Passively Accepting Defeat Is Not The American Way

George Washington set the American template: We do not give in to despair. We fail, learn, return, and eventually win.

Andrea Widburg | November 5, 2026

November 3 was a bad day for Republicans. Democrats are already salivating at the prospect of spending the next two years investigating, subpoenaing, and otherwise tormenting everyone associated with the Trump administration. (Funnily enough, governance is not on their to-do list.)

Still, we shouldn’t give in to despair. Democrats’ open radicalism could (we hope) alienate the voters who gave them control of Congress. After all, just because the Democrats rejected ineffective Republicans doesn’t mean they’re embracing radical Democrats.

All that remains to be seen, but what I’m currently seeing is weeping, wailing, and finger-pointing from the Republicans. I get it. There is a time to mourn and blame...and a time to stop mourning and blaming, get over apathetic despair, and start preparing for the next battle. That is the American way, as history shows, with George Washington providing what’s probably the best example.

The Europeans who came to our shores, seeding our culture, crossed an ocean in tiny, leaky vessels, frequently arriving with little more than the clothes on their backs. They faced unthinkable privation, disease, unfamiliar territory, and the very real possibility that they’d die before their dreams came to fruition. Those who survived created something remarkable.

These weren’t uniquely strong people. They were just...people. But they had energy, optimism, courage, and, usually, a deep faith in God and this continent’s—and, later, this nation’s—promise. They were willing to take risks because they believed that those risks would reap rewards, if not for them, then for their children.

No one embodies these qualities better than George Washington.

I recently watched Young Washington, an excellent biopic about Washington’s early military career. What struck me as I watched, and returned to me as I contemplated yesterday’s wreckage, was Washington’s unbelievable resilience, for both his early........

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