September 17 is Constitution Day. This week does not seem like a good time to celebrate but maybe we should give the day its’ due any way.
This is a somber time. Charlie Kirk was assassinated just a few days ago. His murder follows too many other acts of political violence against people in both political parties.
So much for “ballots, not bullets”?
Is this a time for more division or a time for unity?
We think the answer depends upon what you value – you and all of us together.
We will use George Washington’s words to explain why. His words are astonishingly relevant to our time.
George Washington had some advice for Americans at the completion of his second term of office. We highlight just a few of his Farewell Address messages in this post. He urged us to value national unity, to be wary of political partisanship and its dangers regarding the misuse of government powers, and the importance of the Constitutional separation of powers set in resisting government tyranny.
Here is a summary of what he said. You can read his original words here, as captured by www.mountvernon.org. We have focused on his paragraphs 10 and 17-26.
The Rewards of National Unity
People inside and outside the country will try—openly or in the shadows—to make you doubt the value of unity.
National unity is the backbone of our independence. It keeps life steady at home, helps keep peace abroad, protects our safety, grows our prosperity, and guards the freedom we care about.
You have every reason—both emotional and practical—to stand together. Whether you were born here or chose this country, America deserves your loyalty and care.
The name “American” should make you prouder than any state or regional label. Aside from small differences, we share similar faith, customs, habits, and political beliefs. We fought for the same cause and won together. The independence and freedom we enjoy came from our shared planning, shared work, and the dangers, hardships, and victories we faced side by side.
Those emotional reasons are strong, but the practical ones—the ones that affect your own interests—are even stronger. Every part of the country has powerful reasons to protect and preserve the Union, and to keep the whole nation working together.
Hold on to national unity. Talk about it with pride, as the safeguard of our safety and success. Watch over it closely. Don’t entertain even a hint that we could give it up. Push back right away against any attempt to split the country or weaken the bonds that tie us together.
On Political Partisanship
Be warned, as seriously as I can say it, that the political partisanship in general is harmful and dangerous.
Partisanship is part of human nature. It grows out of strong human emotions. It shows up in every kind of government—sometimes it’s held in check, sometimes not. But in democracies, it grows the most and becomes their worst enemy.
Political partisanship always distracts our leaders and weakens the government. It stirs up baseless suspicions and false alarms, turns one group against another, and sometimes even sparks riots and uprisings. It also opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which use party loyalties to slip into the government. In the end, our country’s policies and will can end up serving another nation’s interests.
Some people think political parties are helpful in free countries because they check those in power and keep the spirit of liberty alive. That can be true—to a point. In monarchies, patriotism might even tolerate or support partisanship.
But in a fully elective government like ours, it’s not something to encourage. Human nature guarantees there will always be enough party team work to do any good it can do. Because partisanship so easily goes too far, citizens should work—through opinion and civic pressure—to cool it down.
Think of partisanship as a fire you can’t put out: it needs constant watching and tending so it warms, but does not burn.
The Danger from Political Partisanship
When one political group takes turns crushing another—driven by revenge and anger—it becomes a kind of tyranny. History shows this has led to terrible acts in many places.
Over time, the resulting chaos and misery make people want safety so badly that they accept one person with absolute power.
Sooner or later, the leader of the strongest faction—whether more skilled or just luckier—uses that desperation and anger to take all power, and then our public freedom is left in ruins.
Even without imagining the worst—though we shouldn’t forget it could happen—the everyday damage caused by political partisanship is reason enough for wise people to discourage it and keep it under control.
Any effort to block the laws from being carried out—and any group that tries to steer, pressure, or intimidate our lawful decision-makers, no matter how respectable it looks—is dangerous to our system.
These efforts build political factions and give them outsized power. They replace the people’s will, expressed through elections, with the agenda of a political party—sometimes a small but clever and aggressive minority.
When power flips back and forth, government ends up reflecting the messy, conflicting schemes of political parties instead of steady, well-considered policies shaped by broad discussion and shared interests.
Even if political parties sometimes seem to get popular results, over time they tend to become powerful tools for clever, ambitious, and unethical people.
Those people can use them to take power away from the public and grab control of the government.
And once they’re in charge, they often tear down the very groups that helped them get there.
To keep our government strong and our good way of life secure, we should do two things. First, clearly reject efforts that try to block or undermine its lawful authority. Second, be careful about calls to “improve” its basic principles. Even when the reasons sound good, those changes can be risky.
One common tactic is to use the proper legal process to push changes that quietly weaken the government’s ability to act, doing by slow steps what cannot be done outright.
When you’re asked to change the system, remember: time and habit help define how any government really works; real-world experience is the best test; and if we make it too easy to change things based only on theories and opinions, we’ll end up changing things constantly.
Because our country is so large, we need a government that is as energetic as possible while still fully protecting freedom. With powers properly divided and balanced, such a government is the surest guardian of liberty.
Freedom is little more than a name if the government is too weak to stand up to political factions, to hold everyone to the law, and to keep people safe and at peace in their rights and property.
The Value of Constitutional Checks and Balances
In a free country, we should expect our leaders to be careful and stay in their constitutional lanes. Each branch must stick to its own job and not push into the others.
When one branch starts grabbing power from another, everything can end up in one place—and that becomes real tyranny, no matter what the government is called.
Human nature loves power and often abuses it. That’s why we divide authority and set up checks and balances. History, here and abroad, proves we need these checks, and keeping them is just as important as creating them.
If the people think the powers are divided the wrong way, fix it with a constitutional amendment, as the Constitution requires.
But don’t change things by seizing power outside the rules. Even if that seems to do good once, it’s the usual way free governments are destroyed. The bad example it sets will do lasting harm that outweighs any short-term benefit.
**
George Washing left us with much to think on. Now is a good time to do so, especially with our nation’s 250th Independence Day coming up in less than a year.
If you want to learn more about how our government works, we have several short courses and a glossary waiting for you here: CFFAD.org
