsel of contemporaries to his part in casting off Tyranny, to restore & secure the blessings of Liberty for the budding Nation and its Posterity.

Thus, reluctantly, did Washington come to find himself over the course of events in the dire, dark & despairing Winter of 1776, huddling with men in the field, in some of the worst winter snow and bitter cold yet on record for the Nation  –  absent sufficient rations, medicine, supplies, arms, treasure, comfort or numbers clinging tenuously to the shore of Hope, along the frozen western bank of the ice caked Delaware River.

Celebrated Patriot Thomas Paine had followed these American Revolutionaries across their New Jersey retreat, famously writing:

“These are the times that try men’s souls…”  1

Reeling from discouraging defeats, with the sour tastes of retreat & even acidulous treason sharp on his tongue, while the Continental Congress bickered over particulars, as the remnants of the Continental Army withered by the hour in the depths of privation, with enlistments about to run out, and with American Liberty itself hanging in the precarious balance, an impulse began to emerge from deep within Washington’s breast. In the lonely hours of the Commander in Chief’s greatest need, a primordial compulsion, innate & unyielding  –  unbidden yet familiar and Universal to All Men  –  the intrinsic Impulse to Freedom, arose to compel him to action.

Against all convention, against all odds & even against much sober counsel, Washington would act.

With Washington in the vanguard, the Revolutionaries crossed the Delaware on Christmas Night in daunting, frightful conditions, to crush the Monarch’s Hessian mercenaries garrisoned at Trenton the next morning.

A thousand enemy were killed, casualties or captured.

Full consummation of Washington’s Impulse was near at hand and the Light of Liberty once again began to flicker a little more brightly over the land. He grew anxious to extend the moment’s initiative to full advantage.

The day before New Year’s Eve, he again crossed the Delaware from the west  –  in even more desperate conditions  –  issuing a proclamation at Trenton that the American Army had returned & calling on the whole of the People to rise up against the Enemy and drive them from the land.

So it was on January 3rd, 1777, 1,500 Continentals met a proportionate number of the Enemy at Princeton.

The fighting became general as the Monarch’s minions fought with the resolve of battle hardened troops.

At a critical moment an American Brigadier was mortally wounded and his command  –  despite reinforcement from militia  –  wavered and fell back.

If Liberty were not to be extinguished in America,

there must appear someone now  –  right now  –  to redeem Her.

Anyone who believes the Affairs of Mankind do not hinge upon the Greatness of Men has not long considered the achievement of George Washington.

On white horse Washington galloped forward at the head of most of his men.

The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union describes what passed next:

“…Amidst the flying musket balls Washington coolly assured his soldiers, “Parade with us my brave fellows! There is but a handful of the enemy and we shall have them directly!” Washington then proceeded to lead the militiamen forward to the front. He at one point was only 30 yards from the British line – easy musket range…one of Washington’s officers reportedly pulled his hat over his eyes, expecting to see the General shot from the saddle at any moment. Despite his proximity, Washington remained uninjured and his galvanizing presence stabilized the American line at a critical moment in the battle. Soon Washington, along with fresh reinforcements, were chasing the remnants of the enemy’s broken force through the fields and woods.” 2

Washington biographer Harrison Clark described it thus:

“…Washington himself came up with the greater part of his men. Charging ahead on his horse he rallied the Americans, telling them to hold their fire. The enemy shot first and there was a great cloud of smoke around the general. One aide put his hands over his eyes, afraid to see the commander in chief fall. Then Washington called the order to charge and fire and the British lines broke. Washington and his cavalry pursued them, while others chased the enemy as far as four miles on foot.” 3

Charging to the front, perhaps intuitively perhaps consciously, in realization of the moment of sacred conviction  –  the crucible test when a man girds up his loins to throw into the balance everything he ever had or can have, including every sinew & fiber of his being at the cost of even his very life  –  in the close press of duty renouncing without qualm or compunction, that sweetness of partaking in family, friends, in fine even Liberty itself, Washington committed himself resolutely to the course. This decisive instant was Washington’s point of no return, his swallowed Red Pill  –  the selfless moment of his perfection as a man, as a Patriot, as a Leader  –  the moment of his sublime, solemn consummation.  From this point forward there would be no looking back.

George Washington was all in.

Soon enough, the Creator’s Gift of Liberty to All People had been secured again for a time in America and in that reality, lay Hope for All the World.

Later after the dust of battle and travail of years & precedent in consolidating a government Of the People, By the People and For the People had long settled in the new United States, a matured and reflective Washington gave us his final, priceless gift. Solicitous as ever for the welfare of Fellow Citizens and for Their Posterity, Washington favored us with his hard won wisdom & paternal counsel in his timeless “Farewell Address To The People of The United States.” 4  It stands alongside the Constitution & the Declaration of Independence forming the Seminal Trinity of American Political Letters.

WE IGNORE ITS SAGE DICTUMS AT OUR ETERNAL PERIL.

Trajectory of awakening consummated, Citizen Washington passed from this earthly realm in 1799, the Venerated Father of a Grateful Nation & the Protector of Christ’s Liberty in America, taking his place among the Immortal Champions of the Pantheon of Freedom.

Citizens, should we each in turn, fulfill the restored Promise of Liberty in our own trajectories, Freedom shall ever beam upon this Earth.

©DEACON. All rights reserved.

SOURCES:

1. Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, December 23, 1776.
2. Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association of the Union, 10 Facts about the    Battle of Princeton, 2016.
3. E. Harrison Clark, All Cloudless Glory: The Life of George Washington, Vol. I, pages 307-308, 1996.
4. George Washington, Farewell Address To The People of The United States.  Original Manuscript, New York Public Library, Manhattan, Schwarzman Building, Manuscripts & Archives Division, Fifth Ave. at 42nd Street, Third Floor Room 328, New York, NY 10018. Tel. 212 930 0801.

RELATED ARTICLE: Battle of Princeton: “Washington advanced so near the enemy’s lines that his horse refused to go further” – American Minute with Bill Federer

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