George Washington warned us about the dangers of political parties, of unprincipled men stealing power through cunning and lies, of an overbearing military, of entanglement in foreign affairs, of the importance of maintaining independence of thought uninterrupted by false attachment to other nations, and of the value of a virtuous populace, all in 1796. [Political parties] are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. ...overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to the liberty of a republic. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other. Really this entire speech is an eery description of our current political environment. It is long, but well worth reading. George Washington had a lot of insight, and saw the long-term dangers which would follow the next election after he retired -- when the first partisan presidential race was held. avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 17:47:46 +0000
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