Clearly Superior

Our nation's first president, George Washington, is often considered one of the top two presidents we've ever had, usually paired with Abraham Lincoln.

One of the kudos given to Washington is that even though he probably could have gone on being re-elected every time he ran, he voluntarily returned to Mt. Vernon after just two, setting a precedent that wasn't broken until Franklin Roosebelt's third term. Nowadays, thanks to the 22nd Amendment. no president can serve more than two terms by law, but before that it was more or less the force of Washington's example.

Some suggest that Washington laid down the mantle of the office as a way of demonstrating how government officials in the new republic should consider themselves to be servants for just a limited time before returning to private life. It's certainly possible, although it seems that nobody believes that to be true anymore.

It could also be that Mount Vernon was the home of one of the nation's largest distilleries, producing 11,000 gallons of whiskey at its peak, and that after two terms of dealing with the issues and complaints of his fellow citizens he figured he was going to need every last drop of them. Today, of course, we've reversed the situation in that it is exposure to the grinding wheels of government that drives the governed to drink.