Party time is over

In his farewell address to an infant nation, George Washington presciently warned about the dangers of political parties, predicting that these entities would inevitably degenerate into vehicles used by the dangerous and deceptive among us. None of our originating documents mentions political parties nor are any authorities or duties assigned to these organizations.

The fears of our greatest and most selfless president have come to pass. The two dominant parties pander for plenary power with varying degrees of prevarications promising fiscal entitlements or punitive taxation that are the very antithesis to equality under the law. They use the Constitution as a punch line to be wielded against their opponent when in the minority while considering the same document a situationally relevant suggestion when in the majority. Both subscribe to the “We must do something” action imperative, frequently exacerbating the original issue by disregarding foreseeably unintended consequences.

If the citizens of this republic continue to choose party or divisive confiscatory gain over the legitimate principles of governance upon which we were founded, then the words of another highly regarded president come to mind: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” These spoken as the nation plunged toward partisan, inflamed carnage.

Gary Warren

Spokane