Lamar Alexander: America is divided politically, but Howard Baker provides us a path to save our republic

I believe Howard Baker would see the wheel of history turning again with a new opportunity for today’s generation to improve our republic. The greatest obstacle is that we are divided.

• Lamar Alexander was Sen. Howard Baker’s first legislative assistant. He served as governor, U.S. senator, U.S. education secretary and president of the University of Tennessee.

Editor’s note: Former Tennessee Gov. and Sen. Lamar Alexander wrote and submitted this guest essay prior to the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on July 13. However, the message is even more relevant in light of that event.

One of Tennessee U.S. Sen. Howard Baker’s favorite words was “republic.”

When things looked bleak in the face of an obstinate senator, a presidential election or a war, Howard would say: “The republic will survive.”

He chose “republic,” not “democracy.” There is a difference.

Democracy is government by the majority, something we could do if everyone voted on the internet. A republic is government by an elected body according to a constitution, a messier operation with checks and balances.

On September 17, 1787, near the end of the Constitutional Convention, a woman asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well doctor, what have we got?”

“A republic, if you can keep it,” Franklin said. 

Public service lets Americans make an impact on the lives of millions

Today, as our republic approaches its 250th birthday in 2026, we are in a new era that has driven opinions to extremes, soured relationships, demolished behavioral norms, encouraged politicians to race toward their bases, undermined treasured institutions, and damaged confidence in the future of our country.

Would Howard Baker, who passed away in 2014, still say our republic will survive?

First, I believe he would be encouraged by the example of the other Senate Majority Leader from Tennessee, Bill Frist.

“Why would you give up being one of the world’s leading transplant surgeons to run for the United States Senate?” I asked Frist in February 1994.    

Neither Donald Trump nor any other leader deserves to be a target of political violence

 “Today I can fly to Chattanooga, cut out a heart, put it in a garbage bag on ice, fly back to Vanderbilt Hospital, perform an eight-hour operation, and maybe a year later I’ll meet one person on the street who will thank me for saving his life. If I’m a senator, maybe I can save a million lives,” he said.  

Dr. Frist won and, working with President George W. Bush, created PEPFAR ( President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), investing $100 billion to combat HIV-AIDS and saving 25 million lives.

Citizens want policy changes, but they abhor government

As governor and senator, I woke up every day thinking I could do something good for my state or country and went to bed most nights thinking that I had.

Still, I have a hard time persuading friends that serving in public office is a privilege.    

“How could you stand to be there? How did you ever get anything done?” they demand to know.

Home builder Delmar Caylor once showed me a large dead rat that he had extracted from the wall behind the commode after he had crawled under our house. The dead rat had been causing an odor.

“I wouldn’t want your job,” I said.

“I had rather have my job crawling under your house any day than the job you have up there in Washington working with Harry Reid,” Delmar said.

“Students today want to change public policy, but they don’t like government,” said Dr. Marianne Wanamaker, dean of the University of Tennessee’s Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs.

In naming the school, UT avoided the word “government.”

Students may feel that way, but Dr. Wanamaker will have to teach those who want to change things that if they want to make the greatest difference, they will have to figure out how to be elected to government or go to work for someone who has been.

U.S. is the envy of the world even as we are divided politically

In “Team of Rivals,” historian Doris Kearns Goodwin writes, “As a young man, Lincoln worried that nothing had been left for his generation but modest ambitions.”  Then, “the wheel of history turned.”

I believe Howard Baker would see the wheel of history turning again with a new opportunity for today’s generation to improve our republic.  

 The greatest obstacle is that we are divided.

“Too much pluribus and not enough unum,” filmmaker Ken Burns said when he visited Knoxville.

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I agree, but we also have what it takes it to put things back together again.  

We produce 25% of the world’s money and half its venture capital for only 5% of the world’s people.

We have the strongest military; most of the best universities, create the most advanced vaccines and cures; and lead in artificial intelligence and a hundred other technologies.

Our constitutional guarantees of liberty are the envy of the world.  One of our toughest problems is what to do about the millions who want to move here. This is not a recipe for despair. 

UT dedicated its new school to Howard Baker’s legacy — to attract, encourage and graduate talented students who look forward to serving in public office, pulling Americans together, solving problems and keeping our country on the right track.

That is how Howard Baker’s school can give meaning to his words: the republic will survive.

Lamar Alexander was Sen. Howard Baker’s first legislative assistant. He served as governor, U.S. senator, U.S. education secretary and president of the University of Tennessee. He is writing a memoir, his 10th book.

The Howard H. Baker Jr. School of Public Policy and Public Affairs, which celebrated its one-year anniversary on July 1, 2024, aims to produce the next generation of skilled public problem solvers prepared to take leadership roles in their communities. Baker School students are grounded in the legacy of Howard H. Baker Jr. with curriculum and co-curricular activities focused on Baker’s guiding principles including Confidence in America, Finding Common Ground and You Might Be Right. Under the umbrellas of two research centers, Baker School faculty and experts combine sound science and thoughtful policy to address challenges facing the state of Tennessee, the United States, and the world. In addition, the Baker School houses the Institute of American Civics, which is responsible for encouraging civic knowledge and participation among UT undergraduates and the state at large.