Tag Archives: Yoder

Better angels of our nature

Madisonian Checks and Balances

I believe that James Madison would have approved the Supreme Court’s recent overturn of the Trump tariffs. I’m writing this blog on the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, named for the chief architect of the U.S. Constitution. The outstanding JMU Rose Library is one of my favorite places to work.

James Madison (1751-1836) developed the concept of checks and balances in the federal government. He envisaged three branches, each of which could check the wrongful constitutional impulses of the others.

James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.

The Virginian understood human nature and its tendencies toward self-aggrandizement. “If men were angels,” Madison wrote in The Federalist #51, “no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, no government would be necessary.” Perhaps the most politically minded of the nation’s founders, Madison wrote that the federal government must be able to control the governed. Further, he emphasized, the national government is obliged to control itself.

I think that James Madison would have applauded the Supreme Court’s nine-member ruling on February 20, 2026. But to guess how he would have argued and voted had he served on the Court would be mere speculation. The six-member majority ruled that Trump lacked the legal authority to impose his tariffs. The power to tax, the Supreme Court asserted, was Congress’s responsibility, as outlined in Article 1, section 8: “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.”

It has been eight or nine generations since the U.S. founders wrote the Constitution. On our nation’s 250th birthday, it is not too much to be concerned about the effectiveness of Madison’s checks and balances among the Judicial, Executive, and Congressional branches. For example, the President has declared that he will seek other legal means to collect the import tariffs, thereby circumventing the Court’s ruling. But regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the very fact that a presidential action can be stricken, in such divided times as we live in, is remarkable.

There were those in the Constitutional era who wanted state governments to have greater power than the national government. Madison countered that only a strong central government could effectively rule a large republic. Further, he sought a way to keep the national government from becoming too powerful or domineering. Thus, as he read history, especially Montesquieu, he believed that a system of checks and balances at the national level was essential.

James Madison statue at JMU, Harrisonburg, Va.

While at times it seems to many of us that the U.S. federal government is in perpetual gridlock, what we are actually observing is the sometimes-volatile interplay among three powerful branches of government, each with constitutional authority over the others. President Trump has been impeached twice by the House of Representatives, and each time the Senate acquitted him.

In the flow of national politics today, the Congress, divided and self-absorbed, seems unable to use the power granted it in the Constitution. When the Supreme Court, however, asserted its constitutional power and ruled 6-3 against the President’s tariff policies, it seems to me that James Madison would have applauded the nerve of those who voted against one of the most powerful chief executives in U.S. history.

Better angels of our nature

With malice toward none and charity for all

We’ve fragmented in recent years. We seem tribal, isolated in echo chambers of like-minded opinions. Yet in one-on-one conversations, many Americans are remarkably similar. We help each other when needs arise, we talk when we meet in public, but we argue politics until we can no longer reconcile.

I think that the loss of common regional news sources has increased our tribalism — now we each choose our own media sources and interpretations of events. Ours is a time like in 1865, near the end of a protracted and gruesome Civil War, when President Abraham Lincoln called the American people to exercise “malice toward none and charity for all.”1

Just before the Civil War, Lincoln asserted that the country could not survive divided. He dedicated four years to the presidency and worked to keep the country together, achieving that goal, but at the cost of his own life.

Lincoln worked from an attitude of respect toward those who disagreed, yet he was forceful in his call for the abolition of slavery. The sixteenth president grounded his speeches and government in moral principles, often recognizing the providence of God in leading him.

Elwood Yoder

We need healing today, as when Lincoln called for the nation to finish the work of binding up the nation’s wounds. At the end of his second inaugural address, Lincoln called on Americans to care for the vulnerable, including those in the soon-to-be-defeated southern states. Whatever our political views, it is incumbent on us to help people in need, those in distress, and those less fortunate than we are.

With a certain degree of humility, with a generous recognition of the providence of God in our world, with a commitment to binding up the wounds of those around us, we can achieve a just and lasting peace, as Lincoln wrote.

The political landscape keeps changing. Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, was drunk at his swearing-in as vice president, never attended school, was impeached, and is often thought to be one of the worst presidents in U.S. history.2 In the twenty-first century, politics swing back and forth like a pendulum, inciting arguments and hostile opinions on both sides of the continuum.

But I think most of us live in the middle, able to speak with liberals and conservatives, committed to building a better society despite divided politics, and seeking a just and lasting peace. As Lincoln spoke in his second inaugural address, when we extend malice toward none and charity for all, peace has a chance to emerge within us, our country, and in the world beyond.

  1. https://www.nps.gov/linc/learn/historyculture/lincoln-second-inaugural.htm ↩︎
  2. Jon Meacham, And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (New York: Random House, 2023), 365, 415. ↩︎

Church, Mennonite, Virginia

The history book has arrived!

On August 1, 2025, I drove to Morgantown, Pa., to pick up copies of a new history book. I’m a co-author, along with Steve Nolt, of People of Peace: A History of the Virginia Mennonite Conference.

I’ve been selling and distributing copies of the 526-page hardback book to those who contributed and to churches that supported us throughout the past four years of work.

Our book release took place at the annual Virginia Mennonite Conference Assembly, August 21-23, 2025. I continue to sell books from my home. Many have expressed appreciation for the book.

Ken Weaver (left) and Elwood Yoder sold books at the Virginia Mennonite Conference event held at the Brethren & Mennonite Heritage Center, Harrisonburg, Va., August 23, 2025. (Joy Yoder photo)

I’m grateful for the professional work of co-author Steve Nolt, who is the director of the Young Center at Elizabethtown College, Pa. Many people helped by reading chapters, editing, and simply encouraging me. A special shout-out goes to the Zion Mennonite Church, Broadway, Virginia, for supporting the book project.

Purchase a copy by contacting Elwood Yoder (elyoder@gmail.com) or at Amazon.com or at Masthof.com.

Uncategorized

Lessons I’ve learned from baseball

I’m a Cleveland Guardians life-long fan, having followed the team since I was a boy in the 1960s. My sister and I used to sit by the family stereo in Hartville, Ohio, on a Saturday night with a bowl of popcorn and listen to an Indians game for entertainment. More recently, I listened to every game of the 2024 American League Championship Series. I’m disappointed the Guardians lost in a typical heartbreak style to the Yankees, but maybe we can win next year—it’s been 76 dreadfully long years since we last won the fall classic.

Aim for a hit, not a home run. Good hitters aim to meet the ball squarely and get on base. Only occasionally do they hit a home run. The Guardians are a scrappy team, eking out singles and doubles, stealing bases, and getting just enough clutch hits to achieve a winning record. At the beginning of the season, few experts expected the Guardians to make it to the American League Championship Series. Indian hitters went to the plate game after game, aimed for singles, and occasionally smacked the ball over the fence. My first life lesson is to hit the ball coming across my plate squarely, try to get on first base, and once in a while, I may get lucky and hit a home run.

Elwood Yoder

Do the little things. Learn how to bunt, make sure you catch the ball before you throw it, always run hard to first, and touch every base when you run. One hitter in the 2016 World Series between the Cubs and Indians watched his grand hit, and ran slowly because he thought it was a homerun, but it bounced off the top of the wall back onto the field. If he would have run hard he would have made a triple instead of a double. For me, doing the little things meant being ready to teach every time students walked in my classroom door, noticing each student, greeting them, caring about them, and doing my best to make history classes interesting. My life lesson is that doing the little things adds up and helps to win a few games over a career.

Forget about yesterday’s loss. Professional baseball players often have only one night to think about the last game until they have to get ready for the next day’s game. In baseball, you will lose about half your games, but the best players learn how to move on quickly and forget about yesterday’s loss. I’ve had some losses in life, some disappointments, and each time I’ve had to decide how to respond. Will I get up the next morning and go on, greeting the new day with determination and a smile, and attempt to do my best in spite of yesterday’s loss? That’s my goal, and it’s a lesson I draw from the Guardians, who, over my six decades of listening, have lost their fair share of games.

Play like a professional. One of the reasons I follow almost every game the Indians play is because of their radio announcer Tom Hamilton. He is an outstanding professional commentator, and he continues to entertain and call interesting games, even when the Guardians lose a lot. Hamilton does his background reading and research, he shows up for work, and he stays interested until the 9th inning, even when we’re getting pounded by the other team. After one dismal season a few years ago, I wrote Hamilton a letter, thanking him for his outstanding work. About two months later, I received a nice handwritten note from Hamilton, thanking me for listening to him call games. Tom Hamilton announces in a way that inspires me to play the game of life like a pro.

Learn how to play for a new manager.  The Guardians have gone through their share of managers over the years. During 39 years of teaching high school history, I worked for several managers. Each one was different, had different values, and emphasized different elements of the educational enterprise. It was up to me to figure out the new manager and play hard with a new lineup. The players in the Guardians’ dugout have to figure out new managers when they arrive, and so do I.

Encourage the team. Over a season of following the Guardians, I can tell who the team leaders are. They encourage the other players, speak in positive ways, and play hard until the last out. Baseball is a team sport, but the game relies on the success of individual players, which is why I find it a great mix of individual players’ skills and teamwork. On my faculty, I wanted to be a team player, encouraging others and noticing their successes, but I’ve learned from baseball that to be a good teammate I need to carry my share of the load.

Following the Cleveland Indians and Guardians over the years has taught me good lessons for life. Maybe if the Guardians apply these lessons to their game next year we can win the World Series.

Uncategorized

The red dirt soil of Georgia

In August 2024, my paternal family gathered in Montezuma, Georgia, for a reunion. Most of my family who attended the two-day event came from the Beachy Amish Mennonite tradition. We greeted one another, told old stories, asked new questions, sang hymns, and held an auction to pay for the expenses of the reunion. Over one hundred attended from Bolivia, Costa Rica, Texas, Missouri, Kansas, Virginia, Michigan, and Georgia.

Seventy years ago, my grandparents moved from Norfolk, Virginia, to Georgia with other Beachy Amish families. They sought farmland with fewer pressures of commercialization and development, aiming to move away from the most extensive U.S. naval base. A group of Beachy families bought farms in the red dirt soil of Montezuma in Macon County, Georgia. It wasn’t easy to farm in Montezuma initially, but eventually, they succeeded with dairy operations and crop farming, including cotton.

A large Beachy Amish Mennonite church emerged in Montezuma. My Grandfather Simon L. Yoder, ordained by lot at age 26, was one of the ministers. In the early Georgia years, he preached in German, but as he got older and the language in church shifted to English, Simon ended his preaching in the mid-1970s because it was too hard to express himself in a sermon in English. Probably thirty of Simon and Lydia Yoder’s descendants have become ordained ministers. Others have gone into self-sustaining missionary work in Costa Rica, Bolivia, Panama, Mexico, and Ecuador.

The reunion taught me again the value of accepting others who are different than I am. My wife and I were graciously accepted and never challenged for our different Mennonite lifestyle. We also accepted our relatives, whom we only see every 3-4 years, at these reunions. To open the reunion, I read from my Grandfather’s parallel German-English Bible from Psalm 102:18, “This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. (KJV)” It seemed fitting to read the verse, as my grandparents have 1,701 descendants.

Education, Mennonite, Virginia

Information Superhighway

The Information Superhighway has changed schools.  In the 1970s high schools had books, magazines, and traditional libraries.  Today students can access a world of resources on computers in their classrooms.  The Kennel Charles Church History desk (right), with Martyrs Mirror on the top shelf, hosts a state-of-the-art computer that brings information to the student in the history teacher’s classroom at Eastern Mennonite High School, Harrisonburg, Virginia.

March 2014 EMHS

Landscape, Mennonite, Uncategorized, Virginia

New bridge over Linville Creek

New bridge over Linville Creek replaces 1898 wrought iron truss bridge that many Broadway, Virginia, residents, including Mennonites, used in early 20th century by MennoniteArchivesofVirginia
New bridge over Linville Creek replaces 1898 wrought iron truss bridge that many Broadway, Virginia, residents, including Mennonites, used in early 20th century, a photo by MennoniteArchivesofVirginia on Flickr.

Mennonites in the Northern District of Virginia Mennonite Conference often used this old iron bridge to head west towards mission stations in the West Virginia highlands. Today a modern bridge over the steady Linville Creek reduces the 1898 bridge to a foot and bike path. The old bridge in Broadway, Virginia, is on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia.

Landscape, Mennonite, Virginia

Massanutten Mountain from Greenmount and Sky Road intersection, Rockingham County, Virginia

On a trip from Singers Glen, Virginia, to Harrisonburg, Virginia, the historian spotted this grand view of the Massanutten Mountain. On his trips to Harrisonburg, musician Joseph Funk probably paused to relish in the ancient beauty of the distant mountain peak. Perhaps it was inspiration for his printing and musical work in the valley.

Amish, Landscape, Pennsylvania

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Amish

In the late 17th century Amish began migrating from Europe to Philadelphia, PA, and eventually moved west to Lancaster County, PA.  From there they migrated west to Ohio and other states.  In Lancaster County, the Amish maintain their agricultural way of of life, in spite of rapid urbanization and modernity all around them.  They are the fastest growing religious group in North America.  This Amish farm is in Smoketown, Lancaster County, PA.

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