I have long considered our southern neighbour to be the most important member of the democracy club, if not the indispensable member. It hasn’t always been easy. Nonetheless, even during those times when the Americans were engaged in very bad business, and there have been all too many of those times—segregation, Vietnam, Iraq, etc.—I maintained my faith.

There was the reassurance of the American constitution—the noblest of Enlightenment documents—lurking in the background, and in the foreground there were always many Americans who thought like I did and fought vigorously and courageously to correct their country’s sins. Always working on “a more perfect union” in the words of their constitution.

For example, millions of Americans marched against their own government during the Vietnam war. No one will be marching against the Russian government protesting the Ukraine war. Such is the difference between democracy and tyranny.

My faith was finally challenged, however, with the 2024 election of Donald Trump and the consequent madness. It seemed that just maybe Americans had lost the will to maintain the rule of decency to say nothing of the rule of law. The republic seemed to be tottering.

But in the elections of last Tuesday the better angels of American nature said enough. In their millions they denounced the president and his servile Congress both nationally and in the states. They installed a brand new Congress, booting the Republicans from both House and Senate.

And their will carried over to state elections. One shocker was Texas, a generally reliable GOP state. Texas is of special interest to me as I lived and worked there for three years, thoroughly enjoyed my sojourn, and continue to follow its affairs.

Although a conservative place, it has always had a strong liberal tradition. After all, native son Lyndon Johnson was responsible for more progressive legislation than any president since FDR.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott was one Texan for which I had little use—a hard right-wing conservative and long-standing buddy of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

To my delight, he was defeated by a very liberal Latina, Gina Hinojosa. Furthermore, Democrats won all the senior state-wide offices and flipped the Texas House of Representatives. The icing on the cake was the victory of James Talarico for U.S. senator, the first Democratic senator elected from Texas since 1988.

The Democrats now face the very big job of rebuilding just about every American institution. And rebuild as well relations with their friends and neighbours, healing the rupture described by Prime Minister Carney.

It won’t be easy. Profound damage has been done and the vindictive vulgarian is still there, armed with the presidential veto. The Democrats’ victory, as impressive as it was, didn’t give either the House or the Senate the numbers to override a veto.

But of course it works both ways. Congress can block legislation the White House wants. It can also block the president’s nominees, for the Supreme Court for example.

And it has the power to investigate the administration, and with the almost incomprehensible corruption of this administration, there’s a lot of investigation to be done. And they negotiate from a strong position on government spending, since funding bills must pass both chambers. They have lots of muscle.

In 2024 the American people made a very big mistake. They have recognized their mistake and now they are correcting it. And fortunately they have a system that allows them to do that.

The rest of the us will be watching closely. Suddenly, the world’s democracies have a reason to be optimistic. And it feels particularly good to be optimistic about our neighbour again. I am greatly encouraged.