Tag: Election 2020

Dear Elizabeth (2)

I read your proposals on immigration. They are balanced and filled with a sense of compassion. Thank you. The idea of creating an office for New Americans is a fine example of a future oriented imagination that seeks to inspire. Let that be the hallmark of your campaign. Thank you again.

The task now is to sell the proposals. I mean sell them to those who do not yet grasp the value of immigrants. I mean sell the proposals to Trump’s supporters.

I do not think that Trump’s ‘base’ should be conceded. Far from it. It should be actively courted because they are Americans left behind. They are Americans who, having been ignored by previous administrations, both Democratic and Republican, fell prey to the manipulations of the current president who, based on his actions, i.e. tax cuts that benefit the wealthy, seeks not to empower them. That task of empowerment will fall to someone who, like you, has a strong record of working to uplift our citizenry.

The ‘base’ was once sadly referred to by Hillary Clinton as comprised of ‘deplorables,’ a mistake that contributed to her losing her bid to be president. I have no doubt that, had a writer of yours inserted that word in the text of a speech, you would have immediately deemed it inappropriate and not vocalized it.  

The advantage of courting Trump’s base is that, in doing so, you would be actively engaged in the quest of attempting to unite the nation. Trump has shown no inclination to do so. He could but he doesn’t seem to grasp the essence of the concept. Part of the reason is that he is not an integrated man. He is intelligent and competitive, hard driving too, but his efforts appear guided by the desire to boost an ego thirsty for attention.

You, on the other hand, convey a sense of being a mature and well grounded person, someone not bedeviled by Trump’s affliction. Because of it, you can aspire to unite the nation. Which means reaching out to Trump’s ‘base’.

I do not think that the ‘base’ really sees the building of a wall on our southern border as a real solution to their problems.

The ‘base’ needs to gradually be guided to understand that their real freedom lies not in barring immigrants (though setting immigration limits is essential) but that it will come from their personal development; their real freedom will come from their efforts to nurture their productive capacities so they can feel they’re on a path to integrating with the rest of the nation and the world at large. Previous administration, both Democratic and Republican failed to assist them. Your administration will not make that mistake. You will engage the ‘base” and challenge them to be their best, offering the necessary means for them to realize their potential.

Men and women who are actively attempting to exercise their potential are not likely to fall prey to the fallacy of racism or white supremacy.

Reaching out to Trump’s ‘base’ with the firm promise of generous assistance for their personal and economic development stands the chance to not only engage them, but to signal to the rest of the nation that you are in the office of president to be an agent of change for the nation as a whole, and that you carry in you the spirit and creativity of a statesman like Franklin D Roosevelt.

Maybe there is a place for an office for Americans left behind by Globalization (as a counterpart to the office for New Americans) and for it to be the fountain of the effort to bring them on board.

There is a dynamic view of human beings that should be at the bottom of your programs and creative solutions. We human beings are always in transition. We are always desirous of improving ourselves. Sometimes we give up but the longings are always there. All of us, without exception, are eager to be better than we have been and, at bottom, want others to recognize us.

Essential to who we are is the need to connect to our fellow human beings, no matter what their color or origin. Racist beliefs are held by those who have temporarily given up on that fundamental quest.

Essential to who we are is the yearning to be validated by our brothers and sisters for there is nothing more satisfying.

Elizabeth, life has assigned you a gigantic task. But in its infinite wisdom, life has also chosen someone who is tremendously capable. So fear not that you lack the imagination, the daring and the compassion for the job. It’s all in you.

I see it. Others do too.

Best

Oscar Valdes

Oscarvaldes.net

Author of Brother Donald:Letters.

Battle for the Nation (2)

Dear Male Democratic Candidates for President:

To the pulse of Mr Trump’s mantra, Make America Great Again, our internal divisions continue to deepen and by now it is evident that the president has no desire – or capacity – to mend our rifts.

Mr Trump’s behavior toward women and his inability to apologize means that a deep wound has been inflicted on the American woman’s psyche. That the electorate overlooked such behavior and still voted for him reflects a profound disregard for women’s contributions to the nation.

But women are responding. They have become more and more vocal and are running for office in greater numbers than ever before.

Since inception women have fought to have parity with men. They have had to fight hard for their right to get an education, the right to vote, to have an abortion, the right to equal pay.  The struggle goes on. And yet there remain many women today who, having internalized the contempt in which some men have held them over the years, continue to undervalue themselves.

The vote that some women gave to Mr Trump in 2016 epitomizes the denial of such contempt.

How else could these women make light of this man’s open mistreatment of their sisters, mothers and daughters?

Without a doubt, and in response to wave after wave of feminist movements, men have made strides to counter their propensity to see women as sexual objects. Today such attitude still persists, but as we interact and discover that they are human beings in the female condition – to borrow Simone de Beauvoir’s phrase – we discover that we are them and they are us.

Even as our capacity to identify with the plight of our sisters, mothers and daughters continues to grow, the fact is that no one can speak for them as well as they themselves.

The wounding of the American woman’s psyche has had such enormous repercussions that I hold that the divisions that now beset the nation exist, in large part, because we have not allowed women all the freedoms they are entitled to as fellow human beings.

Had the nation long ago heeded their voices, had the nation allowed them to be present at the table in full body and mind, our country’s decisions, in matters at home and abroad, would most certainly have been wiser.

As I write, a predominantly white and male cabinet is backing the Trump administration’s increasingly war like stance against Iran. A predominantly white and male cabinet stands passively while the president rattles the financial markets with ill conceived tariffs that threaten the health of the world’s economy.

The lack of women’s full participation in the affairs of the nation represents the most significant block in the effort to fully integrate America and release the powers that lie within.

There are no signs today of any national healing underway. Instead, instances of our mistreating ourselves remain part of the daily news. Again and again, the headlines are filled with yet another episode of cruelty, of Americans killing Americans, of Americans hating Americans. These acts are overwhelmingly committed by men, toxic men, poorly integrated men who are symptoms of the power imbalance in our midst.

With our collective despair growing I ask, where is the leader that can halt this mindless tearing apart of our spirit? I ask, where is the leader that can take command and speak to us as a nation and say ‘Stop! Please! Let us find a way to be kinder to each other, for there has to be such a way and I assure you that it is within us to find it.”

Alas, in this hour of protracted national grief, when the need is great, we cannot look to the White House for guidance because the House is empty. Oh, yes, there is someone living there, eating there, tweeting there. But there is no one there to which the collective nation can turn and ask, “Where have we gone wrong?” and expect an answer.  There is no one there who can hear us. There is no one there with the emotional capacity to grasp the depth of the deepening national anguish.

America needs now such a person. Someone who can bring us together, someone who can remind us that our powers lie in our connecting to each other and to ourselves, not in pulling away. There is no task as important.

I contend that, at this critical juncture, a qualified woman candidate would have the political and spiritual reach to bring forth the parts of America that have not felt included and thus profoundly enrich the national debate.

And so I propose, that to make that more likely, all male democratic candidates bow out of the race.

Having as we do, among the current candidates, highly qualified, battle tested women who have achieved their political stature on their own, let them vie for the nomination free of male interference. They do not need to be retested against male democratic rivals. They have had to do so, time and again, to reach and maintain their current positions.

This next election is unique. It offers the opportunity to bring to center stage the grave matter lying at the heart of our national divisions: the imbalance of power between men and women.

It would pit Mr Trump, the embodiment of male privilege, against a strong woman candidate who came into her powers on her own.

Withdrawing from the quest for the nomination for this one election, male democratic candidates would make it easier for the electorate at large to clearly see what these strong women candidates have to offer. It would spare much needed resources for the final battle.

It is a concession that you would be making but also a gift to the nation. A gift to your daughters, to your wives and to your mothers.

For this one election, and in the interest of the future unity and healing that it portends, I ask that you consider deferring your presidential ambitions and instead throwing your support behind the woman candidate of your choice.

I have no doubt that, in doing so, one of you would be chosen as vice presidential candidate, making good on that old saying, that behind every good woman stands a good man.

The nation is counting on you.

Oscar Valdes