Hamilton maintained state power was the primary threat to our ideal of “one nation, indivisible.” He feared states would thwart the will of the majority of people; He ridiculed the notion that a majority of the states would represent a majority of the American people; that was “sophistry,” contrary to “justice and common sense.” He warned that people might “revolt” against “receiving the law from smaller” states, which had gained status on the basis of “artificial distinctions and syllogistic subtleties.”

He wanted to put the American people-not states- in charge of the government. He declared the foundation of our national government “ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE.”

Our national government, despite its pretensions, is entirely composed of people that represent states: there is not one single official or leader of this entire country that must always solicit and receive approval from the plurality of the American people. Today our national government is determined not by what the American people think; it is determined by where they live. With the gerrymandering occurring in Texas and elsewhere, neither the Presidency, the Senate or the House will represent the American people.

Predictably, tens of millions feel alienated and estranged from the US government: it represents US citizens in a way that resembles the way the United Nations represents the world’s people.

230 years ago this month (September 1796) George Washington’s Farewell Address was published. Hamilton was the principal author and its counsel is as relevant as ever.

*The address warns that if this nation shows excessive partiality towards a foreign nation, as the US has shown towards Israel, its “tools and dupes” will control the destiny of this nation. Arguably, the US-Israeli relationship “gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens who devote themselves to the favorite nation facility to betray or sacrifice the interest of their own country.” The nation which treats another nation with “habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.” For decades, Israel has been craving a US-Iranian war. Trump delivered for Israel and flagrantly broke his campaign promises and unconstitutionally attacked Iran because he “is in some degree a slave” to Israel.

* The address encourages: “faith and justice towards all nations, cultivate peace and harmony with all.” It warns that “projects of hostility” are “instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives.” U.S. failure to follow that advice has made relations with Canada and other former allies worse than ever.

*It has a “solemn” warning that excessive partisanship will: “consolidate power,” and “enfeeble public administration.” It will “agitate the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms,” which “kindle animosity” which will “foment occasional riot and insurrection.” (January 6th? )

*Partisanship “opens the door to foreign influence and corruption.” Partisanship has obliterated our vaunted “checks and balances” which is illustrated by Trump pursuing self enrichment with foreign monarchies and Congress relinquishing war making power. (Unless Congress has members with the integrity, intelligence and independence of Mitt Romney or Liz Cheney, “checks and balances” don’t exist.)

*The Farewell Address warned that “the alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension,” will eventually lead to such disorders that it will “incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual.” Eventually, this one individual, “more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purpose of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.”

The point about elevating one individual is particularly prescient. By 2016 much of the public was weary of both parties. Donald Trump-who changed his political affiliation six times and had earlier contributed thousands to Democrats Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton-claimed he alone could fix America’s problems. He did not promote Republican platforms-a decade earlier he was not a Republican-but rather claimed his unique and phenomenal abilities would be the answer to all of America’s problems.

Trump’s opponent received 2.9 million more votes than him. (In his three presidential runs, Trump has never beat any opponent by 2.9 million votes.) But state electors thwarted the will of the people and Trump became president. (Everyone should understand: no inference about the American people’s preferences can ever be drawn from electoral college totals: The unlucky Hillary Clinton did 5% better with the American people than her husband had on his first run, but she received 25% fewer electors; the 1912 Democratic candidate got a smaller percentage of the popular vote than either of the Clintons, but he received over 98% of the electoral college vote.)

The “fundamental maxim of republican government” Hamilton declared “requires that the sense of the majority should prevail.” If the nation had adhered more closely to Hamilton’s republican ideals and adopted the popular vote for choosing presidents, as the Father of the Constitution, James Madison, had urged, Trump might have never had the opportunity to lead the nation so far afield from the lofty ideals of Washington’s Farewell Address.

Oscar Wilde remarked that the greatest service that could be performed for Christians was to convert them to Christianity. Similarly, I believe the greatest service that could be performed for Republicans is to convert them into accepting republican principles.

Rick Jones is a retired adjunct professor of economic history from Weber State University who now lives in West Haven.