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Doing Ourselves No Favors
What kind of future do we envision for ourselves and our communities? What kind of a nation do we want as the foundation for that future? A good place to start would be by rediscovering America’s recently discarded values and norms along with its occasionally contentious, oft-times frustrating, rich-with-possibility common ground.
If only it were that easy….
There are many worse alternatives, of course. Donald Trump’s, for example. Mired as we are in the midst of the fallout from the divisiveness he’s encouraged nearly every waking moment, I’m not sure we can fully appreciate the extent of the damage Trump has inflicted until we rediscover the promises America offered — imperfect and unfilled as they often were.
That idealistic reach, or a realistic approximation, still affords us better opportunities to live with reasonable measures of peace and prosperity. How well we succeed in shaping our future will depend in large part on the choices we make in these next few weeks. The wrong choice may remain the wrong choice for many years to come.
What’s the alternative if we fail to extend to our democracy the respect its principles deserve? Donald Trump and his enablers both inside Washington and in the nation at large have hammered away at the foundation long enough. We shouldn’t test its sturdiness much more or for much…
