{"id":3177,"date":"2005-02-26T17:15:44","date_gmt":"2005-02-27T01:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2005\/02\/26\/ask-what-you-can-do-for-your-country\/"},"modified":"2019-12-13T10:02:15","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T18:02:15","slug":"ask-what-you-can-do-for-your-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2005\/02\/26\/ask-what-you-can-do-for-your-country\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8230;ask what you can do for your country."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:8855,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.hanscomfamily.com\\\/2005\\\/02\\\/26\\\/this_made_me_laugh.php&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20050308164049\\\/http:\\\/\\\/www.hanscomfamily.com:80\\\/2005\\\/02\\\/26\\\/this_made_me_laugh.php&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-10 15:12:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-10 15:12:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:8822,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/click.linksynergy.com\\\/fs-bin\\\/click?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941.10000002&amp;subid=0&amp;type=4&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>One night, George W. Bush is tossing restlessly in his White House bed.\u00a0He awakens to see George Washington standing by him.\u00a0Bush asks him, &#8220;George, what&#8217;s the best thing I can do to help the country?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Set an honest and honorable example, just as I did,&#8221; Washington advises, and then fades away.<\/p>\n<p>The second night, Bush sees the ghost of Thomas Jefferson moving through the darkened bedroom.\u00a0Bush calls out, &#8220;Tom, please! What is the best thing I can do to help the country?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Respect the Constitution, as I did,&#8221; Jefferson advises, and dims from sight.<\/p>\n<p>The third night sleep is still not in the cards for Bush. He awakens to see the ghost of FDR hovering over his bed.\u00a0Bush whispers, &#8220;Franklin, what is the best thing I can do to help the country?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Help the less fortunate, just as I did,&#8221; FDR replies and fades into the mist.<\/p>\n<p>Bush isn&#8217;t sleeping well the fourth night when he sees another figure moving in the shadows. It is the ghost of Abraham Lincoln.\u00a0Bush pleads, &#8220;Abe, what is the best thing I can do right now to help the country?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Lincoln replies, &#8220;Go see a play.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>(via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hanscomfamily.com\/2005\/02\/26\/this_made_me_laugh.php\" title=\"The Hanscom Family Weblog: This Made Me Laugh\">Dad<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/click?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941.10000002&amp;subid=0&amp;type=4\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" width=\"61\" height=\"15\" alt=\"iTunes\" src=\"http:\/\/images.apple.com\/itunesaffiliates\/logos\/iTunes_sm_bdg61x15.png\" \/><\/a> &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FsongTerm=Into the Trap%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"Search for 'Into the Trap' on the iTMS\">Into the Trap<\/a>&#8221; by <a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FartistTerm%253DLondon Symphony Orchestra, The\/Williams, John%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"Search for London Symphony Orchestra, The\/Williams, John on the iTMS\">London Symphony Orchestra, The\/Williams, John<\/a> from the album <em><a href=\"http:\/\/click.linksynergy.com\/fs-bin\/stat?id=xLsJkztrnNY&amp;offerid=78941&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=itms%253A%252F%252Fphobos.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZSearch.woa%252Fwa%252Fcom.apple.jingle.search.DirectAction%252FadvancedSearchResults%253FalbumTerm=Star Wars Trilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology%26partnerId%3D30\" title=\"The Original Soundtrack Anthology on the iTMS\">Star Wars Trilogy: The Original Soundtrack Anthology<\/a><\/em> (1983, 2:39).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One night, George W. Bush is tossing restlessly in his White House bed.\u00a0 He awakens to see George Washington standing by him.\u00a0 Bush asks him, &#8216;George, what&#8217;s the best thing I can do to help the country?&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2042],"tags":[6,14],"class_list":["post-3177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-humor","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}