By David Carlin

But first, a note:

Mark this Presidents' Day by joining The Center for the Restoration of Christian Culture for an evening panel discussion (tonight at 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm) featuring prominent Catholic writers and public figures Robert Royal, Joseph Pearce, and William Fahey, moderated by veteran journalist and writer Phil Lawler. Register here.

The presentations include:

Robert Royal on "Does America make sense without God?"

Joseph Pearce on "Patriotism vs. Nationalism: What's the difference?"

and

William Fahey on "Is Patriotism an Obligation?"

Following Phil Lawler's opening remarks and the panelists' brief presentations, the session will conclude with a lively discussion and Q&A session.

Now for David Carlin's column...

In the second-to-last speech in his ill-named drama "Julius Caesar" (it should have been titled "Marcus Brutus"), Shakespeare has Mark Antony pay the now-dead Brutus this supreme and well-known compliment: "This was the noblest Roman of them all."

Apart from the incidental fact that he was an American and not a Roman, this compliment should have been reserved for George Washington. He, more than any actual Roman, conformed to the Roman ideal of the good man. He was rich, he was proud to be a farmer, he was a brave and successful general, he was a wise statesman, and he was - above all - a great patriot, loving his country more than life itself. He was the man Romans dreamed of.

Fortunately for us Americans, God postponed his appearance in the world till the 18th century.

There was a time when Americans thought of Washington as heaven-sent. They, the Americans, were God's new "chosen people," and Washington, a new Moses, was sent to lead them. In God's Providence, the United States was destined to play an important role, and how could we play that role unless God saw to it that we were provided with an extraordinary leader to make sure we had a good beginning?

If you had done a Gallup Poll of Americans in the early 19th century and asked them who was the greatest man ever to live, they would have answered, "Jesus Christ." And if you had asked who was the second-greatest, they would have answered, "George Washington."

Of course, nowadays, living as we do in more secular times (i.e., times that are far less Christian), we (by "we" I mean the more "progressive" among us) either no longer believe in God or no longer believe that God (if He happens to exist) bothers to intervene in human history. And we no longer believe that Washington was a moral giant, knowing as we do that he committed the unforgivable sin of slave-owning, which is a compounding of the prior (also unforgivable) sin of racism.

This, in theory, makes Washington morally inferior to the typical American leftist, who takes pride in being not just a non-racist but (what's far better) an anti-racist. For most of us today, history does not speak the language of God's Providence. No, the course of history is just one damned thing after another.

If God exists, however, and if He intervenes in human history (it's hard to imagine why He wouldn't), it is quite possible that Americans were "chosen" by God and quite likely that Washington was "sent" to us. After all, Washington was one of the best human beings ever to live (the Romans would agree with me on that).

And can it be mere chance, not the result of Providence, that this great man happened to be available at the exact moment when Americans most needed him? I for one, being deeply un-progressive, believe he was sent.

February is the month of the birthdays of great American presidents. Washington was born on February 22, 1732 (new style) or February 11, 1731 (old style), and Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809.

Without question, these two men are the two greatest public men that America has ever produced. It is not easy to say which was the greater. The one, more than anybody else, founded the nation; he was the "indispensable man," the "father" of his country. The other, mo...