America has a once-in-my-lifetime opportunity to re-unify this Nov. 3 and going forward. Here is how:
1) Register to vote. 2) Vote by the method of your choice, mail-in or in-person. 3) When you vote, vote for America, not for a party.
American reunification begins simply: Donald Trump loses in every town, every city, every county and every state from sea to shining sea. Trump’s margin of defeat at every precinct and polling station exceeds any possible margin of error and reflects all Americans seeing him for what he is and saying, “Please, dear God, no more.”
If all Americans vote country over party, this will be a landslide like that of Ronald Reagan in 1984. If all Americans vote country over party, vote suppression won’t matter in the least.
Unfortunately for them, Americans cannot ignore the congressional Republicans, including Trump’s 2016 primary opponents, who have enabled this president and now seem willing to destroy mail-in balloting and use COVID-19 as a way to frighten Americans away from the polls.
They must have consequences for their deafening silence and utter failure to defend American values and the Constitution from the years of unrestrained corruption and lawlessness of this president. For reunification’s sake, these congressional votes must also place country over party.
A resounding defeat of Trump and Trumpism will be a unifying moment for all Utahns and all Americans. Setting party aside, Utahns and Americans of all faiths, creeds, colors, regions and ancestry can begin to work as one people of good will, putting aside divisive ideology and, without looking over their shoulders, roll up their sleeves and address the nation's overdue business.
Then, 4) rebuild the GOP in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
A new GOP can no longer be represented by congressmen and senators serving today, they are as Trumpist as Donald Trump. A new GOP needs the faces and voices of honest Americans who accept science and will govern based on data. These new Republicans could embody the unforgettable enduring American values espoused by Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. They would agree with Democrats more often as a result.
A new GOP can value government instead of seeking to burn it down. I have lived long enough to remember Republicans who worked across party lines because they put country before party. That ended with Newt Gingrich, and the GOP never stopped playing by Newt’s rules, policing their ideology, foreclosing bipartisan compromise and shutting down the government every time a Democrat occupied the White House.
Gingrichism foretold Trumpism as we saw with a costly government shutdown in this president’s term. Neither of these toxic ideologies can have a place in a new GOP.
With reunification America can restore the good names of countless career civil servants fired and ridiculed by the current president. These patriotic professionals can return, enforcing laws and using science and data to make our country work.
Reunification can re-open the door to cabinet level appointments of patriotic truth tellers, like Jim Mattis, who weren’t able to preserve American alliances during this presidency. This president’s cabinet and administration are also as Trumpist as Donald Trump.
Unification is a real possibility if we all put our country ahead of parties. Americans must stop hating people for their opposing party affiliation and start, again, respecting and recognizing everyone (except Donald Trump and his enablers) as Americans of good will.
These opinions are not uniquely mine. I am describing one possible outcome of the 2020 election that really could slow and possibly reverse the breakdown of American civil society.
Clark de Nevers, Los Alamos, N.M., is a 1975 graduate of East High School in Salt Lake City whose career included almost 20 years in aerospace manufacturing at a company based in Magna.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/2EuG7z3
August 26, 2020 at 07:47AM
0 Comments