Dear Donald and Hillary, is it ok if I call you by your first names? I realize that, in a just a few days, apart from something totally unexpected and unprecedented, one of you will be the president-elect of the United States of America. Then, we will all have a couple of months of getting used to saying, “President Clinton” (round two) or “President Trump.”
Before election day, I believe we owe both of you some apologies and I offer those on behalf of my fellow Americans. I realize that some people who read this will insist that I don’t speak for them. So, maybe I’m speaking FOR some and TO others. I’m ok with that because these things are OURS as Americans, whether WE choose to own them or not.
I want to apologize for putting you both in an impossible position for which neither of you are equipped intellectually, emotionally, or morally. Conspiracy theories notwithstanding, neither of you got your nomination on your own. WE put you there. It was OUR votes in the party primaries that led to your respective nominations. And now, many of US don’t like either of the consequences that are the result of OUR choices. Are any of your flaws really new revelations? I don’t think so. WE failed to eliminate you in the first round and now WE are promoting the idea that WE must vote for the lesser of two evils. And in a few days, WE will hand one of
you a set of keys that you are not ready for.
I want to apologize for creating a system that causes politicians to make promises they can’t keep. (And please don’t insist that you are not politicians. That dog won’t hunt). When you, or any other politicians, have made outrageous campaign promises, WE have blindly allowed ourselves to get caught up emotionally in the fairy tales without assessing reality. You have both blown a lot of smoke in this campaign, but you’ve done it because WE have demonstrated an appetite for it.
I want to apologize for putting expectations on you to do things for which human beings are incapable. Neither politicians nor governments create the kind of world WE want to live in. Those tasks are above the human pay grade. Some things are always good, right, and true. Some things are always evil, wrong, and false. Even those who say they don’t believe in absolutes don’t want to live in a world without absolutes. (Just ask if they are absolutely convinced that a world without absolutes is better.)
I want to apologize for making it difficult to respect those in authority because WE have consistently put personal preference above character. Instead of allowing personal character and integrity to be the litmus tests for placing people in positions of authority, WE have consistently asked for OUR personal itches to be scratched.
I want to apologize for blaming a flawed political system and biased media for division that OUR choices created. Neither of these systems could flourish in a society where unity is truly valued and where we love God above all and love our neighbors as ourselves. WE have chosen to be Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Independents, Liberals, and Conservatives before Americans. WE have chosen to be Americans before being members of the Human Race. WE have chosen to be members of the human race without acknowledging that the human race was God’s idea in the first place. WE have chosen to acknowledge Him as Creator without acknowledging Him as Sustainer, Lord, and the One for whom all our lives matter.
WE have failed Him and WE have failed you. I pray that YOU and WE will turn to HIM for what’s next.
