John Levin
2 min readFeb 23, 2022

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The more you know about the context of those times, the more Washington's words, and the concerns of those who wrote the Constitution, make sense.

Washington's hope that there would not be factions, ie, parties, did not even survive to the end of his own administration. The election of 1800 saw the most vicious battle between the Hamiltonian Federalists and Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party, which eventually became the Democrats.

When I read the history of those early years, I find it amazing that the country survived.

Another thing which people don't realize today is that when Washington was talking about unity, the country was NOT the United States, but was more often referred to as these United States. 13 separate colonies had come together and still strongly had their own identities. The undertone of Washington's concerns for unity was actually much much bigger than modernly appreciated.

Another issue, and this so refers to Trump, was that democracy was something that almost didn't exist in the 1790's. All the founders were aware of, and so concerned, with the history of earlier democracies like ancient Greece and Rome, and how they had all eventually fallen to demagogues and tyrants.

Lincoln, FDR, and you could even say Sam Ervin helped pull us through earlier challenges from dissolution, fascism, and Richard Nixon, but you are correct, where are similar patriots today?

Biden is trying, but in my opinion, we need a younger generation, and I am thinking of people like AOC, who are unencumbered by the outdated ideological struggles of the 20th Century and can deliver a unifying message that is relevant for upcoming times.

We'll see what happens, or if we're all deplorables.

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John Levin
John Levin

Written by John Levin

Scientist. Writer. Meditator. Blue Tantrika. Mystical Rabbi. Climate & Human Rights Activist. I’m a man of few words, except when I open my mouth.

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