George Washington was a member of the Constitutional Convention, the incredible group of men who forged one of the world's seminal documents on personal liberty and freedoms*. He valued both freedom and truth. Freedom of the press was granted in the First Amendment to guarantee the public would get access to the truth, often buried in white towers or secretive institutions of power. When those entrusted with this freedom abuse and neglect it, all citizens lose. Freedom loses. Liberty loses. Society loses. Humanity loses.
*The men at the Constitutional Convention were not perfect. In fact they were imperfect on many levels, just like every human being. Their articulated ideas of 'all men', their decision to kick the can of slavery down the road for consensus in forming 'a more perfect union' (interesting the wisdom in not stating 'the' perfect union), and other 'inequities' debated and recast in the light of agenda-laden revisionist historians, make it clear the American Constitution and the subsequent Bill of Rights are not perfect documents. Yet, for that time and for this time, they remain keystone documents in discussing and providing the foundation for human liberties and freedoms.
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