In his farewell address (1796), President George Washington warned his countrymen (women could not yet vote) of the dangers inherent in an antagonistic party system. His words come from a Yale archive; emphasis added:
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State … [let me] warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally…
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 finds 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…
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.
I discovered this gem reading Chapter 8 of Beautiful Visualization (O’Reilly). In it, Andrew Odewahn creates a series of visualizations of the U.S. Senate, from January 1991 to January 2009. Using voting records, he documents the polarization that occurred after the “Republican Revolution.” The 102nd Senate is characterized by “a considerable degree of overlap in the center is apparent.” The overlap completely disappeared in the 104th Senate; it re-emerged, somewhat, in the 107th Senate (Jan 2001-Jan 2003). What is most intriguing to me is that the “center” — in terms of voting record — has belonged, in the main, to Republicans. That is, it was statesmen in the Republican Party who were reaching across the proverbial aisle. Perhaps that is a reflection of the party’s position as the minority; once they achieved majority status, they no longer needed to make overtures.
In any case, I think that Washington’s warning bears shouting from the rooftops.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com