Seven Democratic Virtues

Democratic strategists, if you're listening . . .

In the year leading up to the 2026 midterm elections – and in the succeeding election cycle leading up to the 2028 national elections – Democrats have an opportunity to define their party in a positive, forward-leaning fashion. At a time when American politics is defined by chaos, grievance, and personal loyalty tests, Democrats can offer something profoundly different: a politics grounded in character and committed to the common good. I’m proposing Seven Democratic Virtues – Character, Compassion, Competence, Consistency, Courage, Commitment, and Civility – to form a clear alternative to the erratic, personality-driven politics that have overtaken the Republican Party.

Democratic strategists, if you’re listening, try these out as you frame your campaign messaging for the next few years. They all lead to the conclusion that no matter what Republican candidates promise on the campaign trail, they can’t be trusted to follow through on their promises because they lack the virtues required to sit down and do the hard work.

Democrats need to simply promise to do the things that all politicians used to strive for — identifying the needs of their constituents, applying their knowledge and experience to developing potential responsesto these needs, working with other members of Congress to hammer out details that will actually work for everyone while accommodating as many of their constituents’ needs as possible, explaining their decisions honestly and straightforwardly to their constituents, working to ensure funding and bureaucratic support for the implementation of the programs in the years after they are approved, listening to their constituents as they explain what is and what is not working, and then getting to work to fine-tune the legislation. If Democrats remind voters about how all this is supposed to work — and demonstrate through their actions (not just their campaign slogans) that they intend to do things the right way — they will win the 2026, 2028, and all succeeding elections until the GOP (or whatever party takes its place) figures out how to be a strong and valuable opposition party rather than a clown car.

I plan to take on each of these virtues in turn over the next several days. For today, I want to provide a brief overview of each virtue and talk a bit about how it might be applied in a political campaign.

• Character means integrity in leadership, honesty in decision-making, and respect for the rule of law. Under the current Republican president, the GOP has encouraged serial fabrication when it was expedient and focused on finding loopholes in laws rather than obeying them. This is the most corrupt administration this country has ever seen, because the President has set the tone that says “anything goes” as long as it’s pleasing to Trump.

• Compassion means supporting policies that treat people as neighbors and human beings, not as enemies. The current GOP is focused on policies that divide Americans rather than unite them.

• Competence means supporting a government that works, staffed by people who actually know what they’re doing. The current GOP values political or personal loyalty over experience and expertise, leading to chaotic and harmful decision-making across all government agencies.

• Consistency means steadiness and reliability, avoiding sudden reversals because someone in power woke up angry at 3 am. The current GOP is in thrall to the most inconsistent person ever to serve as President. He changes his mind more often than most of us change our underwear, and the agencies that he purports to lead are pulled in many different directions as they try to figure out what they’re supposed to do. It will be years before we fully comprehend how much time, money, and talent has been wasted.

• Courage means standing up to extremism, telling the truth, and defending democracy – even at personal cost. The current GOP follows a President who blusters but is a coward to his very core. As former Texas Governor Ann Richards once said about President George W. Bush (the son), Trump is “all hat and no cattle.” Translated, this means Richards believed that Bush was playing a role rather than living his beliefs. I don’t know if that’s true about Bush (and I don’t really care), but I do know that Trump is “all gilding and no gold”. Gilding is a veneer – paint daubs that look like gold but aren’t gold. When Twain wrote about The Gilded Age, it wasn’t a compliment. Trump admires everything on the outside – flashy and glamorous, beautiful, right out of central casting – but because he believes in nothing beyond himself, he is terrified of anything that diminishes him.

• Commitment means following through on promises, protecting institutional norms, and investing in America’s future. The current COP talks a big game but backs away when things get tough. Because the party leader has no core beliefs, there is no guiding principle underlying his leadership. He does only those things that are expedient in a given moment.

• Civility means restoring dignity, decency, and reason to our public life. The current GOP values trolling over problem-solving, name-calling over dignified silence, and passionate but uninformed beliefs reflected in social media memes over informed decision-making.

I think this is a good start. I like the fact that they all begin with the same letter, although that may be a bit gimmicky. What would you add to (or take away from) this list?