Civic Virtue at the Founding, during Watergate, and Today
My remarks at the Principles First event on September 4, 2024
This is an extra Governing Right column. Typically, these come out on Tuesday mornings. But the organization Principles First hosted an event Wednesday night in Maryland to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Watergate. They were kind enough to ask me to give some remarks about the scandal’s legacy. I wanted to connect Watergate to America’s founding and today’s politics.
Below is the as-prepared-for-delivery text of that talk.
Civic Virtue at the Founding, during Watergate, and Today
9/4/24
It’s a pleasure to be here with all of you tonight. Congratulations to the Principles First team for your remarkable progress, and my sincere thanks for having me. It is also a great pleasure to welcome you to College Park, Maryland, the home of the flagship of the greatest public university system in America. Go Terps.
One of the many terrific things this campus has done in recent years is emphasize public service. It has the Do Good Institute, which prioritizes service and philanthropy and volunteering. The School of Public Policy right across Route 1 aims to develop the next generation of public-service leaders. And the campus as a whole has countless initiatives with local, state, and federal bodies.
This is the idea—civic responsibility—I want to spend just a few minutes discussing tonight, specifically the concept of republicanism. Republicanism was central to our founders’ understanding of America, it can help us understand Watergate, and it can also help us understand this unusual moment in America’s public life.
So what in the world did our founders mean by a republic? It certainly included liberty and democracy—that we have rights and are entitled to self-govern. But there was more to it than that. Three things stand out: service, the common good, and virtue
First: service. Republican citizens aren’t meant to simply lead lives of wealth and leisure. We have a duty to give back to our community, our state, our nation. That means not just tweeting or podcasting or commenting or criticizing. But serving. When we serve we not only help others, we also become better citizens because we are focused on real work and real people and real solutions in real places, not just politics and abstract ideas and distant fights.
The second is the concept of a common good. A republic is not everyone doing whatever they want. It means recognizing that certain things are needed for all of us to flourish. Safety and security, strong institutions, the sense that schools and hospitals and libraries are important because they enable our way of life and help everyone—all of us in common.
But the common good also directs the public official to look out for the community first. That means never seeing the government as a way to make money or settle scores. The common good says no to cronyism, no to nepotism, no to self-dealing. Our leaders must serve the community not themselves.
The third aspect of republicanism is probably the most important: Virtue. Things like honesty, sacrifice, justice, prudence, civility. Yes, we have the liberty to act how we want, but we are expected to act well, especially if we are serving in a public capacity.
Our framers knew that our nation could only thrive if its citizens and leaders were virtuous.
Benjamin Franklin wrote: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”
George Washington wrote: “Virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.”
Benjamin Rush wrote: “Without virtue there can be no liberty.”
James Madison wrote that we cannot “Suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people.”
In short, we need leaders to do right even if it is unpopular. To be honest and decent even if it’s against their momentary political interest.
Watergate showed us some of the most anti-republican behavior in our history. But it also showed us some of the most republican.
Yes, we had a president who used government power unlawfully and for selfish purposes. Yes, he was surrounded by people who at times seemed more interested in hurting their opponents than advancing the common good. Yes, these people collectively acted dishonestly and imprudently and unjustly.
But at the same time Watergate put on full display people who embodied the republican spirit. Leaders, like Governor Hogan’s father, who cared more about doing right than getting reelected. As that scandal was consuming the public’s attention and the government’s energy, America needed leaders with virtue, and leaders with virtue stepped up.
Let me close with this observation. The kinds of leaders we need—folks who prioritize service and the common good and virtue—may not always be popular. Sometimes acting like a virtuous leader can get you in political hot water. But one test of a republic’s citizens is whether they are willing to continue to put such leaders forward because the nation needs such leaders.
250 years ago, a young, ambitious lawyer named John Adams had the courage to defend the British soldiers charged with the Boston Massacre. John Adams was a patriot, he loved America. But he also believed that those soldiers deserved representation because that’s what you do in a republic. Adams was unpopular for that decision. It could’ve ended his career. But America’s republican citizens understood that John Adams had more to give the nation. He became indispensable to the Declaration of Independence, he was a diplomat, he was a vice president, and America’s second president
Howard Baker was a Republican US Senator during Watergate. He had the courage to pursue the truth during the investigation, even if it meant the fall of a president of his own party. This might have ended Baker’s career. But he had more to give the nation. The next elected GOP president, Ronald Reagan, had Baker as his chief of staff.
During the terrible scandal of Bill Clinton’s second term, a Democratic US Senator named Joe Lieberman had the courage to speak out about the immorality of the president’s behavior. That made Sen. Lieberman very unpopular in his party; some called him a turncoat. But he had more to give the nation. The next Democratic nominee for the presidency chose Joe Lieberman as his running mate.
As we think about our founding era, about Watergate, and about today, we can’t lose sight of this essential lesson: This republic must always search for and elevate leaders who put service, the common good, and virtue ahead of partisan interest and temporary popularity.
For this republic to thrive, we need leaders who put principle first.
Thank you.
Image from https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/boston-massacre-trial.htm