The American Ship of State

5th Annual Message to Congress (December 3, 1793)
George Washington


"There is a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known that we are at all times ready for war. The documents which will be presented to you will shew the amount and kinds of arms and military stores now in our magazines and arsenals; and yet an addition even to these supplies can not with prudence be neglected, as it would leave nothing to the uncertainty of procuring warlike apparatus in the moment of public danger. "

October 28th 2009, We are a rudderless ship with the Captain tinkering with the lanyard on the Bosun's pipe and wondering about the correct reading of the map in front of him.
God bless and keep this country and it's warriors.