In 1994, 367 Republican congressional candidates signed on to the eight government reforms and 10 concrete policy proposals of Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America,” powering them to their first House of Representatives majority in 40 years.
asserted
candidates → sign → years
In 2026, the Grand Old Party and its Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, are offering the “Contrast for America,” summarized simply (and in all-caps) as “THE 2026 MIDTERMS ARE A CONTRAST FOR AMERICA BETWEEN COMMON SENSE AND CRAZY.”
asserted
MIDTERMS → offer → SENSE
While the Republican message amounts to little beyond calling the other guys worse, the other guys have precisely the same message.
asserted
guys → amount → message
The Democratic National Committee highlights “lower costs” as its top agenda item, but its plan for accomplishing this is “to bring an end to Republican chaos and incompetence, ensuring that Americans can comfortably cover their everyday expenses.”
asserted
Americans → highlight → expenses
Opposing President Trump is by far the top reason that Democratic midterm voters give for their decision.
asserted
voters → oppose → decision
The problem with writing off all the nihilism as an inevitable consequence of polarization in the age of Trump is that politicians are generally in the business of trying to win elections and accomplish priorities, and this brand of politics accomplishes neither.
asserted
brand → write → neither
The signature policy proposal of this year’s campaign, if one could call it that, is the president’s promise to pay every adult $5,000 if his team wins.
uncertain
team → call → 5,000
It’s not only a vulgar non-idea, but also a dud.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
It receives positive reviews from 21% of voters; only building data centers is less popular.
asserted
building → receive → centers
Both parties are near the nadir of two-decade slides in popularity, and the leading response by far to Gallup’s question about “the most important problem facing this country today” is poor government leadership, more than double the share choosing cost of living.
asserted
response → lead → living
Corruption has suddenly become the top issue for voters.
asserted
Corruption → become → voters
Angrily saying nothing may lead to short-term electoral success, if only because someone has to win, but it provides no basis for governing.
uncertain
it → say → governing
A new ‘liberty’
What we are facing is not so much political polarization as political exhaustion.
asserted
facing → face → exhaustion
One week before Election Day, the DNC’s home page featured identifiable photos of former President Barack Obama, who last ran for office more than a decade ago, Congressman John Lewis, who passed away in 2020, and Reverend Jesse Jackson, who passed away earlier this year, but none of current public officials, let alone candidates.
asserted
who → feature → officials
The Republican National Committee’s home page featured only one identifiable person: a photo of President Donald Trump, a second photo of him, a third photo of him popping up over the first two, and a video of his second inauguration.
asserted
page → feature → inauguration
This, for a leader whose approval rating stands at 38%, the lowest of his second term.
asserted
rating → stand → term
Our Pledge of Allegiance concludes with them.
asserted
Pledge → conclude → them
But neither is self-sustaining.
asserted
neither → sustain → ?
To pursue justice by taking every instance of inequality as evidence of oppression, assigning blame in every case to whoever comes out ahead, and then demanding that government act to turn the tables, is no justice at all.
asserted
government → pursue → tables
To pursue liberty by shrinking government small enough to “drown it in a bathtub” and offering only the choices that market forces make available does not help people to build the lives they want.
For conservatives, liberty once meant the capacity to govern one’s self and to come together with others to achieve self-government in a community.
asserted
liberty → pursue → community
“The independence and liberty you possess,” said George Washington in his Farewell Address, “are the work of joint councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.”
asserted
Washington → possess → dangers
Abraham Lincoln explained, “The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves — in their separate, and individual capacities.”
asserted
they → explain → capacities
In recent decades, that conception of what was called ordered liberty gave way to liberty as license, celebrating an escape from all constraints and the taking of whatever you can get.
asserted
you → call → whatever
Deficits didn’t matter so long as taxes went down, even if the next generation would foot the bill.
asserted
generation → matter → bill
The unfettered ability to shut down American factories and produce instead with oppressed workers in a communist dictatorship became a core tenet of the free market.
asserted
ability → shut → market
Efforts at government reform decayed into efforts at wantonly kneecapping it.
asserted
Efforts → decay → it
Legalizing drugs and gambling were priorities, while forming a family and raising children were relegated to lifestyle choices alongside getting a dog or vacationing in Greece.
asserted
while → legalize → Greece
For progressives, justice ceased to be a unifying principle that should extend uniformly, and became a promise to specific groups, often at the expense of others.
asserted
that → cease → others
Some races were to be favored, or paid reparations, while others were assigned guilt.
asserted
others → favor → guilt
At the peak of the hysteria following George Floyd’s death in 2020, many saw justice in riots or even looting, justice in abolishing law enforcement agencies and prisons.
asserted
many → follow → agencies
“Democrats,” the party explained in its platform that year, “believe we must embed environmental justice, economic justice, and climate justice at the heart of our policy and governing agenda.”
asserted
we → explain → agenda
For good measure, the platform also included a reproductive justice section and separately pledged to “embed racial justice in every element of our governing agenda.”
asserted
platform → include → agenda
Defense of the justice system’s integrity somehow necessitated constant efforts at delegitimizing the Supreme Court.
asserted
Defense → necessitate → Court
Such agendas produce neither liberty nor justice, only social corrosion that leaves both further from reach and Americans worse off as a result.
asserted
Americans → produce → result
In a country where the powerful assert that anything goes and that government must merely get out of the way, the public institutions and public virtue necessary to a healthy republic fall by the wayside, and only the powerful find themselves free.
asserted
themselves → assert → wayside
“Public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics,” said John Adams.
asserted
Adams → say → Republics
”
Where leaders pit people against one another, making group identity the ticket to special treatment and showing greater concern for people who undermine public order and safety than for those whose lives depend on it, the result will invariably be unjust.
asserted
result → pit → it
Both parties have reached the dead ends of their dogmatic quests, and neither can find anywhere else to turn.
asserted
neither → reach → quests
Pollsters have instructed everyone to pivot toward “affordability,” but rebuilding middle-class security requires rebuilding from decades of economic malpractice, not a subsidy here and a tax credit there.
asserted
rebuilding → instruct → malpractice
“The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad,” G.K. Chesterton once wrote.
asserted
Chesterton → go → virtues
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
