Report

American Enterprise Institute

Key Points

Many argue that American politics today is hopelessly beset by tribalism—or the dead-ended opposition of different social, economic, political, and religious factions set against each other.

While tribalism is part of human nature, the republican statesman has a duty to rise above it and govern for the good of the whole country, rather than one segment.

A careful look at James Madison’s 40-year career in politics illustrates that he tried to find common ground by simultaneously pursuing good for the whole country without disproportionately burdening or aiding any single faction.

If politicians mimicked Madison’s approach to public policy—trying to find common ground, minimizing political losers, and never benefiting one side too greatly—perhaps they could ameliorate the problem of tribalism.

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Politics today is a messy, unpleasant affair that deeply displeases most Americans. They hate the fighting and mean-spiritedness. They hate that nobody seems to try to find common ground. Today, public intellectuals reliably inform the country that the problem is “tribalism.” We the people are simply too different and too opposed to each other for politics to be better than an endless, bloody scrum that accomplishes little for the average American.

Tribalism (or what James Madison would call “factionalism”) does indeed contribute to politics’ unpleasantness. However, tribalism is an essential human quality to subdivide race, economics, religion, geography, and so on. As Madison once said, factionalism is “sown in the nature of man.”1

Nevertheless, must this be the end of the story? After all, a republic such as the United States is a system in which the people elect leaders to represent them. Must leaders robotically reflect these factional divides, measure for measure, on the floor of Congress? Of course not. Madison hoped that public officials would be characterized by “wisdom . . . patriotism and love of justice” and that they would endeavor “to refine and enlarge the public views.”2

This is notably similar to what Edmund Burke stated in his famous “Speech to the Electors at Bristol.” In this speech, Burke established what is now called the “trusteeship of representation,” whereby representatives owe their most fervent devotion and dutiful consideration to the desires of their constituents but are always guided by their own “mature judgment” and “enlightened conscience.”3

In other words, even if society is subdivided into countless fractious groups, statesmen should endeavor to rise above and find harmonious notes among the cacophony. They have a duty to act not as mere automatons for their particular tribes but to look beyond parochial interests and pursue the general welfare.

This, of course, is easier said than done. This is statesmanship, more art than science. Yet, fine examples of leadership bless the United States of America throughout its long history. The sterling example in this rarefied group is James Madison. A careful examination of his political career will help us better understand how politicians should rise above factional backbiting and bring the country together under a plan of action. In other words, Madison’s career can show us how to transform politicians into statesmen.

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Notes