Issue 38.14
John Adams said: “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”
In his final speech upon leaving the office of President of the United States, George Washington said: “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…. 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.”
In essence, these great leaders and visionaries saw clearly that political parties would naturally come about as people of similar ideas grouped together, but they also saw that, as these parties grew, they would in themselves become entities that would seek to control and gain power by dominating the other parties by whatever means necessary. The sad fact is that the people are the ones who suffer and lose freedoms and opportunity when power is concentrated in either individuals or in competing parties that are perceived to be the only choices. Once the people begin to believe that they must accept or support the lesser of two evils, they have unwittingly allowed themselves to be convinced that they must accept evil. Many people have been convinced that their vote is wasted if given in support of a candidate not of the two major parties, regardless of how correct and passionate that candidate is. May I offer a couple of scenarios that illustrate how this is simply a construct of those in power that helps them maintain that power at the expense of our well-being?
In one case, the people buy into the concept that they only have two choices, they either give up on voting because neither is palatable, or they grudgingly vote for the less troublesome or more pleasing candidate regardless of whether that candidate actually does what he or she says they will once elected. This approach leads to what we see now – the gridlock, petty attacks, blocking of good legislation lest the opponent party get credit for doing something good, etc. It also leads to the current 9% approval rating that the congress now receives – and for good reason.
In the other case, the 91% of the people that disapprove of the way things are being done by congress decide to vote FOR someone they believe will actually make decisions based on principles of truth and AGAINST the status quo of political sabotage, character assassination and purposeful blockage of the things that would actually work. Even if that 91% divided their votes between 2 or 3 candidates that did not support the major parties and their corruption and failure, they would still overcome the 9% that are perfectly happy with the sad state of affairs we see today. Then a new congress with a variety of independent and new party thinking would have to work together and form alliances to get things done. From that fresh ground would naturally spring fresh ideas and cooperation instead of corruption and cronyism. That is the way it works in countries that have multiple political parties that all contribute to the solutions. That is what could work here if we stop accepting the false premise that only two parties are necessary or allowed. It would remove the concentration of power that leads to corruption and the despotism Washington warned us about. Which scenario would you prefer? Are you willing to vote and encourage others to vote to bring it about?
Lynn West is a thinker, a teacher and a patriot. You can reach him through email at forgingthefuture2021@gmail.com or through this newspaper. Liberty is a state of being which must be continually created. These articles can help all of us discover the ways we can contribute to that outcome.