Washington’s Warning for Us
As George Washington prepared to step down from the presidency of the United States, he warned against the dangers of political parties. In his farewell address, he outlined the threats they posed to our Republic, and implored that it is the “duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain” partisan factions. As we look at the state of our politics today, his fears seem to be coming true. I’ll go through the “baneful effects of the spirit of party” Washington foresaw, and share some ideas about how we can live up to the duty that he gave us.
Alternate Domination of Factions & Spirit of Revenge
“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.”
Over the last several decades, we’ve seen increasing polarization. Instead of debating ideas, our political parties have sought to win elections by demonizing the other side. There is little cooperation between parties in congress, and mostly partisan gridlock each term as the minority party seeks to block all progress…since failure to solve problems is their most likely path back to power. Parties create tribal factions or teams, and often place the importance of winning above doing what is right. The current election is a clear example of the spirit of revenge that George Washington warned about.
Making our Government Ineffective
The focus on party “serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration.”
As political parties prioritize their own power and shun collaboration, they fail to govern effectively. As they focus more and more on their base voters, they cease to deliver solutions that are good for the country as a whole. They seek to exert more control over government agencies and bend them to their will, putting ideology over data, knowledge and expertise. When party members coordinate across branches of government, they weaken the separation of powers that was intended to prevent domination by a single person or group.
Kindling Animosity & Insurrection
The Spirit of Party “agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.”
Each election seems to bring a new level of attacking, mis-information, and outright lying. Candidates use fear as a motivator, and seek to convince voters to be afraid of their opponent. They often seek to create a vision of how terrible our current situation is, and present themselves as the solution. They try to portray the other side as more than just a competitor with different ideas, but as truly evil and seeking to destroy our country. The ironic thing is that driving wedges between people, encouraging us to fear and despise each other, obscuring the truth, and eroding public trust in our government and elections are the most destructive forces faced by our democracy.
Inclination toward despotism
“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.”
After fighting the Revolutionary War to deliver our country out of tyranny, Washington was concerned that if one party gained enough power, the leader of that party could leverage that power to impose their will on the people. Currently the balance of power between Republicans and Democrats is too close for this to occur, but in a lot of states this balance of power does not exist. Party domination in those places means that the elected leaders are more accountable to their party than to the people more broadly. If one party were to become dominant at a national level, this is a risk…especially with recent rulings on presidential immunity to criminal prosecution.
Foreign Manipulation
“It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.”
In the age of social media and dark money in politics, this is a bigger danger than ever. We’ve recently seen Russia leverage right wing influencers (hopefully unknowingly) to sow discord and influence our elections. Dark money and SuperPACs enable foreign actors to fund the candidates that they prefer…opening the parties up to financial influence and corruption. Partisan messages of division and distrust of our governmental institutions play right into their hands, as they simply amplify those messages.
How we can mitigate these dangers now
My goal is to raise awareness of these negative consequences of dividing into political factions and encourage action to mitigate these effects. There are clear steps we can take as a country and as individuals to “discourage and restrain” parties from gaining too much power over us.
In terms of political process, we should eliminate party primaries and have all people vote together to select our political candidates. We currently have about 10% of the most partisan voters selecting the candidates we have to choose from. A few states already have non-partisan primaries where everyone votes and the top candidates make it to the general election. This would allow elected leaders to better serve us all without fear that their party base will toss them out in the primary election if they collaborate with the other team.
As individuals, we can resist the natural temptation to join & support a “tribal faction” and focus on the United States of America as our team.
- Avoid being manipulated by the false narratives of political partisans
- Recognize that most people are not evil or out to destroy our country, and focus on uniting instead of dividing
- Make sure we are not stuck in a partisan information bubble – get our information from diverse sources and avoid the most extreme ones
- Develop our own positions on issues instead of following party platforms
- Evaluate candidates independently, and support those that are willing to put country over party
George Washington and the founders created the structure of our government to serve the people. By thinking independently, putting country over party, and working together as Americans we can continue to build up the strongest democracy in the history of the world.
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