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Responding to the “blue wave” that swept the country · The Daily Article

• 0:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily Article Podcast from Denison Forum.
• 0:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Wednesday, November 4th, 2026.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is an automated reading of today's Daily article authored by Dr. Jim Denison.
• 0:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today's article is titled, Responding to the Blue Wave that swept the country.
• 0:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Democrats gained control of the House and the Senate last night, and what the Wall Street Journal called, a blue wave that surged across the country.
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: The party flipped Senate seats in Maine, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Texas, South Carolina, and North Carolina, along with numerous seats in the House.
• 0:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: In my home state of Texas, Democrat James Telereco defeated Ken Paxton in a key Senate race, and Democrat Gina Hinohosa, secured victory over three-term governor Greg Abbott.
• 0:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: The results were decisive, but unsurprising.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: Since 1938, only twice have midterm elections resulted in congressional gains for the party in the White House.
• 1:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: In 2018 and 2022, the president's party lost seats in the House, but gained seats in the Senate.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: As a political science professor explained, governing requires choices that disappoint some voters, and dissatisfaction can give the opposition a stronger incentive to participate.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: midterms also provide an opportunity to express frustration with national conditions, or support a check on presidential power.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: This opportunity is my focus today.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Whatever your sentiments regarding yesterday's results, I think there is good news here, worthy of consideration.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: James Davis and Hunter is a sociology professor at the University of Virginia.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: I consider him one of the most significant evangelical cultural commentators in America.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: quote, in the annals of history, modern democracy stands out as one of humanity's greatest achievements.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: From its beginnings, democracy was an exercise in hope, hope that the world and the lot of ordinary people could be made better.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: This was especially true in America.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: A nation predicated solely on the ideal of expanding freedom, equality, justice, and toleration rather than on established traditions inherited identities or longstanding territorial boundaries.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: End quote.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Accordingly, our founders created a system in which our citizens regularly choose our leaders and our leaders honor our choices.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Contrast this with China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, and the list goes on.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: less than 12% of the world's population live in what is known as liberal democracies where constitutionally established norms and institutions limit the power of government and protect the freedom and rights of individuals.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: By contrast, 72% of the global population, five point eight billion people, live under autocratic rule.
• 2:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Midterm elections in which the president's party loses seats in Congress, especially illustrate the uniqueness of our democratic republic.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: For most of history, it was inconceivable that the ruling power would permit the people they ruled to express their opposition, much less to vote their opponents into offices that would constrain their authority.
• 3:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: In America, such constraints are more the rule than the exception.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: When you think about it, we have very little say in much of what effects our daily lives.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: We don't choose the leaders of the companies, whose products and services we depend upon, from the electricity that powers our homes, to the vehicles and technological devices we use daily.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Except for the Green Bay Packers, sports fans don't get to choose who owns their teams.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Most employees don't get to choose their supervisor or the owner of their company.
• 3:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: But with the governance of the greatest superpower in history, you and I have a direct vote and say,
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  [SPEAKER_00]: And if enough Americans are unhappy with the person and party occupying our highest office, we can empower their political opponents in response.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: However, the good news that our constitutional system continues to function does not erase the bad news that threatens its future.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Hunter warns,
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Quote, American democracy faces its greatest crisis since the American Civil War.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: The signs are everywhere.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Extreme partisanship making political compromise impossible, increasing threats and acts of political violence, a loss of trust in all branches of government and all major institutions of civil society, and a growing disregard for the rule of law by a leadership class often defined by corruption and cowardice.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: And Quote,
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  [SPEAKER_00]: He adds that too many Americans today believe that the cause of this crisis lies in the malice of the other side.
• 4:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Accordingly, Dr. Hunter calls on Americans to reconstitute a civic culture centered on an ethics of human dignity and respect.
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: This will require a commitment to truth, toleration, and civility, the depoliticization of journalism, education, religion, and our other civic institutions and the growth of a humane civic ethos
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  [SPEAKER_00]: His worthy prescription points to the unique role are faith plays in our future.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: We are fighting culture wars, because our culture has jettisoned objective truth and morality for personal truth, and enforced tolerance of the truth of others.
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our politics have become so vociferous and divisive, because we have invested them with significance formally reserved for our religious beliefs and commitments, turning parties and politicians into idols.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Partisan mass media makes money by stoking our political fervor, while social media amplifies our personal voice.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Together, they fuel the illusion that we can control our lives in future by fighting existential battles to defeat our political enemies.
• 5:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: But it is always too soon to give up on God.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: In his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed to his divided nation.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: We are not enemies, but friends.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: We must not be enemies, though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: He then offered the hope that the better angels of our nature would touch the hearts of the people and swell the chorus of the union.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: You and I can point to an even higher hope, one found not in our nature but in our Lord.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: His spirit can empower us to stand for objective truth and biblical morality with gentleness and respect.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: to forgive others as we have been forgiven, and to offer hope that transcends elections by looking to Jesus, the founder and professor of our faith.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: Whether our party and candidates one or lost yesterday, the vote that matters most is the one you and I must cast every day, who will rule on the throne of our hearts today.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Vote wisely.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: For links, scripture references, or to find out more about Denison Forum, visit us at DenisonForum.org or click the link in today's show notes.