Dear Mr. President,
As we approach the one year anniversary of your inauguration, I sense that you might be confused and surprised about the level of dissatisfaction among the citizens of the United States concerning your work to date, especially that which emanates from those of us who did not vote for you.
I recently finished reading the January/February edition of the Smithsonian magazine, and I would like to recommend that you obtain a copy and read it through. Perhaps the various articles which detail many of the explosive events of 1968 might shine a light on the angst which is demonstrated daily by some us.
You see, the entire edition reflects on what some people believe was one of the most exciting, depressing, challenging, historic years in recent memory. A year which brought to mainstream consciousness a number of the issues still being debated today; environmental protection, women's rights and treatment, social justice, war and our place in the world, worker's rights, politics and protests, the explosion of technology in our everyday lives, and race relations.
It was a time during which many people thought the direction of our great country, and hopefully the world as a whole, might be marked as the beginning of a new social contract. A contract which truly reflected the founder's beliefs that all men were created equal, not just those with money, power, male genitals and white pigmented skin. We thought it might be a turning point, despite the horrific sacrifices paid via the murders of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, the thousands who died and were mentally damaged from the Vietnam experience, and the invisible men and women who stood up for their principles even when social norms and outdated concepts of race and gender blocked their paths.
Change is always difficult, and generally not linear. There are peaks and valleys, pendulum swings of progress and stagnation. We still believe in the promises made in the 1960's and America's ability to lead the world towards such far reaching goals. We still believe that America can be the shining light on the hill. But we don't believe that your agenda matches those goals. We don't believe that selling the environment to the highest bidder, bribing the working class with $1000 while opening the flood gates for even worse income inequality, calling fake news any story with which you disagree, and early morning tweet storms aimed at anyone not in line with your thoughts, are the ways to achieve those aspirations.
Please Mr President, turn off the TV and read this magazine. Open your mind to the possibility that those who disagree with you do, indeed, love America, so much so that we are willing to be counted among those who voice our disagreement with your vision, and ready and willing to offer an alternative which is more inline with what we believe were the dreams of those who made 1968 a watershed year in America.
Respect and regards,
Joe Pugnetti
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment