In light of this week’s midterm elections, it is worth reflecting on the title of our weekly newsletter. Senator Arthur Vandenberg famously said that partisan politics needed to stop at the water’s edge. Less famously, but perhaps more importantly, he also said that “bipartisan foreign policy is not the result of political coercion but of non-political conviction.” Senator Vandenberg, a Republican, was not interested in bipartisan foreign policy for the sake of bipartisanship; he joined forces with Democrat President Truman because both men had a deep conviction that just “beyond the water’s edge” loomed an existential threat that needed to be confronted: Soviet-backed communism.

It is common today to hear commentators bemoan the lack of bipartisanship in foreign policy. However, this isn’t quite accurate, because our reality is perhaps more concerning. In recent years, we have seen growing bipartisan coordination at the ends of the horseshoe—the antisemitism from the far right and a disturbingly large portion of the left; the isolationists who say America is declining and must accommodate adversaries like China; the illiberals who trash America’s founding principles and seek to erode the pillars of Western Civilization.

It isn’t “bipartisanship” that is the problem. What we are in short supply of today are the right convictions. The recognition that we face adversaries that must be confronted. The unwavering belief in the goodness and exceptionalism of the United States and our civilizational heritage—classical liberalism, Judeo-Christian principles, and ordered liberty. And the confidence that while we face challenges and constraints, America is and can continue to be great. These were the convictions that shaped Senator Vandenberg’s thinking, and he was willing to work with anyone who shared them—Republican or Democrat.

Yes, we could use some of Senator Vandenberg’s bipartisanship. But more importantly, we need to rediscover Senator Vandenberg’s convictions.