The founders greatest gift to the American people

President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event on March 8, 2024 in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. One day after Biden delivered his last State of the Union address before the November general election, the president held the event to highlight his administration's achievements and vision going into the next eight months of campaigning. (Photo by Spencer Platt | Getty Images)

“There’s something happening here,
What it is, ain’t exactly clear.”
-Buffalo Springfield “For What It’s Worth”

What’s an American voter to do?

For months now — and months into the future — we’re going to be presented with frightening dichotomies from both major political parties. You know, it’s the sort of thing that presents decisions with astronomical stakes — democracy vs. fascism; democracy vs. communism; freedom vs. dictatorship; criminal vs. senility … the list continues.

Political pundits have suggested that our hatred for the opposite political party motivates us more than any love for our own positions. That changes the end game from getting something accomplished to simply antagonizing each other.

Yet with all the upheaval and controversy that has now become a feature and not a bug of American politics, support of each majority political party base is eroding, for different but easy-to-understand reasons. And in this chaos, there may actual be hope.

Beyond the frustration of legislative gridlock and a certain arrogance that some members of Congress seem to cherish by not working with their colleagues across the political spectrum, both major political parties have internal problems that are far more serious than the threat of the rival party.

For Republicans, a near cult-like fealty to Donald Trump has alienated many longtime conservatives who are put off by both the style and substance of a man whose court cases threaten to swamp him, consume campaign cash, and draw attention to his own behavior rather than the policies and ideas that Republicans need to sell to voters.

Meanwhile, a majority of voters favor reproductive rights and some form of abortion, with polls ranging from 60% to nearly 80% of voters. Those numbers are enough to get Trump, who loves taking full credit for overturning Roe vs. Wade, to change his stance in order to have a chance at retaking the presidency.

Democrats watching the GOP circus would do well not to snicker.

Young voters and voters of color, both key blocs to a successful Democrat strategy, are seeing strong dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden and the administration’s tough talk about Israel, while officials continue to ship military supplies that the Netanyahu government will almost certainly turn around and use against Palestinian civilians.

Republicans can’t quit Trump. Democrats can’t quit Israel. And voters just want it to quit.

This isn’t some column or plea for a third-party candidate. And we’re probably well past the point of asking why we can’t all just get along.

Instead, if our shared value in 2024 as Americans is frustration with our leaders, then there’s never been a better time to demand a change.

When people have accused me of being a partisan, I have often named a laundry list of people in both political parties who think they smell sulfur whenever I walk into the room.

Yet instead of clinging to the imperfection of individual parties, I am instead an institutionalist. That is, I believe that rather than debating precisely how Christian our founders were, or whether they were federalists, instead I believe the real gift and legacy they left to us were our institutions, created to withstand the controversies of today and whatever will come up tomorrow.

I believe our founders designed a system in which diluted — or shared — power meant that no side had too much. Its genius is its ability to take the individual personalities out of the equation.

While the founders were certainly inspired and what they created has served us very well, they likely couldn’t imagine a time in which people had enjoyed these freedoms for generations and novelties like voting, that those same citizens would support leaders who would get into power to topple our democracy, overthrowing it or replacing it with a brand of religious dictatorship. The founders, possibly naively, bet that everyone running for office would believe in the institutions more than they worshipped the political leaders.

Still, the unrest in each political party should be setting off all kinds of alarms at the central party offices: It’s a warning sign of trouble ahead.

And that’s why I am such a zealot for our institutions. These signs of dissatisfaction from Israel to Trump demonstrate that at the end of the day, it’s the voters and the one sacred duty we have to vote that will send a clear message about what the American people want and demand.

Whether voters in November will pinch their noses and vote for Trump anyway is as uncertain as whether Biden’s support will extend to voters passionate about Gaza and the Palestinians.

The one thing — and possibly the only thing — that is for certain: Both parties have been warned.

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