Dear Kid,

September 24^th is an auspicious day. Make a note.

It is important partly because it is today (and Today should always be important in the moment if not in hindsight) and partly because of what happened in 1789.

If you’d been around in 1789, you would have had longer hair and you probably would have spent a lot of time saying things like “I live in the United States of America” because the country was new and it cool to talk about it. No one had invented the term ‘Murica at that point.

If you and your longer hair happened to be hanging out in the Congressional corridors, you’ve have learned that it was a Big Day because the Judiciary Act of 1789 was being passed and immediately signed by President George Washington.

So get this: policy decided, drafted, debated, passed, signed, and enacted. Just like that. Bam! Mind blowing.

Later that Very Same Day, George got to implementing. The Judiciary Act of 1789 established the Supreme Court of the United States (until then, disputes were settled with Rock, Paper, Scissors), and The Very Same Day the legislation was enacted George nominated John, John, William, John, Robert, and James to sit on the Supreme Court. (John was named Chief Justice.)

But it gets even more astonishing. Just two (2) days later, in a stunning act of bipartisan sanity, ALL SIX APPOINTMENTS WERE CONFIRMED BY THE SENATE.

Political observers have wisely pointed out that there are two very good reasons the nominations went through so quickly and easily. The first is that it’s History and we Americans like our history somewhat romanticized—and apparently the founding fathers were obliging. The second reason is that Twitter hadn’t been invented yet. Neither had ‘Murica.

As you know, I’m generally pretty a-political in these letters. Partly because I think you should make up your own mind, partly because there are plenty of people talking politics out there, partly because people who talk about politics rarely listen to me, and mostly because I find politics (generally) dull as dried mud. (But boring or not, you should be sure to vote. It’s important.)

On the other hand, it seems to me that our current political leaders could learn a thing or two about Getting Things Done (and Done Quickly with Quality) from those who were in their roles in 1789.

Hope your day is Supremely Awesome.

Love, Mom