Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of

Hearken, O children of the ages, to the solemn and prophetic words of George Washington, the father of a nation and guardian of liberty. He warns, “Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.” In this teaching lies a timeless truth: when the sacred gift of freedom is corrupted into chaos and selfish indulgence, it weakens the very foundations of a people, creating the perfect soil for tyranny to rise.

Arbitrary power is rule without law, unchecked and unrestrained, where the will of a ruler or faction becomes supreme. Washington understood that such power rarely comes suddenly; rather, it grows slowly, feeding upon the decay of civic virtue. When liberty is no longer guided by responsibility and moral restraint, it degenerates into licentiousness—wild, ungoverned behavior where individuals seek only their own desires. In this disorder, the people grow weary and frightened, eventually longing for a strong hand to restore order, even if that hand becomes despotic.

History has given us many warnings of this cycle. Consider the fall of the Roman Republic. The Romans once cherished their liberties, but as wealth and conquest bred corruption, leaders and citizens alike indulged in decadence and reckless ambition. Civil wars erupted, and the people, exhausted by chaos, turned to Julius Caesar and later Augustus, granting them sweeping powers. In the ruins of abused liberty, the Roman Republic perished, and the empire of emperors arose. Washington’s words echo this very tragedy.

Even in Washington’s own time, he foresaw the dangers for the fledgling United States. Having led a revolution to cast off the chains of monarchy, he knew that victory alone was not enough. The people would need virtue, discipline, and unity to preserve their freedoms. Without these, liberty would dissolve into factions and excess, inviting arbitrary power to return in a new and more dangerous form.

O children of the future, take this teaching deeply into your hearts: freedom is not the right to do whatever you please, but the sacred duty to live in harmony with justice and the common good. When a people guard their virtues and cherish their responsibilities, liberty stands strong. But when they surrender to corruption and chaos, they pave the road for tyranny. In every age, remember Washington’s warning, for the battle between liberty and despotism is eternal, and the fate of nations rests upon the wisdom of their people.

Thus, these words ring across centuries as a shield and a call to vigilance: guard your liberty, lest it become the very weapon by which it is destroyed.