As millions of Americans vote in the 2026 election today, the great miracle will not be who wins but rather the simple fact that the election is being held.
This process of electing those to whom we loan power goes back well before the Declaration of Independence. In its English form, it can be traced back to the meeting at Runnymede in 1215 between King John and the barons. A replica of the Magna Carta (great charter) is on display in the Rotunda of the Capitol. King John was desperate for money to fight off the French, and the barons were tired of him bullying and dominating them. They reached a mutually beneficial agreement that the barons would provide money if the King would concede that he had to ask them for it.
Of course, as soon as he could, King John tried to break the agreement, but the collective will of the barons sustained it and began to make it a part of English self-government.
Legitimizing power by voting had existed long before Runnymede. Many Greek city states voted. The Roman Republic had four centuries of self-government by voting. Both Venice and Iceland developed methods of voting.
Yet, for the Founding Fathers and the English settlements along the Atlantic Coast of North America, the Magna Carta primarily guided the long gradual achievement of freedom under the law from which they drew their strength and ordered their civil lives.
As we vote, we reinforce and strengthen this tradition of freedom within the rule of law.
I have been through a lot of elections in my lifetime. Sometimes my side has won, sometimes my side has lost (candidly, I like the elections we win more).
Our election process is a little bit like musical chairs. One year the Democrats win. Another year the Republicans win.
Part of the fascination is that winning never translates into a permanent change.
My earliest memory of an off-year election was 1958 when the Republicans were crushed over economic issues. From 1946 to 1956, House Republicans were competitive, including electing majorities 1946 and 1952. In fact, Democratic Speaker Sam Rayburn told his Republican counterpart Joe Martin that Dwight Eisenhower would carry a majority back into office in 1956, and there was no point in constantly swapping the Speaker’s office with its view down the mall.
Then, Republicans lost so badly in 1958 that it took them until 1994 to win the majority again. Thanks to Rayburn’s misguided generosity, the Republicans kept the Speakers office for 40 years as the minority leader’s office.
In 1958, President Eisenhower used the power of the presidency to outmaneuver the House and Senate Democrats and get much of what he wanted. Within two years, Republicans had rebounded and Vice President Richard Nixon came within a narrow margin of winning the presidency in 1960 (and of course came back and won in 1968).
Similarly, in 1972, Sen. George McGovern was beaten so badly he carried only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. Four years later, Gov. Jimmy Carter defeated President Gerald Ford. Then four years after that Ronald Reagan would decisively defeat President Carter.
The key thing to remember this election is that it is one more step in a long process by which free people govern themselves. I’ll be commenting throughout this process on Substack’s Midterm Hub.
Whatever the outcome this week, the system will endure, learn, and grow.
The most amazing process of self-government within the law will continue to evolve. We will learn and find solutions. As I wrote in my new book “America’s Golden Age,” we are on the verge of a period of science, technology, entrepreneurship, and achievement that will make us more prosperous, freer, healthier, and safer.
Today is just one more step in that long process. Just make sure you go vote.
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God is merciful to the merciful, and just to the just.
I love your hopeful take (and the history of elections in your lifetime).
I am, however, not sure this is a Democrat vs. Republican contest. It is more a Socialist vs. Republican election. If the S's win, I doubt we will have meaningful elections in the future.