Newt Gingrich—Professor and Politician: The Anti‐Federalist Roots of Newt Gingrich's Thought

Former Speaker Gingrich believes ideas count; thus, it may be important to explore his ideas. In Gingrich's thought one hears echoes of the Anti‐Federalist critique of the Federalist Constitution. For example, his “contract” with America reflects the Anti‐Federalist desire for political accountability; his interest in “congressional government” echoes the Anti‐Federalist faith in legislative supremacy. Yet the Anti‐Federalists, defined largely in opposition, lost the ratification debate because they could not reconcile suspicion of governmental power with an insistence that government nurture civic virtue. GOP divisions between “economic” and “cultural” conservatives echo this dilemma within Anti‐Federalist thought. Gingrich hopes to bridge this gap. In Democracy in America, a book Gingrich often cites, Tocqueville suggests that America has forcibly reconciled the irreconcilable Federalist/Anti‐Federalist traditions. If Gingrich adopts a healthy tocquevillian synthesis, he may have the makings of the limited government philosophy the GOP needs to become more than a merely oppositional party.