GEORGE WASHINGTON, to his private secretary David Humphreys, on the eve of his election, in 1789:
It is said that every man has his portion of ambition. I may have mine, I suppose, as well as the rest, but if I know my own heart, my ambition would not lead me into public life; my only ambition is to do my duty in this world as well as I am capable of performing it, and to merit the good opinion of all good men.
Sheila:
You may have heard me carry on previously about generational archetypes, and how I feel a much greater affinity for Washington, John Adams, Sam Adams, etc. because they belong to the same generational archetype as you and me.
It won’t be this time, or in the next 3 Presidential elections, but eventually someone of our generation will get to be President. We probably only have one or two Presidents before the torch passes. But I have high hopes that we see the kind of statesmanship that characterized the founding fathers, and which has been so conspicuously absent among the baby boomers.
I hope that you are right. I hope.