| Subject: pledge |
Author:
krz
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Date Posted: 11/ 2/04 7:50:36am
rare that I find common ground with Eugene Kane (actually had a letter to the editor published in response to one of his less well prepared articles) - but....
from today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
by Eugene Kane
Consider this one voter's pledge. Starting tomorrow, I will try my best to honor it.
Maybe you can, too:
If my guy wins, there will be no gloating.
The race for president has divided our country in sharp and dangerous ways; as the old saying goes, a house divided against itself cannot stand.
If my guy wins, I won't gloat because that would just add salt to the wound. And that wouldn't be good for anyone.
If my guy loses, I won't be bitter.
Sure, I'll be disappointed and more than a little disenchanted that the majority of American voters didn't see things my way.
But bitterness just contributes to the corrosive acid that eats the stomach lining of the body politic.
It gives everybody indigestion.
Besides, there will be no need for bitterness if there's a clear decision, Electoral College-wise or otherwise.
You can rant and complain and disagree all you want. But starting tomorrow, bitter Americans won't be part of the solution for most of our most pressing national problems.
They will be part of the problem.
If my guy wins, I won't consider the job done. My concerns and complaints about society won't magically disappear.
If my guy loses, it won't mean the other guy will have a clear mandate to do whatever he wants. It's important to remember, we will all still have a say in what happens to us.
If my guy wins, I will still have plenty of concerns about where this country is headed. I will understand that, in many ways, my guy won a popularity contest - nothing more and nothing less.
He won't be elected king.
If my guy loses, I will accept that maybe he didn't make his case well enough to American voters.
I will not assume everybody who voted for the other guy is a dupe or an idiot or oblivious to the facts.
I won't refuse to accept the decision on the grounds that it doesn't make sense.
I will face up to the fact that for millions of fellow Americans, it did make sense.
If my guy wins, I will try to reach out to the other side because I know how it feels to be a loser. We all do: in life, in politics, in love. We know the feeling well.
If my guy loses, I won't vow to leave the country, tear up my birth certificate or pledge to lead a revolution. That's way too extreme.
No matter who wins today, most of our lives will be remarkably unchanged the day after. Most of us will wake up to the same world of work, school, family and friends.
If my guy wins, I won't expect immediate changes, whether it's the war in Iraq, the economy, health care, fighting terrorism or even the Supreme Court. Things simply don't change that quickly in this country, no matter who's in the White House.
If my guy wins - or loses - the first thing I want him to do is reach out to the other side, the side that basically hates his guts.
Hopefully, both candidates will do the reaching, almost immediately after the election has been decided.
That's the time when both men should remind us that our differences as Americans during this campaign were never as great as the things we have in common.
If my guy wins, I will demand that become his first priority. If your guy wins, you should demand it, too.
From the Nov. 2, 2004, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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