George Washington was Right

"However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they 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.”

This paragraph is from George Washington's farewell address given at the end of his second term,, right before he retired to his home at Mt. Vernon.  At the time, most Americans couldn't imagine the country without Washington as its President and having to serve in his shadow made things rough on his successor, John Adams.  Washington was an accomplished statesman, a figure behind which Americans, in spite of already looming regional, cultural and political differences, could unite.  He saw his main responsibility as one of setting trends and traditions which would be of benefit down the road to the new government.  Perhaps more than any other political figure of his time, Washington had seen first hand the bitter and deadly conflict that erupted between people of similar racial and cultural backgrounds over differences of opinion regarding the way human beings should be governed.  

There is nothing that illustrates the wisdom and truth of Washington's statement better than the last quarter of the twentieth century and the first 20 years of the 21st.  As a history teacher for over 25 years, these words of Washington are included among the more memorable contributions he made to this nation.  They tend to come to mind frequently in this period of time when political parties have become so uncompromising and insistent on their own way that they have disabled the government to the point where it cannot function as it was intended, on the backs of negotiation, compromise and mutual respect.  

I was just a junior in high school when Richard Nixon resigned the Presidency after his role in engineering the Watergate Scandal, which was perhaps the largest single government scandal in American history up to that point.  In school we were always taught that the principles upon which the country was founded were anchored in the Constitution and that a government "by the people" was virtually safe from crisis or tyranny.  Nixon's resignation, while providing a good example of exactly how the Constitution could work in a crisis, also created a sense of uneasiness.  My American history teacher pointed out that while Nixon's guilt was openly evident, there were those who supported him anyway, hard line partisans who shared his suspicions of media bias and promoted unfounded conspiracy theories, including one of the senators from my home state.  

Watergate was nothing compared to the Trump Administration.  When the Republican members of the Senate, except for one, determined that they were not willing to hear evidence in Trump's impeachment trial, they were doing exactly what Washington warned us about.  They set aside the Constitution in the interest of their own partisan agenda.  

If you want to read the evidence, there is a mountain of it.  The Mueller Report contains over 400 pages of documented evidence, almost all of it provided by individuals who worked for Donald Trump as part of his campaign or were appointed to his administration.  These are people who had to come to a point where they had to make a choice between loyalty to country or loyalty to Trump and to political party.  There were enough true patriots among them that they chose loyalty to country.  The same is true of the investigation into the Trump Ukraine scandal.  

Look at what has happened to those who left the Trump administration because their consciences could not support remaining in it.  John Bolton was one of the most respected, and most ambitious, politicians in the Republican party.  Quite partisan himself, Bolton was highly respected among Republicans for his hard-line positions when it came to the Middle East in particular.  Branded as a "war monger" by Democrats, Bolton had served as US Ambassador to the UN during the Bush Administration and as National Security Advisor during the Trump Administration.  Read his book.  It's an eye opener.  Coming out against Trump's corruption by publishing a book full of undeniable facts has put him on the outs with most Republicans.  Personally, I was never a big fan of Bolton but clearly, he's a patriot.  His facts, mostly eyewitness accounts, are irrefutable. 

And what's happened to General James "Mad Dog" Mattis, who served as Trump's Secretary of Defense, and General John Kelly, who was White House Chief of Staff?  Mattis, who was widely respected by members of both parties for his integrity was forced out of his position by Trump who refused to listen to his advice, resulting in the disaster which occurred when the US withdrew from Syria and abandoned our Kurdish allies who had basically defeated ISIS for us.  Kelly, a retired Marine Corps General, served initially as Homeland Security chief in the Trump administration, but as people kept leaving and getting shuffled around because they couldn't get along with Trump, Kelly became White House Chief of Staff, replacing Reince Preibus when he quit.  

It did not take long for Kelly to realize what a terrible position he had placed himself in. His influence diminished quickly as he clashed with his boss who refused to treat him as an advisor and who demanded that he be a "yes man."  He has become one of Trump's most vocal critics.  The way Trump treated these men and the derision he continues to hurl at them is perhaps the best example of what Washington was referencing when he spoke of "cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men who will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and will be able to usurp for themselves the reins of power."  Bolton, Kelly and Mattis were genuine obstacles in Trump's way.  Partisan distortion has made them goats, when they should be honored as true patriots.  

We are in this mess largely because our educational system has failed to give its students the kind of foundation in history and civics that is necessary to keep the electorate informed.  The video clip of Trump mocking a reporter with cerebral palsy should have ended his candidacy and resulted in his complete censure by the Republican party.  The fact that he is, today, in political rallies, praising and joking about some extremists who tried to run a Biden-Harris campaign bus off the road in Texas should tell you everything you need to know about his moral bankruptcy and that of anyone who thinks that was funny.  

Hopefully, it is not too late to heed Washington's warning and save our country.