Before the midterms, Gallup asked Americans a simple question. From a list of 12 values, which three does the country need most right now?

Republicans picked patriotism first, with 46 percent naming it in their top three.

Democrats ranked patriotism last of the 12, behind equality, fairness, honesty and eight other options. Six percent of Democrats picked it.

Yesterday, those voters gave their party the House and the Senate.

The survey, done by Gallup with the veterans' group With Honor, asked 3,000 Americans what the country needs. Republicans and Democrats came back with answers that barely overlapped. For Democrats, equality was on top at 44 percent, followed by fairness at 34 and honesty at 32. For Republicans, patriotism was first by a wide margin.

The choice wasn't hard. Love of country was on the list, and 94 out of 100 Democrats picked other things.

Some Democrats have seen this coming. In May, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania reportedly warned that his party's base was becoming "increasingly anti-American." He pointed to activists defending Cuba, Venezuela and Iran. Party strategists brushed him off as a centrist with a grudge. Last night, those same activists celebrated.

That's the base Congress now answers to. Every committee chairman, every budget and every investigation over the next two years will come out of a party whose voters don't rank patriotism among the country's needs.

The effects will show up quickly. Expect less money for a military they see as a problem and more for programs built around "equality." Expect border enforcement treated as cruelty. Classrooms will teach American history as a list of crimes, and every House committee will spend two years investigating the president instead of governing. None of that comes from a candidate's speech. It follows from what the voters themselves told Gallup they value.

There's a check on all of it. President Trump still holds the veto pen, and Democrats don't have the votes to override him on their own. Their wins will come through spending fights, subpoenas, and the slow job of blocking everything his administration tries to do. A party that doesn't think patriotism matters can do a lot of damage that way.

The poll also shows how much ground there still is to win. Freedom was the top value for Americans overall. Patriotism was second. Most of the country still loves it, and the Democrats who won yesterday don't speak for them.

George Washington's home at Mount Vernon stayed neutral ground through the Civil War. Soldiers from both sides agreed it belonged to all of them. For most of American history, loving the country was the one thing both parties shared. Gallup's numbers say that's over for one of them.

Two years from now, Americans will get another chance to decide who runs Congress. Until then, the people in charge are the ones whose voters ranked patriotism last.