My response to the midterm election

The midterm election results are not yet finalized, but it is clear that Republicans increased their control of the Senate, while Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives.

At least 101 women were elected to the House, a new record. Two Muslim women and two Native American women are projected to win seats in Congress. The percentage of minority voters was the largest ever for a midterm election, reflecting the increasing diversity of the American population.

With yesterday’s vote, the US is returning to a divided government. Whether you are discouraged or encouraged with the results, one fact is clear: America’s democratic experiment worked yet again.

If a building could speak

The House of Representatives and Senate began meeting in the building we know as the US Capitol in 1800. The structure was expanded in 1850; some of the construction labor was supplied by slaves. The dome was enlarged and crowned with the “Statue of Freedom” in 1863.

Since the House and Senate first met in the Capitol on November 17, 1800, the building has seen the War of 1812 (in which it was partially burned), the Civil War, two World Wars, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and ongoing conflicts with global terrorism. Legislators met there during the Great Depression and the Great Recession.

The Capitol has witnessed presidential administrations from Thomas Jefferson to Donald Trump. It has survived fifty-four midterm elections and significant political turmoil. Over the past twenty-one midterm elections, the president’s party has lost an average of thirty seats in the House and four seats in the Senate.

Like its Capitol building, the United States of America has faced and overcome enormous challenges to our survival.

What explains our success?

We have the advantage of geography, with no national enemies on our borders. No foreign nation has successfully occupied the United States. By contrast, Israel has been occupied by at least…