US Authoritarianism

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The Crux of the Isssue (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 months ago by alphanerd4 to c/usauthoritarianism

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

On December 14, 1799, George Washington died at his home

The duopoly has been in place since the 1850s, 60 years agter the constitution was written and ratified.

Seems like we have placed blame squarely on some shoulders that died 51 years before the event took place. Not sure I'm buying the math. By the time we're counting as "the duopoly took over" he had been dead longer than I have been alive. Seems to me like the people in control over the at that point 74 years since he had been president could possibly have also influenced the direction the country took.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It was a de-facto duopoly for the first 30 years of the country, then the Whigs came in and shook everything up before the Republican party came into being. So while the 3 parties that have held the White House in the last 200 years all formed after Washington died, this was common then.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Of course Washington in particular had indeed said "that is a bad idea." I still fail to see how blame falls singularly on him, was literally every other founding father inconsequential and the entirety of our legal system was singularly written by one man?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I didn't say it is all his fault, but he was the most influential man in America from Independence until his death. He was at the Constitution convention and the only part he sat out for was when they debated the office of the head executive, since everyone knew it was going to be him.

People quote his farewell address to criticize the Democrats and GOP, but the government structure he helped create makes parties inevitable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Maybe that was another poster above, my mistake. He was indeed influential but far from the sole decider in the shaping of the country, and while yes he did help install the system that lead to the current situation it's possible that 200+ years of hindsight affects our judgement in a different way than his was, and he still foresaw the need to not get stuck in a two party system. Sure, he may not have been an omniscient all powerful being able to usher in an eternity of utopian bliss, but he tried his best to improve the station of the people at the time.