Politics and "What the Founding Fathers Wanted"

I can't take full credit for this, because a buddy of mine was posting some comments on another site, but I thought it made a whole lot of sense.

In the political season where everyone seems to know "what the founding fathers wanted", there were some very good points in George Washington's farewell address after his term that nobody seems to have listened to.

You can read the whole lot of it here, [URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington's_Farewell_Address[/URL] but I'm talking particularly about the points he makes about POLITICAL PARTIES and their detriment to our government system. Personally, I think old wooden teeth was spot on.

[B]Political parties[/B]

Washington continues to advance his idea of the dangers of sectionalism and expands his warning to include the dangers of political parties to the government and country as a whole. His warnings took on added significance with the recent creation of the Democratic-Republican Party by Jefferson, to oppose Hamilton's Federalist Party, which had been created a year earlier in 1791, which in many ways promoted the interest of certain regions and groups of Americans over others. A more pressing concern for Washington, which he makes reference to in this portion of the address, was the Democratic-Republican efforts to align with France and the Federalist efforts to ally the nation with Great Britain in an ongoing conflict between the two European nations brought about by the [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution"]French Revolution[/URL].

While Washington accepts the fact that it is natural for people to organize and operate within groups like political parties, he also argues that every government has recognized political parties as an enemy and has sought to repress them because of their tendency to seek more power than other groups and take revenge on political opponents.[SUP][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington's_Farewell_Address#cite_note-10"][11][/URL][/SUP].

Moreover, Washington makes the case that "the alternate domination" of one party over another and coinciding efforts to exact revenge upon their opponents have led to horrible atrocities, and "is itself a frightful [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Despotism"]despotism[/URL]. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism." From Washington's perspective and judgment, the tendency of political parties toward permanent despotism is because they eventually and "gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual."[SUP][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington's_Farewell_Address#cite_note-11"][12][/URL]
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Washington goes on to acknowledge the fact that parties are sometimes beneficial in promoting liberty in [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarchy"]monarchies[/URL], but argues that political parties must be restrained in a popularly elected government because of their tendency to distract the government from their duties, create unfounded jealousies among groups and regions, raise false alarms amongst the people, promote riots and insurrection, and provide foreign nations and interests access to the government where they can impose their will upon the country.

Man that reads like a page from today's political climate......It's amazing how this rings true today!

"create unfounded jealousies among groups and regions, raise false alarms amongst the people, promote riots and insurrection, and provide foreign nations and interests access to the government where they can impose their will upon the country."

That's right, those words do read like a description of American politics today.

Something else I've come to believe recently. Can't remember where I first came across this, and I can't find the link right now, but I really think this is true. When discussing constitutional issues, or sometimes even just politics in general, people often throw out that phrase, "what the Founding Fathers wanted," as if that is supposed to be the Gold Standard that answers all questions. But would the Founding Fathers really have wanted THAT? To be put up on such a pedestal that they in a sense continue to rule the country, centuries after their deaths? I think not. I think they were mostly humble men, who recognized themselves as imperfect human beings, and knew that anything they produced would, by extension, also be imperfect. And I believe they intended for the Constitution to be a fluid document, able to change and adapt to changing times. And so, I think that, if we are going to base our decisions on "what the Founding Fathers wanted," well, what they wanted was for us to carefully consider what is best for this county NOW, not on what we think somebody who died 200 years ago would have thought.