Freedom v. Faction

Freedom v. Faction

The thought came to me this morning concerning many articles and opinions that I have read and heard since people started campaigning for the last presidential election. Most of the ideology I’ve seen expressed in print or in word was that the Democratic Party had it all together and that the Republican Party was falling apart. Others were saying that we don’t have the Democratic and Republican parties any more but Socialist parties “A” and “B”.

The entire argument about the different parties or even the trend of both parties “nudging” us toward socialism displays a myopic view of how this country is supposed to run. People have settled snuggly into a “two party” system and think that anything else is “un-American”. That’s why they defend the party they belong to even to the point of alienating others because of their strong opinions on the importance of “their” party. The following is an excerpt from Georg Washington’s Farewell address. In it Washington is warning future generations against establishing factions.

“This spirit [of party], unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

“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. 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.
“Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
“It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another. (George Washington’s Farewell Address paragraphs 21-24 underlining and italics added for emphasis)

As you can tell from Washington’s address, freedom is always in peril when party politics takes over in the nation’s capital. We need to come together as the sovereign of this country and put things right in Washington.

I feel, like President Washington suggests, that the only way to regain the principles of good government, which are contained in the Constitution, is to set party politics or “factions” aside. Not that we can just ignore the fact that people will flock together because of common ideas, but we can look for those persons from either party that believe more in the Constitution and its form of government than they do in party politics to run the country.

That’s where it stands. We are the sovereign and we need to find and elect people who think more about what is right for our country than they do about their party or themselves, but where do we find them?

It all depends on our paradigm. If we think that the only people who can win an election are the rich ones, then we will only look for an honest rich person to run. A constitutionalist doesn’t necessarily have to be rich to know how to vote on bills in Congress, so expand your vision. We need to scour each district in Texas to find the best and most conscientious individuals we can, to fill the positions of Representative and Senator in Washington. They have to meet OUR standards and commit to serve the people not the special interest groups. They have to be willing to do the hard stuff like returning to a balanced budget, reduce the deficit, and overhaul the tax system so that all pay their share of the tax burden, by whatever means it takes to do that for the benefit of the people as a whole, not just a “redistribution of wealth” that it is now.

There is an organization that has already proven itself capable of doing just what we need done, but my objective here is to make people aware that what is going on is detrimental to our success because it is pulling the people apart and that rift can only be mended by people focusing on maintaining the country’s freedom and overcoming the pull of party. If anyone is interested in the proven group I mentioned, contact me at goodomen60@gmail.com.

I would like to express my thankfulness at the interest so many Americans are paying to the grassroots movement in our country. My desire is that we all pull together to make the necessary changes in the government and not marginalize ourselves by engaging in “party politics.”