Surprising poll and more on George Washington

Poll: A majority of women are pro-life: The pro-abortion Center for the Advancement of Women probably wasn't prepared for the results of a poll it commissioned. Of the top 10 priorities cited by the 3,329 women polled, keeping abortion legal ranked dead last. In fact, just 30 percent of the women polled said abortion should be generally available. A majority of 51 percent favored restricting abortion to cases of rape, incest or a life-threatening condition (34 percent) or making abortion illegal (17 percent). The Gallup Organization confirmed these are about the same numbers its own polling turns up among American women. This recent poll establishes again that the majority of American women do not support abortion-on-demand -- as the extremist pro-abortion groups and their political allies falsely claim -- and that, in fact, a majority hold pro-life views. The political implications appear obvious: a majority of women support placing more legal restrictions on abortion, and pro-life candidates are not at a disadvantage among women voters.

-- Washington Updaten

The character of George Washington -- Part Two:In part one, author Richard Brookhiser talked about two qualities of George Washington's character, the first being persistence.

The second quality of Washington's character I want to mention is the ability to let go and knowing when to let go. This quality, in a way, contradicted Washington's persistence, and largely for that reason it is even more remarkable. It is more remarkable because it was a new thing at the time.

Nowadays, we know that in a republic, the military power serves the civilian power. We know that elected officials serve for set terms, and that if they don't win re-election, they have to go home. This is art of our life today. It is what we expect. But in George Washington's lifetime, these were new ideas. Most of the rulers in the world were kings or monarchs of some sort. Holland and the Swiss Cantons were exceptions, but all of the major countries and most of the small ones were ruled by people who ruled them for life.

Washington lived in a time when royal rule began to be shaken. During his lifetime, the King of France was deposed and executed, and other monarchs would follow that path. But the new rulers who took their places did not, generally speaking, believe in letting go. Napoleon Bonaparte was a Corsican artillery officer who became first consul of France, then first consul for life, then emperor. His career as emperor was eventually ended, but it took a world war to end it. And that pattern has been repeated over and over again around the world.

Thus, at the end of the Revolutionary War, when Washington returned his commission to Congress, it was something very new. It was similarly new when, at the end of his second presidential term, he announced that he would not run a third time. These actions touch on a paradox of republican leadership. The paradox is this: If you are a leader, there are times when you must simply take charge and be superior to the people you lead. This is most common in military situations, but it happens in peacetime as well: A leader must use his charisma or some other transrational force to get his way, and if he doesn't, things will fall apart. Every leader understands this. But a leader in a republic must also understand that those times are temporary, that their term of leadership will pass, and that they must then pass from the scene. And the reason they have to pass from the scene is that the people they are leading are in fact their equals.

Washington kept both of those thoughts in mind throughout his career, which explains a feature of his rhetoric that comes up again and again. This feature is so common in his letters and speeches that I think of it as the "turn" in his rhetoric: It occurs when Washington takes the attention and the adulation that comes to him, and turns it back to his audience. He does this to remind himself, as well as them, that he is a temporary leader of equals. We can see this in his Farewell Address, where he starts off by saying, "My friends and fellow citizens," and goes on to say that he has succeeded as president only because of the help the people gave him during his administration. We see it also in the last message that he wrote as commander in chief, where he said that the future happiness of America would depend on the people themselves -- that their government was a good government, but that its survival was up to them.

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The following is an adapted excerpt from a Southeast Missourian news article dated July 31, 1958 (45 years ago):

New furniture store to open ... Wayne Rust announced the opening of a 15,000-square-foot furniture store in the former Bartels [originally Montgomery Ward] building at 430 Broadway [now the home of Concord Printing and InstaPrint].

The store would be operated by Rust and Martin, which was established in 1933 [70 years ago]. Associated with Mr. Rust are Mrs. Eva Rust and his two sons Harry and Gary. [Time marches on.]

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Although the key shopping hub and cultural center in Southeast Missouri, Cape Girardeau is not one of the 10 largest cities in Missouri, according to figures released July 10 by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Southeast Missouri's largest cities are: Cape Girardeau, 35,665; Poplar Bluff, 16,595; and Sikeston, 16,865.

The top 10 populated cities in Missouri are Kansas City, 443,471; St. Louis, 338,353; Springfield, 151,010; Independence, 113,027; Columbia, 86,981; Lee's Summit, 74,948; St. Joseph, 73,148; St. Charles, 60,755; O'Fallon, 59,678; and St. Peters, 53,596.

Greater St. Louis (including the suburbs) is the state's largest population area with a population of over 2 million.

Gary Rust is the chairman of Rust Communications.