Police in Small-Town America
What is the difference between 1770s, 1970s, 2020 public service?
Washington Family Public Service
George Washington came from a long line of Washington men who valued public service. George was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, as were the three previous generations of Washingtons,
He was county justice of the peace and his father and grandfather were county sheriffs. He, his father, and great-grandfather were all officers in the Virginia militia.
Public service was valued by George and his forefathers. Service was a key part of their lives. Biographer Ron Chernow wrote, “Washington had an instinctive sense of public service.”
Because of his honest approach to public service, the people respected Washington and honored him as a leader. These people were accustomed to tyrannical leadership and the local leaders followed the example of their king and led in a tyrannical fashion. Washington and other Founding Fathers showed that a different kind of leadership was possible.
1970s Small-Town America
I grew up in a small rural American town in the 1970s. We were young boys growing up and finding our way in the neighborhood and town.
