Washington’s Greatness

A Meditation on Self-Restraint

Why do we revere George Washington? Every year we celebrate his birthday but the stories we tell about him — he had wooden teeth, he could not tell a lie, he threw a dollar across the Potomac — do not articulate what, exactly, makes him great. Why does Washington deserve to stand with Lincoln, or even before Lincoln, in our esteem? I am reminded of the ancient Romans who so loved ritual that…