Originally published in the Deseret News.
Voting in the 2016 presidential election begins next week. The Iowa Caucuses on Monday will be followed by elections in 16 states over the next 30 days. It’s decision time in America.
Unfortunately, instead of having substantive policy discussions about which candidate can best lead our nation, many Americans are watching late night comedy shows with a Sarah Palin look-alike speaking in incomplete sentences. While I’ve had my share of laughs too, my stronger emotion has been one of agitation. I find these elections deeply troubling.
I have a thesis about the 2016 election cycle. I believe Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are experiencing success not because they are good for America, but because they symbolize voters’ disgust with politics in America. It doesn’t matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat, you recognize the system is not working. The division between and within political parties is crushing this country’s ability to lead. It’s hurting the America we love.
President Obama highlighted the division in our country during his mea culpa in the State of the Union Address. He said one of the few regrets of his presidency was that the rancor and suspicion between the parties had gotten worse instead of better. He assessed his own role in the division with soberness when he said, “There’s no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide.” That’s a lot of candor from a president delivering his final major speech to the American people.
What makes the dysfunction even more troubling is the grave danger in the world today. These aren’t trivial times, these are serious times. The Islamic State group is murdering people on multiple continents; civil wars are taking place in Yemen, Libya, Iraq and Syria; Vladimir Putin is running around like a thug; and Kim Jong-un is playing with H-bombs just for sport. Certainly we’ve had more challenging times in our history, but I can only think of a few (Civil War, world wars, and the Cold War). We should spend less time watching late night comedy and more time fixing our polity.
A good place to start is to restore dignity and good citizenship on the campaign trail. I don’t mind straight talk, but we should have zero tolerance for candidates for the president of the United States who insult the Mexican people, prisoners of war, women, and people with disabilities. This isn’t funny; it’s wrong.
A more insidious problem in politics is the lack of civility among candidates. One of the most important lessons taught in civics classes is that reasonable people can disagree. Our life experiences teach different lessons and we draw different conclusions. This isn’t wrong; it’s healthy and it’s America. It is through the fusion of life experiences that we create a more perfect union. A candidate can have strong beliefs without, as Wall Street Journal columnist Bret Stephens said, “being an insufferable jerk about them.”
I long for a candidate who stops tearing things down and starts building things up. I want a candidate who speaks from his or her heart about what America really needs — unity. It’s not Republican or Democrat right now, it’s American. We need to unify and solve problems as an expression of our patriotism for this great country.
In Abraham Lincoln’s first inaugural address, he spoke to a nation reeling with division. Lincoln implored, “We are not enemies, but friends.” He begged for the country to be touched “by the better angels of our nature.” I feel this same need today.
Division and incivility are hurting America. We need a leader who will bring people together, not pull us apart. We need to approach the 2016 elections with less humor and more seriousness of purpose. And, yes, we should call upon angels if we need to. It’s decision time. We need to make the right choice.