Mandates

 

“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism.” -

George Washington

Trump and his supporters are claiming their narrow victory has given them a mandate to do as they like. This is not a surprise. It is what our politicians do when they win. Biden and the Democrats treated his narrow victory as a mandate to do as they liked. The fact is that there are no mandates from the people for politicians to do as they like. Politicians just like to say there are. Politicians are and must be restrained by the laws and the Constitution regardless of how many votes they get. They also should remember that one election is just one election and that the nation does not speak in unison. Even in the landslides of FDR, LBJ, Nixon, and Reagan, around four of ten voters opposed the winner. LBJ’s and Nixon’s parties lost the presidency the next time around after their victories. A party has won three presidential elections in a row only once since World War II. Politicians should not assume that their victories mean “the people” love them or even are willing to tolerate them enough to stick with them over time.

Victorious politicians should go easy, respect the rights and opinions of those who opposed them, recognize their victories as the ephemeral things they are, and behave reasonably and moderately. In neither of the two major parties have they been doing that. They should pay attention to the words and warning of a better man than any of them and start.