The Founders Flip-Flopped, Too

The Harrisburg Patriot-News

August 31, 2008

On March 14, 2004, presidential candidate and current Senator John Kerry claimed that he “voted for [a soldier funding proposal in Iraq] before I voted against it.” This boondoggle quickly painted Kerry into a corner, and framed him with the disparaging political term – the “flip-flopper.”

In the 2008 election, the term has become even more pervasive and commonplace. Sen. John McCain has been accused of changing his stance on a laundry list of measures: from his stance on immigration, supporting Pres. Bush’s tax cuts, or encouraging off-shore drilling. Sen. Barack Obama has also been accused of banking a few U-turns, sharing McCain’s off-shore drilling stance, while now supporting FISA and neglecting public financing.

The media’s fascination with tracking these changes of position led me to wonder – were the Founding Fathers flip-floppers?

Unquestionably.

Pres. George Washington was elected to office as a nonpartisan. He in fact promised to avoid partisanship. Yet it was Washington who became the adulation of the Federalist Party and a strong national government. He created a rift with Democratic-Republicans by expelling the French diplomat “Citizen Genet,” who roused Jeffersonian supporters to aid France in their war with Britain. Washington ironically should remain the only president elected without a party because of the partisanship of his own administration.

Thomas Jefferson also belongs to this list. The 18^th century libertarian and a one of the most vocal opponents of nationalized government didn’t hesitate to use his presidential influence to conduct the Louisiana Purchase. This $23 million transaction (approximately 1/3 of the GDP at the time) was a major government expenditure. Many argued that if Federalist John Adams had proposed this measure, Jefferson would have surely opposed it.

Pres. Adams himself turned on his own Federalist Party as they grew hungry for war with France. His administration, creators of the first FISA-like Alien & Sedition Acts, was bent on curbing foreign espionage. They later used this as a vehicle to level the Democratic-Republican Party; yet when Adams stepped in and overturned the Acts as well as the French “Quasi-War,” ironically the only things leveled were his own party and his chances of re-election.

The biggest flip-flopper of all was James Madison. He was the author of more than 1/3 of the Federalist Papers, a 1788 compendium with the sole intention of convincing America to support Federalist policies and to rally around a strong central government. Madison created the binding document that gave birth to such a government. But three years later, the “Father of The Constitution” switched parties and systemically fought for a Bill of Rights to give more power to the individual states and Americans themselves.

Though John Kerry wouldn’t know it, flip-flopping is as American as apple pie. In fact, voters should fear candidates who remain inflexible and rigid on some issues. As our nation grows and we unearth technological, military, and economic shifts in our culture and world, we shouldn’t be measuring the quality of a candidate by merely their first opinions and moral standards but also on their ability to do what’s best for America at any and all times.