Morals after the Midterm, and a Plug for Thomas Massie and Edmond LaPlante
by Mary Maxwell, LLB
I can’t help thinking that what took place yesterday at the US election – a people’s revolt – will change our understanding of morality. Thank God the “protesting Party” won. It happened to be the Dems as against the Repubs, but that’s irrelevant. It’s that We the People finally feel that we can once again hold government’s feet to the fire – something which seemed to have gone out with long drawers, as my mother would say.
Now that such censorship can be lifted, I hope to get in on the action of criticizing our nation’s rather yucky morals. Must wait till tomorrow at least, but today (November 4, 2026) I shall offer a sort of search for where we can look for this subject matter.
Analyzing Morality
I. What genes is the baby born with that will later develop into moral behavior (some which may be different for male and female)?
— Altruism, specially towards one’s family and toward the helpless, involving sentiments of love and sympathy.
— Loyalty, such as to one’s clan or nation, or voluntary group.
— Bonding, especially to one’s life-commitment sex partner.
— Cooperativeness, when teamwork or roleplaying is needed to produce something.
II. What makes the child instinctively obey rules?
— The need for parental approval and to avoid disapproval.
— The urge to conform, not wanting to be the deviant in a group.
— Awareness of the wonder of God and the divine-ness of good character.
— Fear of punishment and of spoiling one’s reputation.
III. What morality is available to follow?
— Ordinary routines in one’s culture, e.g., drive 60mph, and thank the giver of a gift.
— Natural agreement that hurting others is a no-no and murder is beyond the pale.
— Specific rules of one’s religion, including performance of rituals.
— Ideas and principles that have been worked out by philosophers.
IV. What gets in the way of incentivizing moral behavior?
— If the reward for making a sacrifice is not big enough.
— If the reward for sinning is very great.
— if one decides that only the low class has to observe moral rules.
— If justification for deviating has a clever sound.
The Blue Tsunami
Ah! A substack.com article by Marianne Williamson has just arrived at my Inbox.
She writes:
“Yes, many Americans might have agreed to tighten up the border, but their sense of decency is offended when they see lawlessness and cruelty among those ICE agents. At the end of the day, we are a decent people. None of us want pain, but we also don’t want to see pain inflicted on others. Seeing yesterday’s election results only in simple economic terms robs the Democratic victory of its deeper dimensions. With this election people didn’t just vote. They howled.”
Thank God for the howling. We need to do a lot more howling.
By the way, yesterday I waited till 5pm to go to the polls and didn’t expect it to be so dark. It was frightening to walk in the dark and when I got to the voting place I was turned away as I had not brought any ID. (Usually New Hampshire is not fussy. You can enter our State House without so much as a body-cavity search, or even a wave from the Security fellow.)
The reason for my being without ID is that I left my handbag at home so I would not be trackable via my cell phone. OK, call it paranoia — some of my friends are Targeted Individuals. Anyway, I stomped home. Then, by 6:45pm, I felt guilty as I had promised by friend Edmond LaPlante that I would vote for him as US Senator. So I went back to the polls and did my duty. LaPlante is a member of The Constitution Party. He got 2,951votes.
A Speaker Vacancy Looms
My first thought today on hearing that the Dems have taken control of the House is that the House can right now expel the Speaker from Congress. Any member is expellable from either chamber if colleagues say so. Article I, sec 5: “Each House may…with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.” It is not an impeachment and has no formality and no judicial review pertains. Takes less than a day.
It was truly jaw-dropping that Speaker Mike Johnson recessed the House on 16 September 2026, seven weeks ahead of the Midterm elections. He said: “It’s time for our members to go home to their districts and make the case to the American people.”
His motive was to prevent a vote on the impeaching of War Secretary Pete Hegseth, which was being proposed by Rep Thomas Massie. Disregard for our sacred Constitution has been shown by all branches of government, but this one strikes me as the most egregious. In 2026 we have been on the verge of nuclear war – the President has often said he might start such a war. As you may recall, I fought it in the First Circuit Court, to no avail (Maxwell v Trump, case 26-1637 ).
It will not harm the nation to ceremoniously dump Mike Johnson. As it happens, he is third in the line of succession to the presidency. Thus if both Trump and Vance leave office before January 3, by way of death, resignation, impeachment, or the use of Amendment 25, Mike Johnson would find himself in the White House. This cannot be tolerated.
A successor is needed. Personally, I would like to see Rep Thomas Massie become Speaker. In a previous substack article I recommended him for president. He is a Republican who has taken bipartisan positions on things and is verry fussy about being faithful to the Constitution. His IQ is off the charts.
Note: Massie did not win the primary in Kentucky and thus will cease to be a member of Congress when his replacement arrives on January 3rd. But he could do his thing as Speaker immediately. I hope my fellow republicans would be happy to see him serve in that role. Here he is, on C-Span, reading his Hegseth-impeachment Article:
— Mary Maxwell’s PhD thesis is entitled “Morality among Nations,” wouldn’t you know it.