Ordinary Americans, politicians, and pundits alike continue to ponder the unexpected, even astonishing, 2026 midterm results. Among the most striking outcomes: a Texas Senate seat flipped blue by James Talarico, a seminarian who once stated, “God is nonbinary”; Michigan’s Senate seat secured by a pugnacious Abdul el Sayed, whose victory speech to Michiganders opened in Arabic and whose campaign kept deeply polarizing company; and a House seat won by CUNY graduate student Darializa Avila Chevalier, known for her explicit and vulgar anti-American rhetoric.
It’s time to ask whether John F. Kennedy’s iconic call to civic duty — “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country” — still has an audience among young people raised on grievance and entitlement.
