Letters to My Congressman (5)

I am sure you have been focused Friday night, as millions of others who care about our Office of the Presidency have been, on the latest court documents filed by attorneys of the SCO and SDNY against “the very best people” now under indictment with whom our President has surrounded himself. So I won’t rehash the lies, the greed, and the betrayal of our country with which our narcissistic president has sullied the Office of the Presidency. These facts will become clearer to all as the days pass and I hope you will at that time be ready to put country over Party and cast your vote for his impeachment.

But what I wanted to focus on this week instead is the passing of our 41st President and offer a conciliatory vision of politics which the many eulogies expressed with both such sorrow and inspiration to a mourning nation.

What to me was sad was not only the passing of a past president, but the evocation of the passing of the Republican Party. Which leads me to ask you a question: why do you want to continue to be complicit in the ugly reputation and actions of the Trumpian Republican Party into which the once Grand Old Party has devolved?

Rest assured, I was never blind to the policy shortcomings of George Herbert Walker Bush. His callous indifference to the plight of AIDS victims was unforgivable and reprehensible. His use of the racist Willie Horton political ads was repugnantly racist and selfishly opportunistic. His “thousand points of light” vision, although on the surface quite noble, was to me a cover for an ideological blindness to the critical need for government to provide for those desperately in need. And I protested that first war in Iraq (as well as the second) because I felt that not enough had been done diplomatically to avert the unleashing of the horrific dogs of war with its inevitable immediate and future devastating loss of human life. The world is still suffering from this bad arrogant decision to use military might against an innocent civilian population.

But it is not the time to speak ill of the dead. The media, his friends and his family rightly pointed to the positive aspects of his character, his public service, and his policies. I kept hearing about his globalist approach to foreign policy , his heroic military service during World War II fighting the forces of fascism, his long career of selfless public service, his professional competence, his ability to shift from campaigning to governing,his good relations with former opponents, his support of tearing down (and not building) walls, his humility, his sense of humor, his long and loving marriage, and his sincere religious faith. And what immediately came to mind as the nation mourned the passing of this GOP giant was the indisputable fact that the current occupant of the White House and the sycophantic remnants of the Grand Old Party reflect almost none of these fine virtues.

Which makes me wonder where you stand today. How will history judge you and your participation in this ugly presidency and Party which fails to stand up for the ideals and virtues of our democracy? Soon the Democratic Party will be taking over the leadership of the House because the people spoke in a wave election in November that this ugly presidency must be checked. I hope you have heard their unequivocal voices and will rise to the challenge in these difficult times, hear the strands of past virtues of your dying party, and take vigorous and strong action to check the ugliness of what the GOP presidency and Party has become.

And I do not write these words from a partisan point of view, but from the point of view that all Americans should share; namely that of ordinary citizens who love their country more than themselves, their selfish political interests, their political ideology, or their Party. It’s time to become a true patriot and resist the forces that are attacking our fundamental values. I hope you can therefore remember the virtues of George Herbert Walker Bush and rise to the occasion over the next few months to defend our cherished democracy and put our country first over your spiritually dead political Party.