The fact that the farewell address of our first President, over 200 years ago, is still applicable today is a testament to the wisdom of our Fore Fathers in creating a lasting foundation for our country. As the Constitution and the Bill of Rights provide concrete structure to who we are, President Washington’s Farewell Address provides counsel as to who we should be. The status of our country from fledging infant to world super power tests the limitations of the guidelines provided by Washington. His opinions regarding the role of political parties, the dangers of foreign alliances militarily, politically and commercially all ring true today. It is clear that in most instances we have drifted from his admonitions, perhaps caught in the tide of a changing world, yet nonetheless in disregard for the portents of one of our most revered leaders.
Washington states the success of a people “ presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government” (216). While our cities are not overrun with lawlessness, there is a strong feeling of distrust in our government. Listen to the declarations of Presidential candidate Sanders as he calls for an end to the big money influences on government. The mere fact that so many citizens are ready to support a businessman with no political experience like Donald Trump for President implies a lack of faith in our federal government.
While this call for change supports the idea of political parties as a check on established government power (Washington 217), Washington’s warning that political parties “agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against the other” (216) has been illustrated in the degeneration of the Republican candidates’ debates where personal insults stole the spotlight from any real discussion of the pertinent issues. Party partisan politics has come in conflict with constitutional responsibility in the blatant disregard of the Republican Senators to follow the constitutional instruction to hold hearings on President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy. While the Supreme Court justices are an anomaly in their influence because of their lifetime appointment that spans Presidential terms, to totally ignore the constitutionally designed process based on purely party lines is another example of the disregard of the cautions put forth in the Address.
The call to ‘ steer clear of permanent alliances .” (219) is one of the lasting impressions of Washington’s influence. It carried the day early on with the creation of the Monroe Doctrine and a hundred years later in President Wilson’s adherence to neutrality in the early years of the First World War. However as the United States has emerged as a super power, if not ‘thee super power’ today, we find it difficult to remain on the outside. Washington’s admonishment that “a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils” (218) is evident in our strong ties with Israel and our presence in the Middle East through decades of change, as a determining factor of the 9-11 attacks. The forewarning of the dangers of foreign commercial relations (218) that utilize political connections is apparent in our role as a protecting force in the oil fields of the Middle East that led to war in Iraq and an ongoing presence in Afghanistan.
While adhering to the general guidelines of our forefathers, our growth as a country and globalization has influenced us to stray from the caveats of President Washington. The current personal insults bandied about by the Republican Party candidates have brought out the worst in our political system. Our deep involvement in the Middle East and the loss of lives brought on by our attachments politically and commercially fly in the face of the warnings within the Farewell Address.
Works Cited
Washington, George. “Farewell Address, September 17, 1796.” Great Issues in American History Vol 1. Ed. Richard Hofstadter. New York: Random House, 1958. 214-220. Print.
