President's Day

If you like embroidery and political art, I highly recommend checking out the Tiny Pricks Project. The project began in 2018 when artist Diana Weymar stitched a Donald Trump quote into a piece of her grandmother's needlework. The project spread, creating a record of Trump's presidency embroidered form. It's a community project, with artists from all over participating. Do yourself a favor, and follow the project on your preferred social media platform. 

I wasn't sure I was going to do a piece related to President's Day. I'm a big civics nerd, and I have a very strong belief in democracy and participating in our government. The last four years have been exhausting, and the events of January 6...well, I'm still at a loss for words. Trump's second impeachment trial ended exactly as I figured it would. I don't get it. I don't understand how 43 Senators can betray their country and their oaths, and not care a bit about their own safety. Being in a death cult is an extremely poor life choice. 

Anyway, today's piece is sort of inspired by the Tiny Pricks Project. It's not in the style of a TPP piece, but it's in the same spirit, although I opted for a quote from the fourth President, James Madison, although he wasn't President when he wrote it. This quote is from a letter Madison wrote to Thomas Jefferson in 1788. The letter was part of the correspondence between the men debating whether to include a bill of rights within the Constitution. The part of the quote I stitched is usually the part referenced rather than the full quote. Here's the full quote:

"Wherever there is an interest and power to do wrong, wrong will generally be done, and not less readily by a powerful and interested party than by a powerful and interested prince." 

Much of the debate around the Constitution and the Bill of Rights when it was being written was about power, and how much the government should have. They were attempting to create a system where no one person would not wield all the power. That's why the Congress was established, and the Supreme Court. However, modern politics, specifically modern politicians, have forgotten why this system exists in the first place. 

James Madison probably didn't have a person like DJT in mind when he wrote this, but he did have people who wanted absolute power in mind, and people who would do whatever they could to gain that power. He may not have envisioned a country where something like January 6 would happen, and that a part of the Senate would care more about their own power than their country or the oath they take, but maybe he did. Maybe he was warning us. 

Details:
Stitches: back stitch

Thread palette: DMC 823 (2 and 6 strands)