BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON  |  AUG 11, 2026

Those of you who read Back to Basics Part 1 know that I opined that political dysfunction in our country has become so deeply embedded that even the historic celebration of the Declaration this year has not been able to dislodge it.

In a recent Gallop poll, poor leadership went toe-to-toe with the economy as the biggest problem facing the country. That’s rare.

Clearly politicians alone can’t dig us out of the dark hole we’re in, especially since some of them dug the hole in the first place and more of them have just kept digging.

It is up to us to change things, and really it always has been. Our form of government depends on us and while very little in our political life is simple, this precept is.

‘We the People’ created this Republic to empower the citizenry and we the people need to make sure it is preserved and protected for us and our offspring.

In this dark time politically, some tend to blame the form of government. It’s the wrong target.

Why?

Our form of government – a democratic Republic – is unique. Many are similar, but none equals ours. Despite our failures, our lapses in judgment, and human frailties, the United States is a study in unequaled achievement from the freedom it bestows to the opportunities it creates. It is right for us and right for the future.

As Winston Churchill told the House of Commons in 1947:
“Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…”

Nevertheless, that doesn’t alleviate the need for drastic change. I believe for most Americans, not just any change will do, and rightly so. Americans are clearly worn out, tired of being angry, tired of political gridlock, tired of being ignored, and tired of hyperbolic, partisan rhetoric that for decades has shown little positive result. They want out.

Okay, so what can people do?

Relief of that misery and reform of our institutions must again begin with us, with a change in our behavior and restoration of what empowers people–civic knowledge, citizen engagement, human values and virtue, a responsive Congress, and a political system that gives us candidates who will quit squabbling and serve the public interest.

It is time for some basic benchmarks for functional government. They are not new, but they are real snoozers for most media and people who get an adrenaline rush from being rebellious.

There are seven benchmarks that to me form a solid foundation for renewal. First among them is the restoration of civil society and civil politics.

The majority of Americans are never going to get the kind of government and politics they want and deserve unless civility is restored in almost every aspect of our public life.

Citizens cannot make sound judgments and exercise the power entrusted to them if they are angry, drawn to the political extremes, and looking for a fight. Elected representatives cannot govern in a hostile and uncivil environment. They can’t govern from the extremes of politics.

The proof is in the performance of our institutions of government over the last 25 years. As incivility and intransigence has grown worse, so has the quality of politics and government.

Incivility is an ugly downward spiral to no good end, personally or politically.

About a decade ago (2017), the freshman members of the new 115th Congress signed a compact entitled “Commitment to Civility,” which read in part, “Among the challenges (we’ve faced) has been an increasing division in and coarsening of our culture fueled too often by the vitriol in our politics and discourse. One result has been a loss of trust in our institutions and elected officials.”

They said they would “encourage greater confidence in our institutions, and to set an example of statesmanship…”

Well, as 19th Century Essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson noted: “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”

(Reacting to the dispiriting trend that dated back even farther, a group of us took up the causes of civility and congressional reform in an ongoing project called the Congress of Tomorrow).

Here are some of my civility basics:

• Always remember there is more you don’t know than you do know.
• Respect the opinions and belief of others even though they get under your skin.
• There’s nothing wrong with emotional reaction to what is said and done, but a reasoned, dispassionate reaction makes you more convincing.
• The most effective form of communication is listening.
• “Remember that our shared humanity outranks our differences (Civility Handbook).”

Above all, the Handbook reminds us, “civility is a moral duty to our fellow citizens, ancestors and future generations to carry the values and habits of the free society we inherited into the future.”

It’s time to find some other way to blow off steam. It’s time to end the public exodus from politics and reengage in civil discourse that is essential to our survival.

(Coming Next: Part III: More critical needs)

Editor’s Note: Mike Johnson is a former journalist, who worked on the Ford White House staff and served as press secretary and chief of staff to House Republican Leader Bob Michel, prior to entering the private sector. He is co-author of a new book, Fixing Congress: Restoring Power to the People and an earlier book, Surviving Congress, a guide for congressional staff. He is co-founder and former Board chair of the Congressional Institute. Johnson is retired. He is married to Thalia Assuras and has five children and four grandchildren.