This is the script from Washington's farewell speed. It is where he warns the audience about the danger of party politics and the detrimental effect it can have on the idea and experiment of our fragile democratic republic.
It begs the question, is our party politics at the point where Washington says it is a danger to our democratic republic? If nothing else, I find it to be an interesting read as it shows how insightful this man was about a newly formed nation and how fragile our democracy is, even today. He talks about the danger from the power of one individual which I can relate to today as Trump. I have set that in italics.
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy.
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and the duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.
Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true— and in governments of a monarchical cast patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose.
And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming it should consume. It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another.
The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern, some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them.
If in the opinion of the people the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield.
Outside of the fear mongering over Trump, I agree with the sentiment here. Our party politics has become a detriment to our country. In addition to that, I feel that our government has grossly overstepped it's bounds and constitutional powers without ever going through that amendment process that Washington mentioned. It has done so by way of purse strings, by way of courts looking at moral issues rather than law, by way of popular demand. It should never have been allowed to happen, but it has anyway.
I don't think I've seen politics of the past ever rise to the current level of division and hate. When we have people negatively labeled and characterized by their party affiliation, vilifying the other, name calling, media that misinforms/disinforms, when citizens view those of the opposite party as evil or degenerate, when we have politicians continually spouting the faults of the other side rather than building a platform of their actual ideas/plans we are in big trouble. This is where we are in America. Far too many Americans have more of a focus on hating the other than they do even on what their own party is about. Hate and opposition has seemed to become the sole purpose of American politics. Politicians no longer talk about real solutions to issues in our country. That's too difficult or maybe they've just realized that many people respond to "othering", hate and division much more positively. It's going to come to the point in this country that all you'll have to know about your politician is if they're red or blue. Nothing else will matter. I think we are well on our way.
Thank You Faye and Wilderness:
It's interesting that both of you are from opposite sides of the fence. And yet you both agree we are almost at the point where Washington said party politics differences can affect the well being of the country and our democratic republic.
Neither of us has fallen into the trap of hating the other side as the primary focus. IMHO the majority of people, at this time, falls into this category.
I agree with Faye here, too, in that number of "haters" is growing daily. One indication is the number of people to whom the most important thing in politics today is to hate Trump and harm him as much as possible in every way possible. Their hate has overtaken thought and has a higher priority than our country, or it's people, has in their minds.
There are others as well; all the single focus voters. Those that only consider abortion, or guns, or the border or almost anything else. No politician (regardless of their campaign) is that narrow...yet the vote goes for (or against) them based on that single issue. Hate wins the day in those cases - that party that disagrees with that voter in their single issue mindset loses.
Of course, the biggest single thing, IMO, is the absolute refusal to compromise. Even when we pay lip service to it, we go right back to the same demands at the next opportunity, even at the news interview we announce the thing and congratulate ourselves for being bipartisan.
Wilderness: If you listen to Bob Woodward's taped phone conversations with Trump, you will hear him say that he delayed doing anything about the virus in January because, it was too soon and people would forget what he did. So he delayed it until march and then he came up with Operation Warp Speed. In the mean time thousands of people had died from the virus, but he presented himself as the hero.
I know you won't listen to the tapes on CNN, but Trump is only about Trump at the expense of others. That's why I don't like him. Now he has millions of people and congressmen who believe the election was stolen. That is precisely what Washington was talking about when he said this.
The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.
Yes, I understand that you put Trump's insistence (and belief, I think) that there was massive election fraud into the category of "insurrection", "big lie" and "overthrow the government".
I do not. I think Trump believes it, which makes it not a lie. An error, but not a lie. Nor was there an "insurrection", and no one attempted or intended to overthrow the American government (except some of the rioters outside of DC that year). These are simply gross exaggerations, useful in the war against Trump, but bearing no resemblance to reality.
Nor does Trump wish (IMO) to be King of America indefinitely. This, too, is assumption, insinuation and exaggeration rather than reality.
So...while Washington has a very good point, it does not point to Trump, except in the imagination of a small number of people that put nearly all the world's ills at his feet. IMHO.
Wilderness: You are right about one thing. Everything you wrote is your opinion and in my opinion what you wrote is not based in reality.
"I do not. I think Trump believes it, which makes it not a lie. An error, but not a lie. Nor was there an "insurrection", and no one attempted or intended to overthrow the American government (except some of the rioters outside of DC that year). These are simply gross exaggerations, useful in the war against Trump, but bearing no resemblance to reality."
"It makes it not a lie, but an error." That is some great weasel wording.
The reality is those rioters were not outside of DC. Trump asked security to disable the magnometers so that their arms would not be detected and let the people in. He even said: "They are not here to hurt me."
They were the ones and the paramilitary groups who stormed the capitol and tried to stop the certification process. In addition, there was a fake electoral slate that was on standby to replace the real one.
If you don't know that was an insurrection with the purpose of over throwing the government. Then I don't know where you got your information from. Those are all verifiable events that took place. That is the reality and the truth. And it was orchestrated by one man who couldn't accept losing an election. And has now convinced millions of people the election was stolen. Thus, Washington was right.
"""It makes it not a lie, but an error." That is some great weasel wording. "
You may consider a simple error to be a lie if it is incorrect, but if so the majority of what you present as opinion becomes a lie. I don't see it that way - a lie is an intentional effort to mislead - but if you do more power to you.
"The reality is those rioters were not outside of DC."
You misunderstand; the rioters that attempted to overthrow our government were those in Seattle that set up CHAZ. It was those in Portland that burned federal buildings. It was those that took over police precincts. It is those that set up the "autonomous zone" in Minneapolis. Not those idiots in DC that tried to "overthrow our government" with a flagpole and a fire extinguisher.
Your "insurrection" was an attempt to enforce voting laws - something I'm sure you are well aware of even as you exclaim there was no fraud and everything was kosher. Again, your concept of motive is coming from your opinion on what was in the mind of those rioters in DC, not from what was actually there.
I stand by my statement; those rioters in DC were no different than those in Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis and dozens of other cities. The only difference was that the rich and powerful were the ones that got scared, not the mom and pop store owners in other cities. And, of course, it could be exaggerated into an attempt by Trump to overthrow the United States government, for no matter how stupid the statement sounds some will believe it. Those consumed by hate, that refuse to look anywhere but wherever they think they can find something to damage Trump.
Wilderness: I know you are not informed because you have an opinion on the Jan. 6 committee by not even watching it. You have used distraction to group the Jan. rioters to the riots in cities.
That is a false equivalence. If you were informed, you would know that Trump's attempt to change the electoral college vote and find 11,000 more votes by the Georgia Secretary of State is no exaggeration.
It is verifiable fact. So is more than 50 times Trump was turned down by the courts to claim voter fraud. You minimize the efforts of the attack on the capitol by saying it was just a fire extinguisher and a flag pole that was used. How does that cause injury to hundreds of people including the death of a police officers and others?
You can compare it to the city riots, but it is not the same thing. The motive was completely different and so was the goal. People are going to jail by acting on behalf of believing Trump's lies or as you say, his error..
By the way an error can be corrected, like trial and error. However a lie is used as manipulation. Trump has not corrected his error, he still says he lost the election and so do millions of his people and congressmen as well.
"So is more than 50 times Trump was turned down by the courts to claim voter fraud."
See, this is a big part of why I don't listen too much - Trump did not file 50 cases in court. Other people (not his lawyers) did, but not Trump, yet you claim he did. Knowing better, you still make the claim, presumably because it makes Trump look bad and the "little white lie" will not be known or forgiven.
"People are going to jail by acting on behalf of believing Trump's lies or as you say, his error"
Yes. Shameful, isn't it, that people that actually did no damage are going to jail while the rioters in other cities, burning buildings and cars, killing people, looting, etc. get off scot free. Have you wondered why? Their crime is much worse, yet no punishment. Why is that?
Wilderness: Again you are using distraction to take the heat off of Trump and what he did. It is the same technique that use for the AR-15. It is just a scary hunk of iron.
I'm going to keep this simple. What you are calling hurting Trump is actually accountability and justice trying to be served to a narcissistic master con artist who is a danger to our democratic republic.
They didn't have to burn buildings and kill people. They tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power to a duly elected president under the auspices of a man who to this day can't accept that he lost an election and has brain washed millions of people to accept his lies.
Not only that he now has candidates who are willing to follow him who won't even admit when questioned if they lose an election are they willing to accept the results. That's how dangerous this man is to our constitutional right to a free and peaceful election process.
And nothing was actually stopped, the Congress was back in Chambers a couple of hours later and completed their job.
It's very clear just by the size of the crowd, the rioters could have caused damage, as well as anything else they might have wanted to do. This day has been so blown out of proportion IF Trump supporters wanted to accomplish an actual coup they could have, just due to sheer numbers on that day. Jan 6th is nothing but a crazy conspiracy theory. The day turned into a riot, nothing more, in my view.
Sharlee: Why was a fake electoral college slate standing by to replace the real one? Who told the rioters to go home? They were back in chambers after Trump told the rioters to go home. It is not a conspiracy theory. It actually happened. The intention was to stop the peaceful transfer of power to the duly elected president. That was their goal. It wasn't accomplished, but not by the rioters own volition. They were ready to take out Pelosi and Pence. You think they went looking for them to play nice to them?
"Why was a fake electoral college slate standing by to replace the real one?" Were these fake elector votes used? NO
The rioters were told to go home by Trump via two tweets.
No, there was not a coup was there? There was a riot... Nothing more.
And yes this riot did momentarily stop a Congressional procedure. And the transfer of power was completed. I don't think this bunch had a goal, they were there to cause problems, and yes stop congress from doing its job. They did not succeed. They have been arrested, and are being put in jail.
They could have pushed on and found Pelosi and Pence if they wanted to, but they did not. They mulled around and ended up leaving on their own. This is a fact. No one chased them out, they ended up leaving.
If this crowd hoped to stop all, they would have, they had the numbers, yet left and the congress did their job.
I think you need to just look at what did happen on that day, and look at the new facts that are being outed at the Other Keepers trail. This bunch had a plan to disrupt Congress, and they did. All the rest is your conjecture.
I think your analogy of Trump to the AR15 is spot on. Both are exaggerated beyond reason, both are lied about, both are demonized with little reason to do so - certainly the complaints (such as "it's a military weapon" or "he tried to overthrow the government") hold no water at all.
You, and others like you, have tried for some 6 years now to hurt Trump, to remove him as a political opponent. Zero results, yet the effort continues after going down dead end after dead end. No, it's not about accountability; it's about removing a political opponent and about hatred.
Yep - they tried to change the election...exactly as hundreds of others have tried to do with their recounts over the years. Odd, isn't it, how that wee fact is glossed over and ignored; that hundreds of times efforts have been made to change elections but suddenly this time it's an "insurrection", fighting with flagpoles and fire extinguishers to overthrow the army.
You've even gone to the point that anyone that doesn't declare they will accept election results, fraudulent or not, is guilty of the same "insurrection" and should never run. That's how dangerous it is to follow the path of "the means justify the ends", at least if it's to remove Trump from politics (and, hopefully, civilian life outside prison).
I think we can see mindset is involved here, many on the left just can't see facts as readily as more open mined people. Some will not even address the tragedies that occurred during their "Summer of Love" where ouR VP requested cash be provided to bail thugs out of jail. So much damage, and many lives lost in the violence.
Washington's words were wise then and have been proven to be just as wise across the centuries.
Our politics do seem extreme now and given the multi[plier effect of our technology it might be the most dangerous times ever, but the extremism of the politics has been this bad almost from the beginning.
But, that technology boost works for everyone, from the power brokers to the individual. As 'they' say, The sausage has always been made this way, we just didn't get to see it before.
GA
GA; I don't agree with you about the extremism of politics has always been this bad. There used to be some form of compromise as government did its job. Now there is no compromise, just stalemates and log jams by putting party above country.
I would place your years, (the 'used to be' times), of realistic political compromise as the 1930s - 80s. The divide you speak of started when the internet became available to the masses.
Pre-1930s, back to the first elections of the 1800s have plenty of examples of extreme party divide. It wasn't as obvious in the non-political public but it was in the minds and actions of politicians and the inside-the-beltway-type party members.
That's my perception from past look-arounds. I'm too lazy to ask Google to refresh my memory. ;-)
GA
Interesting share. A lot to mull over. I am not sure how you feel this all equates to Trump.
Sharlee: This is what Washington said and it fits Trump to a tee..
"The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty."
by Angie B Williams 8 months ago
Which State will be next to decide that their leaders and their State's Supreme Court are more mighty, more powerful than the U.S. Constitution and the Power, which, by design and by LAW, belongs with the American people? That's what this is.....right? A power trip? Let's be the one to outdo all...
by Credence2 17 hours ago
It is bad enough that Congress and the rabid red Republicans are more than willing to give in to Trump and Musk rather than assume their fiduciary responsibilities as established by the Constitution. But, I would of expected that they would be swept up by Trump fever, but Democrats? Too many of the...
by Doug Hughes 13 years ago
Section 7 1: All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.Section 81: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the...
by Doug Cutler 8 years ago
During one of the darkest times in the Revolutionary War: Washington had a vision of three perilous times for the U.S.A.The first was his time of 1777 to 1783. The 2nd was the Civil War: 1961 to 1865. The third peril is yet to come.On July 4th 1859. A writer, Wesley Bradshaw, was told by a 99...
by Scott Belford 11 months ago
In my opinion, yes - the Republican Party no-longer exists today even though Trump followers incorrectly refer to themselves as Republicans.Let me open this discussion with a short tutorial of the Republican Party (now keep in mind, the Party title has no bearing on the Party philosophy and any...
by Sharlee 3 weeks ago
As the day draws near for Joe Biden to hand over the keys of the White House back to Trump, I’ve been reflecting on Biden’s presidency, gathering my thoughts, and organizing my views. The key word here is my views. I hope this inspires others to pause, reflect, and share their thoughts and insights...
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |