“I dare not look beyond my Nose, into futurity. Our Money, Our Commerce, our Religion, our National and State Constitutions, even our Arts and Sciences, are So many Seed Plott’s of Division Faction, Sedition and Rebellion. Every thing is transmuted into an Instrument of Electioneering.”
—John Adams, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, Feb. 1814.
To add some perspective.
Of course, John was always a Gloomy Gus.
Well it turned out he was right.
He was brilliant. The constitution he helped build has had enough strength to hold all the factions together for a long time in spite of themselves. Like the heart of rock and roll it’s still beating.
Adams would have been a candidate for anti-depressants now, but he was right. That said, he also tried to turn the government into a poison pill with his appointment of the “midnight judges.”
Yes, Adams blatantly contributed to what he complained about. So Chuck Schumer can claim to be like John Adams!