Washington's warnings are evident in front of our eyes today

The president, our first president, sat in cabinet meetings watching Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton bickering or, as Jefferson put it, ‘fighting like two cocks.’

George Washington traced the roots of that bickering back to two political parties – one, ‘The Federalist Party,’ led by Hamilton and John Adams (who loathed each other); the other, the ‘Democrat-Republican Party,’ led by Jefferson (who also loathed Hamilton).

In his last speech, before he left office and rode home to Mt. Vernon, Washington got down to brass tacks – said political parties were dangerous machines ambitious politicians used to get more power by planting jealousies, spreading false alarms, spinning tales.

He saw those foibles as human nature at work. No one could wave a wand and make them go away. They were here to stay. But he warned: Don’t trust political parties.

The father of our country then made another warning, said he saw ‘religion and morality’ as indispensable. That morality wouldn’t survive without religion.

That fall John Adams, pushing Hamilton aside, became ‘The Federalist’ nominee, was elected president; four years later Hamilton, getting even, torpedoed Adams. Jefferson was elected. And party politics rolled on.

It looks like George Washington hit the nail on the head: Political parties are human nature at work. And today we see that story repeating itself over and over in front of our eyes. The lust for power is as strong as ever.

So remember what Washington warned about political parties: Don’t trust them.

And remember his second warning – that he saw as even more important: Morality can’t survive without religion.

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