Sir,

The hour grows late. The President asserts the right to govern by decree. Worse, the Congress has ceded its constitutional prerogatives, neglecting to protect its power of the purse and even the sanctity of its chambers from executive overreach. Charles I chuckles from the grave.

In this dark and doom filled hour, one hope remains: the power of story, aided and abetted by unassailable songs stirring up this country’s frayed and nearly forgotten faith in this experiment in self-governance.

That’s right. We need a musical. What you ask? Hamilton already was written, produced and shared with the country to dramatic effect. Yes but there is more to the founding story, much much more. POTUS claims a record more impressive than even George Washington.

Our country and our current POTUS too quickly forget the other George, George Mason, a close friend and fellow Virginian. Mason authored the Virginia Declaration of Rights, an antecedent of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

Despite being a vocal advocate for reforming the feeble Articles of Confederation, the forgotten founding George refused to sign the Constitution. His principled objections gave us the Bill of Rights, including the freedom of speech, assembly, and religion.

If Hamilton was about the ambition that built America, then Mason is the story of the conscience that tried to save it. If Washington and Hamilton set the system in motion, Mason saw the cracks before they even formed. His warnings echo louder today than ever before.

Mason objected that the executive power embedded in the constitution of 1787 “will, in its operation, produce a monarchy or a corrupt oppressive aristocracy.” As we grapple with executive overreach and oligarchy, Mason’s words have proved prophetic.

Once allies in the cause of liberty, Mason and Washington found themselves divided over the Constitution. Their personal and political rupture echoes down the ages, a cautionary tale about the price of principle and the weight of power.

Mason chose to focus on his family and the power of the pen rather than compromise his beliefs, while Washington steered the nascent republic as its first president. Why was Mason written out of the founding history?

What does that say about us? Have we discarded the foundations of liberty for the comforts of a clean civic story? George Washington stands as a giant because he chose not to become a king. But nearly 250 years later, executive power has grown to king sized proportions.

In the wake of World War Two, Congress never formally offered a declaration of war. Further the current POTUS’s use of executive orders are not not an aberration but rather the culmination of decades of the executive increasingly bypassing congressional authority.

This moment demands an answer—and a reckoning. Mason’s story isn’t just history; it’s a principled warning about the dangers of executive power and the small r republican virtues we seem to have forgotten. Who better than you to bring it to life—before it’s too late?

Cheers,

PA

An open letter to Lin-Manuel Miranda on the last, best hope to save the republic