President Washington’s Warning

Our nation’s first President George Washington had forecast that our democracy would in in peril at some time due to extreme partisanship. He was right on since a stable and civil society depends on resisting intolerant extremes. A good read of our Constitution reveals that it reflects a spirit of moderation rather than an intolerant spirit. Washington understood the dangers posed by demagogues in our democratic society. There has always been the fear that our liberty and freedoms in our democracy could easily turn to anarchy and then to tyranny if not carefully protected. Now it appears that we have reached a point that extreme partisanship has caused a severe divide on what we consider to be a peaceful transfer of power after an election and that every citizen has the right to cast his ballot for the candidate of his choice. The GOP is steadfast in their desire to interfere in the Jan 6th insurrection investigation and blocks all efforts for voter election access. A case in point is the Republican objection to have Bannon appear as a potential witness to untangle Trump’s involvement in fomenting the attack on the Capital. His refusal to honor a subpoena will lead to a House criminal referral today. Congress is forced to do so in order to guard their constitutional oversight powers. The next step will be to place Bannon’s case in the hands of the DOJ under AG Garland to open a criminal case against him. If as a country we fail to protect our democracy then we deserve the anticipated fall into a potential authoritarian government.