As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, I find myself reflecting on a question that has shaped much of my life: What sustains a republic so that it does not turn its power against its people?

For me, the answer begins in Minnesota.

When I arrived in the resort town of Perham in northern Minnesota as its first American Field Service (AFS) exchange student from Sri Lanka in the late 1970s, I brought with me the values of two spiritual traditions. I had grown up in the ancient Buddhist capital of Polonnaruwa, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where Theravada monks taught the importance of overcoming greed, hatred and delusion. At the same time, Catholic priests introduced me to Christian teachings about conscience, service and redemption.

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Like many people around the world, I arrived believing that America was fundamentally a Christian nation and assumed that the motto “In God We Trust” dated back to the founding. I later learned that “In God We Trust” became the nation’s official motto during the Eisenhower administration in 1956. More importantly, I discovered something deeper than religious identity — a civic culture rooted in responsibility, humility and service to others.

The American character after 250 years

In Minnesota, I learned that the American Dream is not merely about personal success. It is about giving back to the society that makes success possible. That spirit — often called “Minnesota Nice” — left a lasting impression on me.

Two Minnesotans helped shape my understanding of America. The first was Edward Burdick, the legendary bipartisan chief clerk and parliamentarian of the Minnesota House. One of the longest-serving public servants in the nation, he became my mentor and American “father.” Ed taught me that democracy survives only when citizens choose to participate in something larger than themselves. Public service, he insisted, is not merely a career but a calling.

The second was Ambassador Harlan Cleveland, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, assistant secretary of state and founding dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Through Harlan, I gained a deeper appreciation for diplomacy, democratic leadership and America’s role in the world.

Together, Ed and Harlan helped me understand authentic Americanism through the symbol of the bald eagle. Just as two wings enable the eagle to soar, America needs both Democrats and Republicans to help the nation achieve “a more perfect Union.” That lesson later inspired me to serve in both Democratic and Republican administrations under six American presidents. In retrospect, it reinforced a truth that Minnesota had already taught me: The health of a democracy depends less on ideology than on character.

Two authentic leaders

That lesson was embodied by two remarkable yet very different Minnesota leaders whom I came to know: U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz and Vice President Walter Mondale. One was a conservative Republican; the other, a liberal Democrat. They often stood on opposite sides of the political aisle and disagreed sharply on public policy. Yet neither treated political opponents or the media as enemies. Both demonstrated civility, respect for democratic institutions and genuine concern for ordinary citizens.

Their example reflected the best of Minnesota Nice: a politics of conviction without contempt. They showed that it is possible to compete vigorously in public life while preserving mutual respect and a shared commitment to the common good. At a time of deep political polarization, their example reminds us that democratic disagreement need not lead to division and violence.

Minnesota’s success is not accidental. The state consistently ranks among the nation’s leaders in education, health, civic engagement and quality of life. These achievements reflect a civic culture grounded in a timeless truth: freedom requires self-government, and self-government begins with self-restraint.

The battlefield for the Republic

A few blocks from the White House, I write from a balcony overlooking the Potomac River at the apartment complex where Vice President Hubert Humphrey once lived, near a historic home visited by George Washington. Surrounded by reminders of America’s past, I often reflect on the Founders’ vision. Thomas Jefferson appealed to “Nature’s God,” George Washington spoke of “Providence,” and James Madison helped design a system of checks and balances to restrain factions and prevent the concentration of power.

That insight lies at the heart of both the American founding and Buddhist philosophy. The Founders understood that the greatest threats to liberty often arise not from foreign enemies but from human passions themselves. Buddhism reaches a similar conclusion through a different path.

The Buddha taught the principles of Dependent Origination and Karma: all actions and consequences are interconnected, and our choices inevitably shape future outcomes. In political life, actions produce reactions, causes generate effects and no institution exists in isolation. Buddhism further teaches that suffering arises from greed, hatred and delusion, while Christianity warns against pride, fear and sin. 

Together, these traditions suggest that the greatest threats to a society do not come primarily from external enemies but from the impulses within ourselves. The first battlefield of both politics and public life, therefore, is not outside the republic but within the human mind.

Taming the bull

Seen through this lens, the American system of checks and balances reflects a civic understanding of interdependence. Each branch of government exists in relationship with the others. Power is limited because no institution can safely act without accountability. Madison’s constitutional design and the Buddhist understanding of interdependence both recognize that stability emerges through balance — what Buddhists call the Middle Path —rather than domination.

The United States possesses extraordinary wealth, military power, technological innovation and constitutional durability. Yet no institution can permanently protect a society from fear, resentment, division and violence if its leaders and citizens fail to confront those impulses.

In Buddhist tradition, the untamed mind is often compared to a wild beast. In American politics, it may be understood as the bull within — the impulse to dominate rather than persuade, to condemn rather than understand and to seek victory rather than common purpose. At times, one can observe these tendencies even among those entrusted with the nation’s highest offices, including those working in institutions just a few blocks from where I write. The challenge is not unique to any party, administration or era; it is a recurring feature of human nature itself.

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The Founders would have understood this well. The American experiment succeeds only when that bull is restrained — when ambition is balanced by humility, power by responsibility and freedom by self-discipline.

Minnesota’s enduring contribution to the nation is not that it has solved every problem. Rather, generations of leaders, educators, and citizens — from communities such as Perham— have demonstrated how liberty can be balanced with responsibility, disagreement with respect and individual ambition with service to the common good. As the United States enters its next quarter millennium, it would do well to recover some of that Minnesota spirit.

The promise that brought a young Buddhist-Catholic exchange student from Sri Lanka to Minnesota is the same promise that inspired the Founders nearly 250 years ago: that free people, guided by liberty, responsibility and mutual respect can build a society worthy of human dignity.

The future of the republic may depend on whether Americans can once again live by that promise — and tame the bull within.

Patrick Mendis, Ph.D., an alumnus of Perham High School and the University of Minnesota, is an award-winning former American diplomat, educator and military professor with NATO and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. He has served in both Democratic and Republican administrations under six U.S. presidents across the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy and State, as well as with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the World Bank and the United Nations. Appointed by the Biden White House, he has also served as a presidential advisor on national security education at the Department of Defense. The author of “Trade for Peace and Commercial Providence,” Mendis is currently a distinguished visiting professor of Transatlantic Relations at the University of Warsaw in Poland and resides in Washington, D.C.

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