Virtue, Road Rage, and Democracy

Democracy Begins at the Next Stop Sign!

IT'S DRIVING SEASON and I’ve been thinking about how crucial virtue is for both driving and democracy.

What got me started was road rage—my own. Here’s what happened.

My wife and I were returning home from an evening out in downtown Philadelphia near where we live. The traffic was very heavy. We pulled off the expressway at the usual exit only to see it backed up a very long way. Inching along, an impatient driver decided to go around all the traffic and made an illegal turn to get ahead of us all. I started a slow boil. Emboldened by the first driver, another did the same. I didn’t act out, but boy, was I mad.

Afterwards, I did some inquiring and learned that, as I suspected, aggressive driving has increased since the pandemic. Illegal maneuvers like the one above have become ordinary, not only in Philadelphia, but across America. Our PA traffic authority says says fatalities involving aggressive driving—defined as red-light running, stop-sign violations, tailgating, unsafe passing, and speeding—are up 31% compared with 2020. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration reports comparable results across the nation.

Driving habits may be one of the best informal measures of virtue within civic culture because it requires cooperation among strangers with almost no direct accountability. It’s a micro expression of virtue. You stop at the stop sign or red light because others depend on you to.

Discourteous and unsafe driving may seem far removed from self-government, yet every time we drive, we test the habits on which democracy depends. Driving requires countless small acts of restraint and consideration toward strangers. In that sense, every stop sign or lane merge poses a simple civic question: Will I limit my own freedom because shared rules protect us all—even when I could ignore them and get away with it?

The Role of Virtue in Democracy

The Framers were quite clear that a system of self-government will not work without virtue. John Adams put it most starkly: “Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private virtue, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics.”  

George Washington, in his First Inaugural, tied national success directly to public morality, “There exists … an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness.”  

And Benjamin Franklin wrote, “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.”  

By virtue, the Framers did not mean piety. They meant something closer to:

• self-restraint

• willingness to put the common good ahead of immediate self-interest

• honesty in public life

• commitment to law even when inconvenient

The Framers had their eyes wide open: They believed virtue was necessary and assumed virtue would often fail. That’s why James Madison, in The Federalist Papers, famously said, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”

The Framers might have recognized driving etiquette as a small-scale test of republican character. When that weakens broadly, it often mirrors wider shifts toward impatience, distrust, and giving in to taking advantage of others.   

To be clear, most Americans still behave responsibly on the road and in civic life. Every day, most people stop at stop signs, wait their turn, and extend ordinary courtesies to strangers. But the rise in aggressive driving is still worth noticing because it may reflect a subtle cultural shift away from restraint, patience, and mutual obligation—qualities democracies quietly depend upon.

A constitutional republic can survive disagreement, diversity, even conflict. 

What it cannot survive is a citizenry that loses self-restraint, commitment to truth, sacrifice, and the common good.

Thank heavens we’re not there yet.

Road rage is not a sign that America is falling apart. Most Americans remain decent, law-abiding, and socially constructive. But small increases in impatience, contempt, and disregard for shared rules are still worth noting, because democracies depend not only on laws and institutions, but on habits of mutual restraint in everyday life.

Drive safely and have a great summer!

If virtue is the foundation of self-government, where do you see evidence of it—and where do you see it slipping away?