J. Pierpont Morgan once said: “A man always has two reasons for what he does—a good one, and the real one.” Morgan’s quote can to be applied to our current chaotic political culture.

Politicians usually tell their constituents that they are running for office because they want to serve the public. That usually is the good reason. The real reason is a desire to get into power and then to stay there.

There are a few exceptions to this rule. One of those exceptions requires us to goes back to 460 B.C.

Rome faced an invasion from the east. Roman leaders called on Cincinnatus , a former Roman consul, to come back from retirement to save the republic. Cincinnatus had retired to work on his beloved farm. He was made dictator for six months. Mounting a defense, he was able to defeat the enemy in just sixteen days. Rather than continue as dictator as an excuse to build up his wealth, power, and status, Cincinnatus resigned his position and went back to work on his farm.

His actions are so unusual that he is remembered to this day as a selfless public servant who cared for the common good. Cincinnati is named after him. George Washington saw Cincinnatus as a role model of leadership for the new nation of the United States. Washington could have become King George I, but instead, he resigned his generalship and went back to Mt. Vernon to work on his farm.

After Washington helped to create and ratify the U.S. Constitution, he was nominated and won the honor of becoming the first U.S. President by unanimous consent. Rather than retiring after four years to Mt. Vernon, Washington chose to stay on for a second term to make sure the government had more years to settle in as a new nation. At the end of his second four years, he chose to step down, thus setting the precedent of presidents serving only two terms. This precedent endured until the Great Depression when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected for four terms.

We have a current presidential candidate who lost in 2020, but who is still claiming that the election was stolen. On Jan. 6, 2021, he encouraged his followers to overthrow the election by having them storm the U.S. Capitol. Since then, he has been indicted in three different states and the District of Columbia on a total of 91 felony charges. When asked whether he would accept defeat if voters do not reelect him in November, he hedged and threatened violence instead.

In Washington state, three of the Democratic gubernatorial candidates who registered to run are named Bob Ferguson; one is the current state attorney general, and the other two were recruited by a Republican. That is not an accident. It is a cynical ploy to confuse and divide the state’s electorate on the part of the Republicans. The tactics employed in both cases are in no way close to the ideals and attitude of Cincinnatus. The contrast is breathtaking and frightening.

This spring quarter I was asked to come back to teach a high school completion Civics and Government class at Green River College after four years of retirement. Teaching the class reminded me of Cincinnatus and his role model of public service and concern for the common good. I thought that the reminder of the ideals provided by Cincinnatus and George Washington at the beginning of our nation’s Constitutional history would show how far we have strayed from the Framers’ original ideals.

We are at a period of crisis in our nation’s history that equals the time of the American Civil War, World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. During times of crisis, it’s hard to keep our eyes on the prize and not throw out our democracy and allow it to decline into dictatorship.

The United States has gotten through tough times before. I expect it to do so again, but it will require the same selfless attitude that Cincinnatus modeled. This time the American voters will have to have to become Cincinnatus and rise up to save the nation from our nation’s own internal foes. Are you up to the challenge?

We’ll find out in November.