The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution, which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.
All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract or awe regular deliberation and actions of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the designated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.
However, combinations or associations of the above description 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 --George Washington, First President of the United States, in his Farewell Address to the Nation. [emphasis mine]
America's Founding Fathers Were Visionaries, and They Did Forsee That "Unenlightened Public Opinion" Could Present a Problem
George Washington addresses the issues that we are facing with this unconstitutional, incompetent and corrupt Trump Presidency as if he were observing them himself. So it's not that the founders, when designing American democracy, writing and ratifying the Constitution, and establishing the Republic, did not forsee the possibility of a corrupt, criminal element, influenced by foreign powers and driven by money interests, gaining control of the government to serve their own narrow purposes and those of the other billionares who influence the politics. Washington saw this as a possibility.
They put plenty of safeguards in place, including making the Constitution amendable, not expecting a strict constructionist approach, but that as society and the culture changed, the Constitution could adapt to the change. The safeguards in making those changes was wisely requiring two-thirds of the members of Congress to agree, and two-thirds of the states having to ratify their agreement. The safeguard which the founders believed to be the best defense against "ill-concerted and incongruous projects of factions," a description which fits Trumpism perfectly, was "the power and right of the people to establish government."
So Washington believed that an informed electorate, with the power and right of the people behind them, wouldn't elect a convicted felon, or a con artist, or a grifter, or a corrupt, known pathological liar, like Trump to any office where they had any influence in government. An educated and informed electorate was, to the founders, a wall of protection to the Constitution against a subversive, and in this case, seditious faction.
It is substantially true that virtue or morality is is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the fabric?
Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.--George Washington, First Farewell Address [emphasis mine]
I can only conclude, based on Washington's perspective, and the fact that Trump, after a disastrous, corrupt, ineffective, failed first term in office, was re-elected, albeit by a razor-thin margin, not a mandate, that an "enlightened public opinion," otherwise known as an informed electorate, no longer exists in the United States.
Washington pointed to other established institutions which he believed were essential to the preservation of the Constitutional democracy the founders established. These include religion and morality. The quotes that are cited here are part of a long narrative in which he concluded that the more partisan rancor existed, the less effective would be the government, and that the possibility existed for this to become so pronounced as to render government ineffective, or subject to tyranny.
Public opinion, enlightened by "institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge," and of course, by a free press, the institutional church, of which Washington was a member, interestingly enough a congregation affiliated with the Church of England, and morality, which is defined by general public standards present in the culture, is the safeguard against demagoguery and tyranny.
Three Reasons for an Ignorant and Uninformed Electorate
1. Conservative Evangelicalism is a pseudo-Christianity that does not reflect or practice the core values of Christianity, which Washington considered essential for the support of democracy.
Washington mentions religion and morality as "indispensable supports" leading to political prosperity. By his own experience and observation, he saw the influence of Christian values as a positive influence on the culture that would strengthen American democracy. Loving one's neighbor produced a sense of community and mutual respect. Washington himself was a professing Christian, a member of Christ Church, an Anglican turned Episcopalian church in Alexandria, Virginia and certainly weighed the influence of his own faith on his values and his moral character, as well as observing it in those with whom he had business dealings and personal relationships.
This expectation no longer exists.
The primary religious influence on Trump and MAGA is a cult with corrupted doctrine and theology infected by right wing extremism. Even prior to the "licentious intrusion" of Trump [See the Book of Jude v. 4] and his acceptance by conservative Evangelicals, the errant doctrine of Evangelicals made them susceptible to theological error, turning the Christian gospel into a system of works by which one gains God's favor, denying the essence of grace, which is at the very core of the Christian gospel taught by Jesus.
The cult of Evangelicalism in the United States, which includes the heretical Pentecostal and Charismatic groups who are behind much of the dominionist Christian nationalism that is written into Project 2025 and the Trump agenda, is an enemy of Democracy, since it does not place any value on values taught by Jesus, such as loving one's neighbor, and beyond that, loving one's enemies. It divides humanity by creating a hierarchy of the "chosen", and is willing to compromise morality to embrace a leader who, even as he accepts their votes, completely and openly rejects their own version of Christian conversion.
"Religion," in the form of conservative Evangelicalism, is now the major contributor to the ignorance of the American electorate.
2. We have lost our free press.
I'm not sure I can pinpoint where this actually occurred, but I do believe that there was a point, in my sixty-seven years of existence, when we actually had a free press. I can remember politicians being fearful of the accountability to which the press once held them, and when there were multiple members of the news media who had earned a reputation for integrity, honesty, always reporting the truth, and especially for the impartial and fair manner in which they treated politicians, good and bad.
But most of the media is now a for-profit, corporately owned entertainment business. Commentators, editors and reporters who still have a measure of integrity and honesty do not have enough of an audience, in the plethora of podcasts, blogs, social media outlets and news networks, to carry enough weight to use in holding politicians accountable.
The bottom line is now ratings and money, not in calling out the incompetence, dishonesty, corruption and what George Washington would have labelled "cunning, ambitious and unprincipled." In fact, the American "free press" has taken a man whose crimes of cover-ups, sedition and attacks on the rule of law have been among the most egregious in American history, and have whitewashed him to the point of legitimizing his candidacy and his Presidency, both of which would never have happened in a nation committed to the rule of law, with a free press.
3. Our educational system is no longer equipped to be an agent of social reform.
It was the American education reformer John Dewey who envisioned the public education system as a means for the preservation of American democracy by providing the nation with an educated and informed electorate. He also saw potential in an institution in which virtually all American children were getting their education, to use it as an instrument to bring about social and cultural reform, believing that education was the best weapon against chronic human problems like poverty and war. By establishing a consistent philosophy of education in colleges and universities where teachers were trained, he succeeded in a few generations in making American public education among the best in the world, and in being at the forefront of social reform in addition to providing an educated and informed electorate.
But we no longer think of our education system as a bulwark against ignorant populism that is an existential threat to democracy. Our public schools are not equipped to teach the kind of critical thinking skills necessary to produce an informed electorate, or to support social reform. So much of a school's curriculum objectives are mandates, aimed at avoiding controversy, and at preventing the free exchange of ideas that once made American schools the best in the world. Social studies and political science requirements for graduation have been reduced, teachers are afraid of retaliation or termination if they dare expose students to progressive ideology leading to social reform.
The results of the most recent election is proof that our public education system is no longer capable of producing an electorate that is informed or educated enough to avoid making costly mistakes that are potentially fatal to American democracy.
We Will Have to Rescue Democracy Ourselves
The first two weeks of the second Trump presidency should have convinced anyone who might have been thinking otherwise that this is headed toward disaster. Trump has always been an existential threat to American democracy and to the Constitution, and he is putting people in place in the executive branch who are going to chip away at every principle. The Republican party already laid the groundwork for this and Democrats, with their old school, status quo politics, allowed it to happen. Our voters don't turn out for mid-term elections, as a consequence, we've paid the price in terms of losing control of state legislatures everywhere.
We have failed to prosecute the biggest crime ever committed by a sitting President, sedition, resulting in an insurrection and attack on the Capitol. After that attack occurred, when we had a majority in both houses and a Democrat in the White House, we played the "business as usual card," giving Republicans the edge they wouldn't give us when they were in power. There were voices calling for the breaking of the senate filibuster to enable Democrats to pack the Supreme Court, which would have been a bold move pre-empting the overturning of Roe, but more importantly, stopping the unconstitutional ruling on Presidential immunity.
Why the justice department failed to use the power of the executive branch to expedite getting Trump tried and convicted is a monumental failure. If he was indeed an existential threat to democracy, then the risk of things looking "political" were entirely worth the ultimate outcome of shutting him out of government forever.
We are sitting on the edge of ruin because of a lack of bold, risk taking based on conviction, rather than caution aimed at preserving personal power.
The saving of American democracy now depends on the will and power of the people. It is in our hands. Are there enough Americans who care? I don't know. But we need to be willing to push our political leadership to their limits, and make them do their job. We need to inform ourselves, from reliable sources, and reach out to each other when we see things going the wrong way.
If it is to be, it is up to me.
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