“The dupes of other men.”
Noah Webster told us exactly what happens when people join a political party – they become mindless puppets of people in power. His timeless warning that “faction is death to liberty” is one we can’t afford to ignore any longer.
FREEDOM LOST
Most people think the greatest threats we face come from foreign enemies or corrupt politicians. But not according to Noah Webster. He warned – if you really want to destroy everything good, you only need one thing: FACTIONS!
“Were the councils of hell united to invent expedients for depriving men of the little portion of good they are destined to enjoy on this earth, the only measure they need adopt for this purpose, would be, to introduce factions into the bosom of the country.”
And it starts the instant you sign up for a political party – you lose your freedom of thought.
“The moment a man is attached to a club, his mind is not free”
The simple act of joining starts the chain of loyalty.
“When men are once united, in whatever form, or upon whatever occasion, the union creates a partiality or friendship for each member of the party or society.”
And even when people join for one reason, they tend to get infected with all the others.
“A coalition for any purpose creates an attachment, and inspires a confidence in the individuals of the party, which does not die with the cause which united them; but continues, and extends to every other object of social intercourse.”
From there, people quickly stop thinking for themselves, and just start believing their party or faction over anything else.
“Hence arises what is called bigotry or illiberality. Persons who are united on any occasion, are more apt to believe the prevailing opinions of their society, than the prevailing opinions of another society.”
And that leads to the same place every time: MY TEAM RIGHT, OTHER TEAM WRONG.
“Hence the full persuasion in every society that theirs is right; and if right, others of course are wrong.”
Ultimately, the topic doesn’t matter, and neither does the country or the time in history. It happens everywhere.
“Totally immaterial is it, what is the subject of controversy; or in what age or country the parties live. The object may change, but the imperious spirit of triumphant faction is always the same.”
Think about the implications of that. If people decide what’s right or wrong based on which team is saying it, that destroys the entire foundation of truth. Especially when sides so often change their tune based on which team is in power.
With that in mind, it’s pretty obvious why Webster’s conclusion is the only logical one.
“Nothing is more dangerous to the cause of truth and liberty than a party-spirit.”
The worst part? This approach gets handed down – generation after generation – long after anyone remembers what started it.
“Such is the progress of party-spirit; and a single question will often give rise to a party, that will continue for generations; and the same men or their adherents will continue to divide on other questions, that have not the remotest connection with the first point of contention.”
ENEMIES EVERYWHERE
But factions and parties don’t just corrupt your understanding of the truth. Anyone and everyone can be seen as the enemy.
“A party-spirit is hostile to all friendly intercourse: it inflames the passions; it sours the mind; it destroys good neighborhood”
Even worse – they completely infect all aspects of society.
“it warps the judgment in judicial determinations: it banishes candor and substitutes prejudice; it restrains the exercise of benevolent affections; and in proportion as it chills the warm affections of the soul, it undermines the whole system of moral virtue.”
And the excuse is always the same.
Our way of life is under threat. These other people are dangerous, and dangerous people must be destroyed.
“It is only to revive the stale plea of necessity; the state or the church is in danger from opinions; then the rack, the stake or the guillotine must crush the heresy—the heretics must be exterminated.”
Once that excuse takes hold, it always ends the same way – open season for open violence.
“And when one party attempts in practice to interfere with the opinions of another party, violence most generally succeeds.”
This was nothing new to Webster. The worst empires in history used the same playbook.
“It is the precise mode in which the Roman emperors decided christianity to be dangerous—the precise mode in which the Chinese emperors reasoned to justify the expulsion of christians from their dominions; and a mode which a violent ruling faction always employs to silence opposition.”
PATH TO TYRANNY
Webster mapped out how this happens – a path – a chain reaction.
“It may be useful to trace the progress of party-spirit to faction first, and then of course to tyranny.”
It usually starts with something small.
“Contentions usually spring out of points which are trifling, speculative, or of doubtful tendency.”
For example, a political leader with a personal grudge is the one that seems to happen most often.
“Among trifling causes I rank personal injuries. It has frequently happened that an affront offered by one leading man in a state to another, has disquieted the whole state, and even caused a revolution. The real interest of the people has nothing to do with private resentments, and ought never to be affected by them, yet nothing is more common.”
Webster saw this personal grudge situation as much more likely and dangerous in a republic.
“And republics are more liable to suffer changes and convulsions, on account of personal quarrels, than any other species of government”
He explained why. When people choose their leaders, they tend to trust their guy and fall for anything he tells them.
“Because the individuals, who have acquired the confidence of the people, can always fabricate some reasons for rousing their passions—some pretext of public good may be invented, when the man has his own passions to gratify—the minds of the populace are easily enflamed—and strong parties may be raised on the most frivolous occasions.”
Factions also get violent over policies that are purely theoretical.
“Another cause of violent parties is frequently a difference of opinion on speculative questions, or those, whose real tendency to secure public happiness is equivocal.”
From there, both sides dig in their heels – and being right takes a back seat to beating the other side. It’s “win at all costs,” truth be damned.
“Both become assured they are right—confidence inspires boldness and expectation of success—pride comes in aid of argument—the passions are inflamed—the merits of the cause become a subordinate consideration—victory is the object and not public good”
This just creates an endless cycle of domination, revenge and destruction. Back and forth, one side to the other.
“Success inspires one party with pride, and they assume the airs of conquerors; disappointment sours the minds of the other—and thus the contest ends in creating violent passions which are always ready to enlist into every other cause.”
HISTORY’S VERDICT
The wreckage from all this? It’s everywhere in the history books. The greatest ancient civilizations ripped themselves apart from the inside.
“It was faction that kept the states of Greece and Rome in perpetual perturbation; it was faction which was an incessant scourge of merit; it was faction which produced endless dissension and frequent civil wars”
Parties and factions turn civilized people into absolute savages until the chaos gets so bad they willingly hand their freedom to a dictator.
“it was faction which converted a polite people, into barbarous persecutors, as it has done in France; and which finally compelled the brave republicans of Rome to suffer a voluntary death, or to shelter themselves from the fury of contending parties, beneath the scepter of an emperor.”
People who want more power know this too. So they always cloak their terror in the language of freedom.
“Liberty is the cry of these men, while with the grimace of a Cromwell, they deprive every man who will not go all the lengths of their rash measures, of both liberty and life. A free republic, is their perpetual cant; yet to establish their own ideas of this free government, they have formed and now exercise throughout France a military aristocracy, the most bloody and despotic recorded in history.”
THEY’RE PUPPETS
People aren’t able to support this kind of thing without losing some of their humanity. They first start by arguing over issues they never cared about just because their team demands it.
“He receives a biass from the opinions of the party: A question indifferent to him, is no longer indifferent, when it materially effects a brother of the society.”
Before long, they start ignoring their own morals and values just to avoid the wrath of the party.
“He is not left to act for himself; he is bound in honor to take part with the society—his pride and his prejudices, if at war with his opinion, will commonly obtain the victory; and rather than incur the ridicule or censure of his associates, he will countenance their measures, at all hazards”
Initially, they join these factions and parties thinking they are defending liberty. But they are really just volunteering to surrender their own minds – and get used by someone else.
“They do not consider, that when men become members of a political club, they lose their individual independence of mind; that they lose their impartiality of thinking and acting; and become the dupes of other men.”
In the end – Webster said they aren’t truly free anymore. They’re just mindless puppets controlled by the politicians in power.
“And thus an independant freeman is converted into a mere walking machine, a convenient engine of party leaders.”
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