Op-Ed: Reflections On Presidents Day 2026
by Timothy Heffelbower, WashCo Dems Communications Committee Member
Stephen M. R. Covey, son of the renowned author Stephen Covey, who wrote “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” followed in his father’s footsteps as a writer. The book he is best known for is “The Speed of Trust,” which talks through how high trust organizations outperform low trust organizations due to the fact that trust is the main producer of speed in organizational functions, and lack of trust becomes the tax that wastes efficiency as everything has to be slowed down. Covey argues that trust, more than any other factor, drives speed in a business world. When you trust Janet in finance, you know the numbers are good without having to have a third party look them over. Trust is also an essential element to making it through the rough patches and the intense challenges that will befall any organization.
Covey argues that trust is tangible. It is derived from competence and character working in tandem. And as we look back on 250 years of this experiment called “America,” and especially on President’s Day, I think back on two leaders of the free world who navigated tenuous, difficult, and uncharted territory through “trust.” And it would behoove me to mention that current trust in the Federal Government to do what is right or act in society’s best interest is around 33% according to Gallup Polls. Pew Research Center has that number closer to 17%. To be frank, America has not had this level of distrust in the Federal Government since after Watergate. Do you think that lack of trust is fueling the growing partisan divide? How do you think it has been influenced by the growing economic divide? And what kind of leadership will it take to turn this all around?
First, I want to look back. General George Washington, appointed by the Continental Congress back in 1775, accepted the position as the leader of the Continental Army – but Washington did so with reluctance. He refused to be paid a salary for commanding the army. He did not posture for the position when it came time for nominations. In fact, this was the first example of many where the reluctant leader began a journey that would end etched into history.
When the constitution was ratified, a President became necessary. Again, as a more elder statesman, Washington was nominated. And again, with a quiet dignity and a sacrificial reluctance, he accepted the nomination. He would be voted into office unanimously.
Washington was very careful in office, knowing full well that whatever precedent he set would become the accepted standard as long as this experiment would endure. As he navigated the various ins and outs of running a country, he religiously reflected on how his actions would be interpreted for future generations. From collecting taxes, dealing with rebellions, creating various systems of government on the fly, and leading a very fragile and new nation through birth and the critical first steps, Washington remained resolute, predictable, and constantly obsessed with the precedent he was setting. When he literally walked away from the presidency and refused to run for a third term, an agreement was formed in principle that no president would run for a third term. And no president did, until FDR finally broke precedent during the Great Depression. And not long after that, it was ratified into the constitution that we will never again have a three term president. We have Washington specifically to thank for that. Years later, a grateful nation would honor this giant of a man by naming our capital city after him, building a monument in his honor, and of course there were many other tokens of appreciation. After all, Washington was a man who married competence and character.
Lincoln, by virtue of his election, inherited a house divided. When he won the presidency without carrying a single southern state, the South immediately seceded from the Union. They knew at this point that they would be properly taxed, but not properly represented in government. It would take a humble plains lawyer from Illinois to carry a raging nation through armed conflict with their brothers over the rights of all men. And each decision by Lincoln was thoroughly thought out, measured, weighed, and set. As anyone can see from the portraits between his first inauguration and his second, he wore the stress and the struggle within his own bones, his heart breaking for a nation that was falling apart. He begged for a commander who could wage a war of attrition, hoping that by inflicting the heaviest of casualties over a short period of time, he could save the lives that would end up being lost to a longer and stronger engagement. When it comes to Civil War, there is no right answer. But Lincoln carried himself with a grace and a hope for a better tomorrow that steadily led the nation through the darkest of our days. And although certainly not perfect, Lincoln was also a man of competence and character, who became, as many saw it, the symbolic last casualty of the Civil War. One of the major reasons we were able to endure as a Union was that Lincoln led in a way that inspired trust. Without that, we may very well have been two separate nations today.
Look at the state of affairs in our government today. How many millions of tax payer dollars have been wasted at the hands of frivolous lawsuits, brought by the Department of Justice, that either have so little merit that they can’t stand up to scrutiny, or are undeniable conflicts of interest where the executive branch of government is essentially suing itself to set up a favorable outcome for the supreme leader? How can we in good faith tolerate the murders on our streets by federal agents? Minneapolis has become to the millennial what Kent State was to the boomer – a dangerous symbol of political and governmental overreach. And just like the nation’s support collapsed during the Vietnam War, we are seeing the exact same systemic anger towards government oppression to the stranger and foreigner.
In fact, what is the real, and I mean fundamental and not surface, the real difference between this immigration reform happening now and between the Jim Crow Laws of the deep south in the 1950s? The symbolic dehumanization and “othering” is very much the same. The barbaric treatment of these individuals is very much the same. The oppression towards anyone trying to help them is very much the same. And all of this is the tired narrative of the movie we the people have seen play out a thousand times before, which has led to a groundswell of distrust in our federal government. Right or wrong, we have to acknowledge that there is a conversation about whether this government has crossed the threshold that triggers the need for the second amendment to be exercised. Furthermore, history would show us that should this upcoming vote be suppressed in any way – amounting to further taxation without representation – that rebellion or revolution (depending on who wins, of course) is likely to follow.
We applaud the leadership of the 1960s which focused on civil disobedience to unjust laws. Martin Luther King Jr was thrown into jail numerous times according to the letter of the law because he challenged that the spirit of the law was unjust, and he was willing to show the world how toxic this had become to the lifeblood of America. The seeds planted at Kent State led to the reforms that refocused our resolve back to being a government of the people, by the people, for the people. And even beyond our shores, we can see the global impact that a former “criminal” like Nelson Mandela can have on the world. The beacon of truth will cut through the darkness of injustice.
So on this Presidents Day, we look to the past and the imperfect yet solemn leadership that led us through tumultuous times, where trust was the key factor in delivering the promise of America to the future generations. Again we look today into our own mirrors and ask how we can deliver trust back to the people of this great nation, and deliver that very fragile promise of America back to our own children. Covey has much to say about this as well. There are four key areas he speaks to in his book that we need to vote back into the highest offices of the land:
- Integrity – If we are to survive, we must learn to tell the truth again, especially when it is uncomfortable. Washington set this as a precedent, as did all the founding fathers. We may never get this from our current administration, but we must make this non-negotiable moving forward.
- Intent – It is very difficult to believe that someone is working on behalf of the people when they have enriched themselves almost $1.5 Billion in their first year of returning to the Oval Office. In the future, people must see their leadership as having genuine motives and not ones that are self serving. As Lincoln quoted from the words of Jesus himself, “A house divided against itself cannot stand”
- Capabilities – A lot of the distrust we face in our current administration is that almost none of these people would have seen the inside of the White House in previous administrations. It is difficult to trust a justice department which violates the Epstein Transparency Act by failing to deliver the files for over 40 days past the deadline, supposedly in the name of protecting the survivors, only to release them with survivors’ names, addresses, emails, and in some cases even the fully nude child porn of them being abused while underage. Even some House Republicans are asking for an independent investigation into Alex Pretti’s murder because they don’t trust the Justice Department to get this right. The Department of War has been flirting with war crimes. There have been utterly incompetent ideas being floated about invading Greenland, a NATO ally. We must insist on having competent people in high positions moving forward.
- Results – Ultimately we praise Washington for guiding our small, upstart, ragtag nation through the stages of infancy after winning our Independence. We praise Lincoln for preserving the Union through the Civil War. Our current leadership has left us more divided than ever before, as inflation skyrockets and wages stagnate, and with masked men armed and deputized to do whatever they want to on our streets. Whoever inherits this mess will have a lot of cleaning to do. We need leadership that is up for the task.
I don’t believe in the cop out of labelling someone as “not our president.” I think it misses the mark. We the people did choose this man to lead us. He is our Commander in Chief, the holder of our nuclear codes, and the person most responsible for our success or failure as a nation in the short term. But it goes without saying that he is not someone who follows in the footsteps of Washington and Lincoln. In a lot of ways, he feels diametrically opposed to those two men. So, it’s time to ask the hard questions. What should a government provide for its citizens? What social contract do we owe each other? How should a government regulate markets, prioritize safety and well being, prosecute crime, and bring about prosperity and peace to its constituents? A President must be the beacon that lights the way–a human embodiment of the flame that Lady Liberty carries. Remember that this Monday.
