On September 19, 1796, in his Farewell Address George Washington warned America on the rise of a Donald Trump and today’s Republican party.

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. – George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

There is no doubt that today we as a country are senselessly divided. Sadly, much of this division is not based on any ideology by the people on what is best for the people, but rather on the fear of the unknown, an irrational fear that leads to isolation. This, in turn, leads to a lack of understanding about our differences, which leads to the continuous growth of the prejudices we all have within us. Prejudices are only stripped away as we begin to understand those who differ from us.

The Donald Trumps of the world prey on these prejudices to advance their wealth and power. Thriving on chaos and division, which they create, they speak non-truths and keep the people divided against each other rather than uniting for their betterment. Their power is rooted in our fear of each other. It is to their advantage for us to hate each other, lose our compassion for each other, and build walls separating us. This strategy allows them to take advantage of us all. As Suzy Kassem wrote

When two brothers are busy fighting, an evil man can easily attack and rob their poor mother.

This has allowed them to divide America based on political parties, and as Washington warned, this is disastrous.  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.

As Americans, they have led us down a path where we are more concerned with ensuring our “team” wins rather than educating ourselves on the issues and how they will impact us. We have blind allegiance to those in power if they have a {R} or a {D} after their name. We have ceded the very government we so proudly hold dear to a few hundred individuals who profit on our ignorance. Our desire to have our “team” win means the powerful do not even need to hide their deception; they do it right in front of us. Our minds have become blind to their lies, deceit, and corruption. The more the masses allow their minds to be blinded, the easier it is to manipulate them. They simply follow their “team,” nodding in agreement with whatever decisions it makes. This thinking removes any sense of accountability from those in power. Albert Einstein once commented.

“Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.”

For any democracy to effectively govern for the good of the citizens, it represents those citizens must be informed about issues that can improve their lives. In many countries, the will of the people has been sapped by the government. In Donald Trump’s America, a segment of society has made the conscious decision to surrender their will to a small percentage of the rich and powerful depending on what letter they have behind their name.

For our democracy to survive, we cannot allow our government to be dependent on political ignorance, and blind allegiance as it will surely be the downfall of the great experiment America was born of – a government of the people, by the people, for the people. If we continue along the path we are on now, we will become a country whose citizens:

Turns a blind eye to social injustice,

Condones immoral behavior from their leaders

Believes anything that those in power tell them rather than educating themselves.

Allows their government to be run by and to the benefit of the wealthy few.

Once we have allowed this, we need not worry about our enemies because, in time, we will destroy ourselves from with-in

It is only in the thinking of a free and educated country that we will inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, and avoid the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. An encroachment that tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create a despotism, 

Donald Trump’s lust for power, greed, and corruption is an intrinsic characteristic of human behavior, and while most of us make a conscious decision not to embrace these traits, Trump has shown himself not to be one of them. As a nation, we must not be blinded to this and consider he is above reproach simply because of the {R} after his name. We must strive as Americans to rise above the evil that seeks to divide us. We must stand together and keep moving forward as a society. We must marginalize those who refuse to embrace the diversity that made us great in the first place. It is only through one unifying voice that we will be able to change the despair of today into the promise of tomorrow. It is our moral responsibility to foster an atmosphere that strengthens the capacity of society at large. To point out corruption where it exists and build transparent and accountable systems of governance to ensure that the vulnerable are not taken advantage of. For a society that boasts of being so enlightened, this should be an easy task, but alas, it is not. Sadly, a segment among us are caught up in their prejudices easily manipulated to embrace as their leaders anyone who enables their innate distrust and, in many cases, hatred of anyone who doesn’t look or think like them. To believe that only the Donald Trumps of the world can protect them.

But of course, Trump promotes this narrative only to increase his power and wealth and promote his hate agenda. He does this through lies, corruption, and without any concern for Americans.

He tries to silence those of us who would rise to question him by questioning our patriotism, but we must not allow his noise to cower us into silence. We must remain vigilant and continue to point out his hypocrisy, hatred, and corruption at every turn. If we do not, we are doomed as a society. As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said:

“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousandfold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.

Some of us are Republicans, some Democrats, and some independents, some people of color, some not. Some heterosexual, some homosexual, some bisexual. Some Christian, some Muslim, some Jewish, some atheists but in the end, we are all American, we are all humans, and we will never move forward as a nation until we come to understand that.