IN THE CONSTITUTION
Political
Parties—George Washington Warns America
After sixteen years and a summer in America’s leadership
role, George Washington knew about politics and conflict. He counseled succeeding
generations on the survival of representative government in his famous Farewell
Address. One of the topics he dwelt on was the emergence of the political party
in the United States. His counsel is as true today as it was 225 years ago.
Washington had led the Revolutionary War against the British.
He was selected in 1775 to lead an unorganized army to fight an undeclared war
for a country that did not yet exist--American independence was declared a year
later. While the Declaration of Independence gave us liberty, Washington’s war
leadership made it “stick”. Without his dominance our bid for freedom would
have been snuffed out under British fire.
During the summer of 1787 Washington presided over the
Constitutional Convention which created a new system of government. The process was daunting. Washington held the
convention together during its heated debates until it could bring forth an original,
highly successful governing system.
As our first president, Washington transformed a
one-dimensional document into a living, workable government; fleshing the
skeleton with policies, procedures and positions. Thereafter, he knew, uniquely,
what would both preserve and destroy representative government. Thus, his views
are invaluable.
As his tenure expired, Washington pled with future Americans
to shun destructive politics. His Farewell Address, printed in the newspapers,
offered wise, almost paternal, counsel.
Washington warned about the emergence of political parties
in the United States, counseling that they divide the country, rather than
unify. He said one of the “expedients” of political parties is that they
misrepresent the opinions and aims of other parties. He admonished, “[I wish
to] warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the
Spirit of Party.” He counseled that the “alternate domination of one faction
over another, sharpened by a spirit of revenge natural to party dissention…has
perpetrated the most horrid enormities”--what he called a “frightful
despotism”. He advised that the party
system “agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false
alarms…(their) common and continual mischiefs…are sufficient to make it the
interest and duty of a wise People to discourage and restrain it [ the party
system].”
Today we understand what he meant, largely because Americans
have ignored his counsel and now live with the results he described. We watch a
government paralyzed by partisan factions. We see destructive programs and
policies inflicted on us by power hungry politicians determined to upstage each
other. We flinch at the absurdities of political correctness. Careful observers
understand that the political scene is a game—a play with assigned parts, an
obscure plot, and rotating main characters. Infighting, outfighting—it all
sounds the same after awhile. It has become obvious that the objective of most
politicians is not truth, good government, or the welfare of America’s
citizens. Our two major political parties want power above all else. Americans
are being sold down the river, wholesale.
Washington was right. We are now the recipients of
“frightful despotism”, delivered at the hands of those responsible to protect
our liberties. How do we fix it? We can begin by protesting in no uncertain
terms to those we elected. We can study the Constitution so we know what government
should do. We can elect wise, good individuals. We can get involved at the
local and state levels. That would be a good start.
If you wish to study
Washington’s Farewell Address, please read a pre-1950 edition; later versions
have “sanitized” his comments about God’s influence on our nation.
