Snarky GeorgeGeorge Is Disappointed.George Washington
Has Returned.
He Has Notes.
A weekly accounting of the Republic’s condition, written by its most disappointed founder.
Begin with the inaugural issue of The Scandal Sheet.
“History has an irritating habit of sending the same lesson with different stationery.”
— Snarky GeorgeAllow me to explain before the Republic suffers further confusion.
Many readers assume this project is about politics. It is, in fact, about citizenship.
History
Not the varnished sort. The Revolution as it happened and the founders as they were — vain, brilliant, frequently wrong. Including the parts that do me no credit.
Humor
Elegant, and delivered slowly. Reality supplies most of the joke.
Common Sense
What your rights actually are, who is presently testing them, and why the answer is rarely the man you have been told to watch.
Meet the real George. No pedestals. Primary sources included. →
From George’s Desk
The matters that require our attention.
You will forgive the intrusion.
I had intended to remain where I was put.
I have no candidate. I have no party. I am not interested in whether you consider yourself of the left hand or the right. I am interested in whether you can name the rights you hold, whether you would notice their absence, and whether you can tell the difference between a government and a performance.
Read a passage from the inaugural issue
In Which a Performance Is Mistaken for a Government
There is a distinction, once thought elementary, between governing and being seen to govern. The first is difficult, unglamorous, and largely invisible. The second requires a camera and an absence of shame.
You have developed a considerable talent for rewarding the second and then complaining about the scarcity of the first. You express surprise at this arrangement, as though it had befallen you rather than been assembled by you, weekly, out of your own attention.
Attention is a currency. You spend it freely. The men and women you complain of are wealthy in nothing else.
An excerpt from the inaugural issue. Original Snarky George commentary, not a historical quotation.
Required Reading
For concerned citizens.
The Farewell Address
My final counsel to the country, quoted extensively and followed selectively.
Read the address · Senate PDFThe Declaration
The one you know. Chiefly because of the fireworks.
Read the DeclarationThe Constitution
The framework of government. Worth consulting before the next argument.
Read the ConstitutionThe Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments. A useful beginning for anyone who intends to speak of liberty.
Read the Bill of RightsThe constitutional story did not end in 1791.
Read the later amendments, XI–XXVIIExplore the Library
Six collections in preparation. Explore the directory and available reading.
Arguments are being sharpened.
A moderated forum is planned. The doors are not open yet; news will appear in the Dispatch.
Get Updates via the DispatchPut it in writing.
Send a question, source, correction, or reader submission.
Send Your CorrespondenceJoin The Dispatch List
The Scandal Sheet arrives each Thursday. Free.
- The Weekly Scandal Sheet
- Constitutional Corner
- Founder’s Notes
- George’s Approval Rating
Counsel worth revisiting.
The Farewell Address,
Annotated by a Very Tired George Washington
My final counsel to the Republic, issued in 1796 and quoted more often than followed. I have returned to annotate it myself, with the benefit of two centuries in which too many of its warnings return on schedule.
Includes George’s Homework — further reading for those who want it, and a quiet rebuke to those who do not.
Digital edition in preparationAvailability will be announced in The Scandal Sheet.