What Can Machiavelli Teach Us About the Midterms?

“For it is through political conflict that greater representation is born, more interests come to the table, and the expansion and development of liberty and order comes about.”

The U.S. midterm elections are over; let the spin from both parties begin. Democrats enthuse about their mild takeover of the House of Representatives. Republicans, particularly of the Trumpist variety, point to key Senate victories, such as Florida. Others seem gloomy when speaking of the realities of “divided government.”

As I pointed out in a recent essay, there is a popular false memory of America as a united country. The Cold War era is particularly singled out for praise; the apparent bipartisan unity against the threat of communism—though often forgetting of the deep divisions wrought by segregation and civil rights, the Vietnam War, sexual revolution, and peace movement—is held up as a sort of shining light we should all aspire to return to.

On the contrary, the American republic is better with divided government. The republic is best with checks and balances between the federal powers, including an “activist” Supreme Court that checks presidential imperialism irrespective of party; the republic is best when staunch divisions lead to unique coalition building.

Niccolo Machiavelli’s masterpiece, the Discourses on Livy, highlights the benefits of political dialectic unlike any other philosopher or political theorist. The best form and organization of government doesn’t fall from heaven. It is often the byproduct of conflict, struggle, and compromise. This, by no means, constitutes moderation but organic growth, development, and the construction of better laws. It is, in an idea relevant to constitutional studies in America, the “living constitution” which grows from the foundations laid to continue to produce the best government and laws possible going forward. Originalism’s “from heaven” conceptual mythology is exactly what produces stagnation and leads to the constitutional crises and collapse.