My Fellow Americans:
It is often said in political science circles that the first duty of a politician is to get elected or re-elected. That is not, nor should it be, a pejorative statement. Without being elected, one can’t help govern.
It follows then as a given that we should have, need to have a government. Otherwise there is no sense in running for office to help lead it.
It further follows that a good politician, which does not have to be an oxymoron, will be attuned to his/her constituency to run that government.
I do not think that it is right to root for a president to fail. Not completely succeeding is different than failing. Our democracy demands that we fight for what we think is right, but it also demands that at the end of the day we accept that someone or some policy won or lost. There have been many presidents whose agendas did not meet their wants or the wants of those who voted for them, but the vast majority were remembered as well-meaning, hard-working office holders who added something good to the American dream or at least tried their damnedest to do so.
Democrat or Republican, I think most all of us can agree that this beloved nation of ours is under political and social stress. We can all agree that stress eventually kills, both people and systems. Thus it should be incumbent upon us all to lower that stress and let this president and his years in office show what they can do.
It is also widely agreed to that part of President Trump’s problems come from President Trump. Because of the “givens” above we can assume, personality aside, that politically the president is playing to you his supporters. While he is doing that, one can say objectively that he isn’t accomplishing anything. So, if he is playing to his supporters, then it is incumbent upon his supporters to make a decision. Do you want at the end of four years to say the President of the United States of America made video of himself “taking down” one media outlet or personality, or or do you want to say that he passed some significant reforms of the system?
If the answer is “significant reforms” then his only option is to play the game of politics with the cards he has been dealt, those cards being an analogy for the system. That systems has checks and balances, it has a stable bureaucracy, and especially compared to the vast majority of nation’s in the world, it has done far better for its citizens than the others. As Churchill once said, “Democracy is the worst form of government—except for all the others…!”
So the bottom lines are these:
When the president demeans the system and those who run it, you his supporters need to say, “Excuse me sir…change it yes, but belittle it? That’s not good for the nation.”
When the president says something about a woman that you’d slap your son for saying, you, his supporters need to say so.
When he calls people crooks and liars and fakers thus making the nations of the world ask what has happened to what President Reagan called our “shinning light on the hill,” he needs to be chastised–by you–because every one of us have been taught that you get more with honey than vinegar.
When the president won’t play nice with the others in the political sandbox and it costs him votes from his own party in Congress, you need to wake him up to the realities.
When he won’t allow the creation of an “all-star” legislation team on an issue that could join the best ideas of both parties to create reform, you need to tell him you don’t want “nothing” and you don’t need “all,” but you do need something.
When the president ignores or insults other leaders and governments and makes this nation look like the kid who takes his ball and leaves the school yard “just because!” you need to tell him that makes us all “ugly Americans.”
When the president puts on the record ridiculous statements that any high-schooler can see are false, you, his supporters, need to remind him that Mark Twain said, “It’s better to tell truth because it’s easier to remember what you said.”
The problem my fellow Americans is not Donald Trump; the problem is the unwillingness of those who support him to demand he be better at his job. Why? Because if he isn’t kept on track they, you his supporters who elected him with high hopes for this country, its democracy, and yes your own pocket books will have nothing to show for it. In four years, Mr. Trump, then pushing 75 will probably go back to Trump Tower in Manhattan where 99% of us can’t afford to shop, no less live. He will have the ability to show what few in history have to show, that he was the president of the United States of America. And what will you, his supporters have to show for it?
Sincerely,
William A. Gralnick
BA, MA, Political Science
The George Washington University
DHL, Florida Atlantic University
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