Jon Meacham on the midterms and America’s “better angels”

What does Tuesday’s seismic election say about America today? Perspective from Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Jon Meacham:

In his long retirement in Independence, Missouri, Harry Truman spent a great deal of time musing about democracy and history. “The country,” he remarked, “has to awaken every now and then to the fact that the people are responsible for the government they get.”

This week an American electorate woke with a start, registering a protest of historic dimensions. From Maine to Kansas, the Democratic Party upended years of assumptions about what was thought to be the most static of political landscapes, producing victories that reminded everyone — Democrat, Republican, and Independent — of the raw and resonant power of the ballot.

• Democrats have now flipped over 40 House seats. Here are all the districts that changed control in the midterms

Democracy is messy because we (you and I) are messy. The American Founders understood this. “If men were angels,” James Madison wrote, “no government would be necessary”— and given that men are so self-evidently un-angelic, the American government was designed to check our passions and balance our failings.

For a decade now, the issues of our own un-angelic moments have been profound: Is the United States a sustainable enterprise grounded in equality, dignity, fair play, and the rule of law? Are we a republic that respects elections that go the other way? Are we a country with politicians and partisans able to lose graciously, and win graciously?

These questions transcend red and blue; they’re bigger than any policy debate or tax rate. And for the moment, the people have answered them affirmatively and definitively. The verdict has been accepted. The people have been heard. Democracy has prevailed.

The Greeks were right: character is destiny — and destiny in Greek can also be translated as “fate.” And so, America’s fate depends on our dispositions of heart and of mind, on our capacity not to fear but to hope, on our willingness to heed not our worst instincts, but the better angels of our nature.

This much is clear: Those better angels had a good week, because democracy had a good week. No matter your party, that’s good for America, and Americans.

    
Story produced by Robert Marston. Editor: Jason Schmidt. 

For more info:

• jonmeacham.com
• “American Struggle: Democracy, Dissent, and the Pursuit of a More Perfect Union: An Anthology” by Jon Meacham (Random House), in Hardcover, Large Print Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org