I have friends who are Republicans, and a historian's perspective, so perhaps I can help to heal the divide in America a little bit.
And one thing that I think could help is for Liberals like me to understand why a good honest person would vote for Donald Trump.
Be honest. You know good honest kind people who are Republican Conservatives. You have spoken to them. Know that many of them are good kind people.
Our two sides are not that isolated from each other.
I have many friends who are Republican Conservatives, friends that I have a lot of things in common with, a lot of things in common that outweigh the political divide between us.
Everyone knows that most politicians are a bit crooked, a bit rough and more than a little imperfect.
Many people are willing to accept an imperfect person because they expect politicians to be imperfect.
Factionalism is a powerful thing to effect the mind. You grow comfortable with your faction, defensive of it.
Perhaps you don't see some of Donald Trump's flaws.
But you are not focusing on Donald Trump.
He's just the guy who promises your side success.
If you're a Republican, you focus on what your faction stands for- just like most Democrats.
The Republican Party was once the party of Eisenhower.
Those days have not died.
There are still Eisenhowers out there.
They don't get much press these days, not for many, many years, but they are out there.
Republicans who stand for the kind of things that Eisenhower stood for, and do so fairly well.
These are good values. Honest values, and these values are why Republicans support their side.
They are willing to accept an imperfect champion- just like Democrats.
They rally behind a candidate who promises their side success- just like Democrats.
And they do so because they believe in the values that their side stands for- just like Democrats.
And just like the values Democrats and Liberals value, these are good values.
The Republican Conservative side has some real good values.
Donald Trump is just a guy who promises their side success, nothing more!
One who seems far less flawed to many Republicans than he does to people like me, in a political scene where everyone is flawed!
And understanding that it can seem, through the power of factionalism, a perfectly reasonable thing to vote for someone like Donald Trump, even to a good honest person, will surely help to heal the divide!
After all, once someone is put on the ballot, it is your right to vote for them!
These are voters who have done nothing wrong, who are good decent people, who are, just like the rest of us, caught up in the messy world of politics, who are trying the best they can in a dirty, messy game!
And America will be fine!
We made it past the last 8 years just fine! (It is 2024.)
Go, vote, and let it go, and then let's all be friends!
Let people vote for whoever they want, and let it go!
And that is so much easier when you understand the other side!
Especially when, when you get down to it, they are really so much like us!
They are doing the very same things as us Liberals, only with the loyalty to a different faction!
We Liberals can surely respect many of the Conservative values that they are really loyal to, and it is those values that really mean something to them!
The rest is just messy politics, imperfect candidates, and factionalism, and we should not let these things stop us from being friends!
Once the job of the political process is put aside, once we leave the voting booth and go back home, we can come home and all be friends together at the end of every day!
For both sides are really just making their way the best they know how in exactly the same way, and both sides are trying to stand up for good values!
God loves you! Let's understand each other and be friends!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson