I will say it again.. I know that I am a partisan, I freely admit it! But there is no one that is going to tell me that I wouldn’t be extremely pissed off if this was happening with a Republican in the White House, because I would be. Where are you, decent Democrats? You can see and hear the BS that is being spouted, do you care?
you claim to not be partisan... So, do you see anything wrong with the way this was handled by our current administration? I give you credit for being a smart guy but I am wasting my time reading your post if you see nothing wrong here...
Unfortunately for you, and so many others, I see so much wrong I can only see the end of the country as we once knew it. Unlike you, and others, I am not going to set and blame just one person, or one Party, for its demise. And in spite of the claims of some in forums like this, while they mouth off complaints against the Republicans they will still vote Republican just as Democrats will still vote Democratic. And it will not matter to them if the guy has been in office for 30 years, or not, if the opposition comes from a Libertarian, Natural law party, Constitutional Party, Reform Party, etc., they will still vote Republican, or Democratic.
As George Washington warned long ago:
"However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things,
to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. (Corporations, lobbiests, the wealthy)
Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the
Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable.
Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations.
Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.
This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.
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.
There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party.
But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. 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."
This one comment should have been enough warning for all, yet it has been ignored for decades, and is just as true today as then:
"It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions."
America cannot survive as long as it is involved in globalism, and foreign matters that do not threaten our security (Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, etc., as well as Vietnam, Korea, and Bosnia) Remember, the Constitution only allows for a standing Army if the country is threatened by invasion, and then for only two years at a time.
