Messages from the Mid-Terms – Courtesy of America’s Founders

Voter anger about the war in Iran, affordability, immigration and even data centers are among explanations offered for the mid-term results. Yet something below the surface of these deserves attention. Perhaps many voters were reminding politicians of both parties about some founding principles of our republic.       

·       Public Virtue is Essential

“Public Virtue . . . is the only Foundation of Republics.  There must be a positive Passion for the public good, the public Interest . . . or there can be no Republican Government, nor any real Liberty.” – John Adams to Mercy Otis Warren, April 16, 1776

Public virtue in the founding period meant a commitment to honor, integrity, the rule of law and self-restraint in service to the public good.  Sadly, in a recent Gallup poll 89 percent of Americans said “government corruption” is widespread.  Voters want candidates who tell the truth, follow the law and put America’s needs above their own financial interests and re-election. Candidates who abandoned these virtues often lost.

·       Majority Rule Must Respect Minority Rights

“All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” – Thomas Jefferson, Inaugural Address, 1801

After the bitterly fought 1800 election between Jefferson and sitting President John Adams, Jefferson sought to heal divisions. Political winners, he said, have a moral and civic responsibility to the losers. Many mid-term voters this year were angry that the existing majority party ignored the minority just because they could. Should the incoming majority act similarly it will continue the belief expressed in a recent poll by a quarter of Americans that democracy isn’t working well.

·       Compromise is Essential

"And if no compromise should take place, our meeting would not only be in vain but worse than in vain." – Oliver Ellsworth, Constitutional Convention delegate, June 29, 1787

At the Constitutional Convention delegates hotly debated whether representation in the House and Senate should be based on the population of each state or should be equal for all states.  Ellsworth pleaded for a compromise.  The “Great Compromise” based representation in the House on population (pleasing large states) and giving each state two Senators (strengthening power for small states).  Without that compromise the Convention would have failed.  A 2025 Gallup poll found that nearly twice as many Americans want compromise on public issues as those who do not.  Americans are tired of endless, no-compromise political stands that uphold party purity at the expense of the public good.

·       Congress Must be the Predominant Branch of Government

“In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates.”  -  James Madison, Federalist #51, February 6, 1788

Having revolted against a powerful king, our republican government is based on rule through representatives elected in state Congressional districts.  That’s why Article 1 of the Constitution is about Congress.  The executive branch is Article II.  For decades Congress under both parties has ceded increasing power to the president rather than fulfill its Constitutional obligations.  Voters in the mid-terms expressed their fear of the growth of presidential power.  Seven in ten in a recent election poll said Congress is doing “not enough” to check the presidency. They want Congress’s checks and balances on the executive used and they want Congress to do its work.  

·       Respect for Diversity

E pluribus unum – out of many, one – proposed for the Great Seal of the United States by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, 1776

Originally used to signify the unity of 13 diverse states in an independent nation, the phrase is also now used to communicate that there is strength in the diversity that makes up the American people. The Constitution celebrates diversity in the principle of federalism, giving states powers to innovate and restrain an overbearing national uniformity. The Constitution is also a mechanism for negotiating among what Madison called “factions” - diverse interests in society. In the framers’ minds, diversity is both natural and essential.  In more recent times, former President George W. Bush used “Out of Many, One” as the title of 43 paintings he crafted to celebrate the contributions of immigrants. The mid-term elections were the latest evidence that rejects efforts to treat diversity as an inherent danger.  The growth of Hispanic, Black and female office holders, anger at the mistreatment of legal immigrants, voter disgust at racist, ethnic and religious attacks on human dignity and the failure of political and/or racial gerrymandering send messages about what Americans value.  Political parties and politicians who ignore these messages prove unfaithful to our founding.

The recent election urges us to look backward to the founding as we move forward. Officials at every level who honor these principles can help craft solutions to issues that work and strengthen democracy..  Officials that ignore these principles will fail America.

Photo Credit: Chatgpt