'The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. 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.'

'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. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.'

'As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives...'

Washington's Farewell Address

George warned about the Despots, their wasteful spending, their odious spin and self-promotion.

I'd opine, on reading these thoughts, and given Obama's and Pelosi's performances George would probably back the Tea Party today... and probably would have voted for John McCain.

I did not think the Bush/Howard haters could get any worse. How delightful should Palin/Abbott come to power. The froth coming from the mouth of the 'intellectual' elite would be something to watch.

This "fear" story put out by the Left is their way of avoiding personal responsibility for their own failure and the subsequent voter backlash.

They believe the voting populace is stupid and primitive, easily swayed by 'fear' and should just trust their wonderful ideas which will be wonderful in the end. No the people are unhappy.. very unhappy.The country is in a mess and Obama has not been the saviour all had hoped for.

The reality is that Obama has not performed anywhere near expectations and appears to have a fawning and apologetic approach to some dubious overseas regimes. This causes Americans some trepidation.

So,there is fear. Fear the country is going down the gurgler with 12% unemployment in some parts and a leader who is floundering.

In relation to fear in Politics, the truth, is that the Left are the biggest scaremongers by far, preaching gloom and doom if a Conservative is ever elected. Gillard tried that one on Abbott in the last election here and nearly got rolled for it.

The U.S. is having to reexamine its priorities in the wake of the Bush Administrations gross lack of regulatory governance and its mega expenditure undertaken to further its capitalistic worldwide hegemony.
Obama, of course, has not been the "instant" saviour that everyone(in their ignorance) assumed would magically convert things back "to the way they should be".
Under the U.S. system, it's not specifically the fault of left or right - just capitalism turning full circle on itself, leaving the home of unrestrained private enterprise to be out-performed by "communist"(Lol) China.
Interesting times...

Incredible isn’t it? Here we have a bloke who worked for, & with Rudd, in the worst government yet known in Oz, & he has the hide to denigrate Palin. Now she may not be the brightest spark in the fire, but she could run rings around the other three offered in that presidential election.

With the choice of a silly old fart, & a fool, they chose the fool, then he chose the idiot for Foreign Secretory. The states ended up with dumb, & dumber, just like Oz. They could only go on for so long, patting themselves on the back, for their maturity, before they actually saw their stupidity for what it was.

We had better start to learn from the US. They at least had the sense to correct their foolishness, as far as they could, as soon as possible. We on the other hand were silly enough to perpetuate our mistakes, or at least not correct them fully. You would have say sanity came closer in the US than it did here.

About the only skill you need to be a good president or PM is the ability to sort the good advice, from the bad, & then take that advice. Simple really.

However, when you get dills who think they are smart, & sure they know it all, they won’t even listen to, & evaluate, that advice. We sure seem to have had our fill of that type in power recently

It seems to be a foible of human nature, for people to commonly
blame eveyone but themselves, when things go wrong.

So it is in the US, where Obama is the convenient scapegoat,
for Americans having got it so wrong, by electing Bush/Cheney
twice.

Bush/Cheney effectively drove the US economy into a ditch and
digging it out, is going to take more then the magic wand which
some expected Obama to bring with him.

Americans also need to blame themselves, for spending far mor
then they earned for far too long. Eventually the crunch came,
as was to be expected.

But lets deny all that, we'll just blame the black guy.

Where were the tea party, when Bush was going off the rails?