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Location : Ether-Sphere Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator Humor : Über Serious
| Subject: George Washington was right about ‘baneful’ two-party politics Fri Jul 12, 2019 10:16 pm | |
| TOXIC PARTISANSHIP IN the United States is not a new problem. In 1796, President George Washington was so distressed by the way America was splitting into two political factions — the Democratic-Republicans led by Thomas Jefferson, and the Federalists of Alexander Hamilton — that he devoted much of his Farewell Address to warning his countrymen “in the most solemn manner, against the baneful effects of the spirit of party.” He acknowledged that it was natural for people with common interests to organize into competing groups. But passionate loyalty to political parties too often fueled “the most horrid enormities” — vengefulness, dissension, and repression. His admonition had little effect. The 1800 presidential election, in which Jefferson successfully challenged the Federalist incumbent, John Adams, was extraordinarily bitter. Federalists were enraged at losing the White House, and there was real fear that party hatred would ignite into violence at Jefferson’s inauguration. Fortunately, the transfer of the White House was peaceful, and Jefferson’s address is remembered for his famous plea for unity: “We are all Republicans. We are all Federalists.”
https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/07/12/george-washington-was-right-about-baneful-two-party-politics/2eLxM2oXRtMvDG7VjWP5eM/story.html |
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