Opinion | When character no longer matters, power becomes the only credential

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The language of our politics has grown reckless. Inflammatory rhetoric and casual cruelty are no longer fringe phenomena; they have crept into the mainstream of our public life. When leaders treat fellow Americans as targets rather than citizens, the damage extends far beyond any single remark. It signals a failure of character, and it is character, more than ideology, that determines whether a republic endures.

We write this together as two Americans from opposite political traditions — one a lifelong Republican, the other a lifelong Democrat — who were each appointed by presidents of different parties to serve on the board of the United States African Development Foundation. We always agreed on the goals but often differed on the best way to achieve them. And over the years we became best friends.

A democracy can survive ideological disagreement. It can survive bad policy. It can even survive bad leaders — for a time. What it cannot survive is the steady erosion of character as a governing requirement. For years, Americans have been told that what we are witnessing is simply politics as usual: that norms bend, standards evolve and everyone does it. But this moment is not primarily about left vs. right. It is about whether character still sets a boundary for power.

We are watching behavior once considered disqualifying become routine: rising intolerance, habitual dishonesty, contempt for democratic norms and the deliberate exploitation of division for personal gain. Each incident is explained away. Each line crossed becomes the new baseline. Character does not vanish overnight — it erodes one rationalization at a time.

This erosion takes different forms.

From the left, we have seen a form of coercive moralism that goes beyond inclusion and hardens into enforced conformity. Dissent is not debated but branded. Moral restraint is recast as harm, and persuasion gives way to social sanction. When standards become situational and limits disappear, power fills the void. Moral relativism, dressed as progress, erodes character as reliably as any open abuse of authority.

No party escapes responsibility. This deterioration did not begin with one individual, but it accelerated because too many people — across institutions, donors, media and political leadership — decided that confronting it was more dangerous than accommodating it. When loyalty to party outweighs loyalty to truth, character becomes collateral damage.

History is clear: Democracies rarely collapse in a single dramatic moment. They weaken gradually as standards erode, boundaries blur and citizens are conditioned to accept conduct they once would have rejected outright. The danger is not chaos. The danger is normalization.

Some generations are tested by war. Others by economic collapse. Ours is being tested by whether we will excuse what we know is wrong because confronting it feels costly, divisive or inconvenient.

A democracy can survive bad leaders. It cannot survive citizens who excuse them. When character no longer matters, power becomes the only credential — and history tells us exactly where that leads.

So here is the demand: Refuse to fund politicians of either party who abuse power, distort the truth or enforce ideology through coercion rather than persuasion. Withdraw your money. Withdraw your vote. Demand civility, integrity and restraint — and vote out those who refuse to meet that standard.

Then do more than object. Help build what comes next. We must be willing to reshuffle the deck and elevate new leaders — leaders guided by compassion, humility, wisdom and, above all, courage. Leaders who vote their conscience and place policy over politics. Find them. Fund them. Vote for them.

Every generation is tested. This is ours. The question is no longer what we believe, but what we are willing to refuse. If agreeing with this essay is the end of your involvement, then you have chosen comfort over responsibility. We are not short on outrage. We are short on courage.