Upon Learning of the State of the Union in the Year 2Jesus’s moral imperativesvoices responding to contemporary America’s crises. Continue with Lincoln’s constitutional warnings, FDR’s economic justice conc[FDR’s economic justice concerns](./2025-06-30-fdr-speech-2025.md)ives. For insights into the creative process, see On Channeling Historical Voices.
My Fellow CitiOn Channeling Historical Voicesddress you from beyond the veil of time, having observed what has become of the republic we fought so dearly to establish. The nation I helped birth in liberty has grown mighty beyond our founders’ wildest imagination, yet I fear it now teeters upon the precipice of that very tyranny we sacrificed blood and treasure to escape.
On the Concentration of Power
When we crafted our Constitution, we were most deliberate in dividing power among three branches, for we had learned through bitter experience that power concentrated in any single man or office leads inevitably to despotism. Yet I observe with alarm that the present Executive has arrogated unto himself authorities that properly belong to Congress and has shown open contempt for the restraints of the Judiciary.
The power of the purse, which we specifically granted to the people’s representatives in Congress, is now claimed by executive decree. Federal funds are frozen or withheld at presidential whim, making a mockery of legislative authority. When judges issue orders to check such overreach, they are met not with compliance, but with threats of impeachment and accusations of illegitimacy.
This is precisely the path by which republics perish and monarchies are born.
On Faction and Party Spirit
In my Farewell Address, I warned you most earnestly against the baneful effects of the spirit of party. I foresaw that faction would become “a fire not to be quenched” that would demand “uniform complacence” and seek to make itself “the absolute master of our country.”
How prophetic those words now seem! The very approval ratings you cite—86% among one party, 93% opposition from another—reveal a nation no longer united in common cause, but divided into warring camps that view each other not as fellow citizens with honest disagreements, but as enemies to be vanquished.
When citizens can no longer find common ground on fundamental questions of law and governance, when they retreat into separate spheres of information and belief, the bonds that hold a republic together begin to fray beyond repair.
On the Abuse of Emergency Powers and War-Making Authority
I observe with particular dismay the routine invocation of “emergency” powers to bypass the normal deliberations of government. Tariffs imposed through emergency declarations, military forces deployed domestically, and the wholesale reorganization of government conducted through executive order alone—these are the tools of autocrats, not the careful governance of a free people.
But now I witness something far more grave: the power to make war—the most solemn responsibility of government—exercised in complete disregard of constitutional restraints. The recent bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities, conducted without Congressional authorization and with deliberate exclusion of opposition leaders from consultation, represents the most dangerous concentration of power I have observed.
When a single man can order the dropping of massive bombs on a sovereign nation, potentially igniting a wider war that could engulf the region and endanger American lives worldwide, we have abandoned not merely constitutional process but the very essence of republican government. The power to declare war belongs to Congress precisely because such momentous decisions must never rest in the hands of one individual, no matter his office.
On the Persecution of Political Opposition
Perhaps most troubling is the weaponization of federal law enforcement against political opponents. When the machinery of justice is turned to serve partisan ends—investigating critics, stripping security clearances from those who speak uncomfortable truths, threatening the tax-exempt status of dissenting institutions—we witness the corruption of the very foundations of civil society.
A republic cannot long endure when its leaders use the power of government to silence opposition rather than answer it with reason and debate.
On Immigration and Our National Character
While I understand the nation’s desire to control its borders—a right and duty of every sovereign state—I am troubled by the manner in which this has been pursued. The mass deportation of persons previously granted legal status, the deployment of military forces against civilian populations, and the invocation of wartime authorities against people seeking refuge speak to a hardening of the American heart that ill befits our national character.
We were once a beacon to the oppressed of the world. Let us not become the oppressor we once fled.
On Economic Wisdom
The tariff policies now pursued remind me uncomfortably of the disputes that plagued our early republic. Trade wars benefit no nation; they impoverish all parties and breed the very conflicts they purport to prevent. When learned economists warn of recession and ordinary citizens feel the pinch of rising prices, perhaps it is time to reconsider whether economic nationalism serves the people’s true interests.
A Call to Constitutional Principles
Yet I do not despair entirely, for I see that judges still uphold the law against executive overreach, that citizens still assemble to voice their grievances, and that the machinery of elections continues to function. The Constitution yet lives, though it is sorely tested.
Recent events have pushed us to the very brink of constitutional collapse. When a president can unilaterally launch military strikes against another nation while deliberately excluding Congress from consultation, when intelligence assessments are dismissed in favor of political claims, when the power to make war becomes the prerogative of a single individual—we approach the very tyranny our Revolution was fought to prevent.
I call upon you, as I called upon your forebears, to remember that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. No single election, no matter how decisive, grants any leader the right to overturn the careful balance of powers we established. No crisis, however pressing, justifies the abandonment of constitutional constraints. No foreign threat, however real, permits the concentration of war-making power in one man’s hands.
To Future Generations
To those who would preserve this republic for future generations, I offer this counsel:
Defend the separation of powers with the same vigor you would defend your homes. When any branch of government exceeds its proper bounds, it is not merely abstract principle at stake, but the very liberty of your children and your children’s children. When war powers are usurped by the executive, when Congress is deliberately excluded from decisions that could lead to global conflict, when intelligence is subordinated to political narrative—the Republic itself hangs in the balance.
Reject the spirit of faction that seeks to divide Americans into irreconcilable camps. Remember that you are citizens first, partisans second, and that the man who cannot acknowledge the patriotism of his political opponents has already half-surrendered his claim to citizenship. The recent exclusion of opposition leaders from war consultations represents exactly the kind of factional governance I warned would destroy our union.
Demand accountability from your representatives. A government that acts in secret, that refuses to explain its actions, that claims emergency powers as routine privileges, or that launches military strikes without constitutional authorization is a government that has forgotten it serves at your pleasure, not the reverse.
Cherish your constitutional rights not as abstractions, but as the living inheritance of those who died to secure them. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, due process of law, and above all, the right of your elected representatives to deliberate on war and peace—these are not privileges to be granted or withdrawn by government, but sacred trusts to be guarded by each generation.
In Closing
I had hoped to return to Mount Vernon for eternal rest, confident that the republic would long outlive its founders. Instead, I find myself compelled to speak once more in defense of principles that should require no defense.
The choice before you is more urgent than any faced by previous generations of Americans: Will you preserve the constitutional republic for which we sacrificed everything, or will you allow it to become the very tyranny we fought to escape? Will you permit the concentration of war-making power in a single individual, or will you restore the deliberative process that separates free government from despotism?
Recent events have shown how quickly republican government can deteriorate when constitutional restraints are abandoned. The power to launch military strikes that could ignite regional war, exercised without consultation with the people’s representatives, represents exactly the kind of arbitrary rule that drove us to revolution in 1776.
I pray you choose wisely, for upon your choice hangs not merely the fate of America, but the hope of free people everywhere. The world watches to see whether a republic can long endure when its leaders claim the prerogatives of kings.
May Providence watch over this republic, and may its citizens prove worthy of the inheritance they have received.
Your devoted servant in liberty,
George Washington
First President of the United States
Given this day in the year of our Lord 2025
“Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”