A Republic, If We Can Keep It
By Bob Bostock
On July 4th, America marked the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. When the Continental Congress voted to declare independence from Great Britain, John Adams wrote that this momentous occasion should be celebrated every year forward with “Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”
This year, America’s celebrations of our independence were less jubilant than at times in the past. Many people are wondering whether the United States will be around to mark its 300th anniversary. Many others are questioning whether we will even make it to our 251st.
With the nation and Congress so deeply divided, the upcoming midterm elections are likely to be hotly and bitterly contested. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are on the ballot, as are 35 Senate seats. Yet it may well be that the campaign will be just the prelude to the battle for control.
After the votes are counted and the winners certified, the party that doesn’t win control of the House may feel pressured to do whatever it takes to contest the results. There may even be calls for the House to disregard the voters' will and manufacture a majority for their team. Every member of Congress must stand firm against any such effort.
There is historical precedent for Congress ignoring voters' choices.
In 1838, control of the House depended on the contested results of six at-large House seats in New Jersey. Excluding the New Jersey seats, the difference between the Whigs in the majority and the Democrats in the minority was just one vote. After more than three months of chaos, the House seated five Democrats, flipping the majority.
In 1984, the election in Indiana’s eighth Congressional district resulted in what Politico has called “something nearly unprecedented in the history of the House of Representatives.” The Republican challenger in this swing district was certified the winner by just 34 votes over the Democratic incumbent. Although the Democrats’ House majority was not at risk, the majority leader challenged the results. It took six months for the issue to be resolved in favor of the incumbent Democrat.
Our deeply divided country cannot afford a repeat of these destructive and divisive examples. If control of either or both houses of Congress is thrown into prolonged dispute, the consequences could be disastrous. Perhaps now, more than ever, the certified results of the midterms in each state and every Congressional district must be respected.
That is why I am calling on all New Jersey candidates for the House and the Senate to pledge to respect the certified results of the midterm elections. They must resist efforts to challenge the certified results of any House election nationwide, and they must oppose any effort to refuse to swear in a certified winner while the challenge is pending. Taking this pledge is fully consistent with the oath every member of Congress takes to “support and defend the Constitution.”
I also urge everyone involved in certifying the votes – from members of county Boards of Elections to New Jersey’s secretary of State and the governor – to take the same pledge, fully consistent with the oath they take.
When Benjamin Franklin was asked whether the Constitutional Convention of 1787 had produced a monarchy or a republic, Franklin famously responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
As the United States enters its 251st year, it is up to us, as well as to those who seek to represent us, to keep the faith with our nation’s founders. It would be tragic if our elected representatives, in pursuit of partisan power and ambition, tear apart the very fabric that binds together our government and our nation.
Bob Bostock has served as a senior staffer for two New Jersey members of the House and a member of the Senate, for Governor Christine Todd Whitman, both in Trenton and in Washington at the US EPA, and assisted former President Richard Nixon in the development of exhibits at the Nixon presidential library. Bostock also served as an elected township councilmember in Lawrenceville.
