It is hard to watch America and not wonder whether we have lost our way. The pivot many of us had hoped for did not occur, and now we know it never will. The electoral college victory at the end of 2016 (despite a 3,000,000 popular vote deficit) fueled racism and enabled hate. Truth is on trial on a daily, even hourly, basis, as are many of our most important institutions. The much reviled "administrative state" is being quietly dismantled, as agencies are now run by those who either are incompetent or among their chief antagonists. Reputable media, the bulwark of a free society, are under constant attack. Our chief law enforcement agency and the many dedicated career professionals who staff it have been unfairly derided as political hacks, as is the one man, an honorable member of the majority party, who is principally responsible for investigating insidious foreign involvement in our domestic affairs. One could be forgiven for concluding from this tumultuous year that the ends justify the means, that no personal attack is out of bounds, and that (to invoke a well known saying from the world of sports) winning isn't everything, it's the only thing.
But winning, for all its value, can sometimes come at too high a cost. For every winner there is a loser, and the losers in this case are not our foreign adversaries, but many of our own citizens. They are the approximately half of Puerto Ricans who are still without power three months after a hurricane's crushing blow. They are the children who are at risk of losing their healthcare, our black citizens who are threatened by a resurgence of violent racism by the most vile whites among us, and every one of us who relies on the government to protect our natural resources and our wallets from sheer avarice. If past is prologue, they also may soon include anyone below the top 1% whose modest wish is to enjoy a comfortable and reasonably healthy retirement. Outside our citizenry, the potential losers include the dreamers who, through no fault of their own, have lived in this country their entire lives and simply want to remain and have the opportunity to thrive in the only country they have ever known. Finally, looming over all of us is the growing short-term threat of annihilating conflagration and long-term threat of environmental catastrophe, from which all of us, our children and our grandchildren stand to suffer irreparable loss.
Of course, on many issues there is room for legitimate disagreement about what is best for our country, and I do not mean to disrespect the informed views of persons of good faith that are different from my own. Yet, just as some of the issues our nation faces take on greater importance, we seem to have lost the ability to air out those disagreements in a civil, thoughtful and productive manner. In 2017, like no other time, critical and fundamental policy is made on a partisan basis, without debate and behind closed doors. The give and take and compromise that are the hallmarks of democratic action now happen exclusively within party boundaries and not across the aisle. And our democratic institutions themselves face the existential threats of gerrymandering and foreign influence.
If ever there was a time to pivot, the time is now. And so I pray that 2018 will bring with it a new, bipartisan awakening of the American spirit. Let 2018 be the year that brings us to our senses and restores such traditional values as honesty, fairness, kindness and compassion in public life. Let us cling to that which our upbringings, whether secular or religious, have taught us is right and good and just. Let us place nation above party, principle above ambition, law above chaos, reason above anger, truth above falsity, hope above despair. Let those of us who are strong protect the weak, those of us who are healthy care for the sick, those of us who have resources support the poor, and those of us who are privileged stand up for the oppressed. Most of all, let 2018 be the year that we root out malice and division from all chambers of government, and welcome the goodwill, charity and unity to which our nation has always, if fitfully, aspired.
I wish for all of you a truly happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.
But winning, for all its value, can sometimes come at too high a cost. For every winner there is a loser, and the losers in this case are not our foreign adversaries, but many of our own citizens. They are the approximately half of Puerto Ricans who are still without power three months after a hurricane's crushing blow. They are the children who are at risk of losing their healthcare, our black citizens who are threatened by a resurgence of violent racism by the most vile whites among us, and every one of us who relies on the government to protect our natural resources and our wallets from sheer avarice. If past is prologue, they also may soon include anyone below the top 1% whose modest wish is to enjoy a comfortable and reasonably healthy retirement. Outside our citizenry, the potential losers include the dreamers who, through no fault of their own, have lived in this country their entire lives and simply want to remain and have the opportunity to thrive in the only country they have ever known. Finally, looming over all of us is the growing short-term threat of annihilating conflagration and long-term threat of environmental catastrophe, from which all of us, our children and our grandchildren stand to suffer irreparable loss.
Of course, on many issues there is room for legitimate disagreement about what is best for our country, and I do not mean to disrespect the informed views of persons of good faith that are different from my own. Yet, just as some of the issues our nation faces take on greater importance, we seem to have lost the ability to air out those disagreements in a civil, thoughtful and productive manner. In 2017, like no other time, critical and fundamental policy is made on a partisan basis, without debate and behind closed doors. The give and take and compromise that are the hallmarks of democratic action now happen exclusively within party boundaries and not across the aisle. And our democratic institutions themselves face the existential threats of gerrymandering and foreign influence.
If ever there was a time to pivot, the time is now. And so I pray that 2018 will bring with it a new, bipartisan awakening of the American spirit. Let 2018 be the year that brings us to our senses and restores such traditional values as honesty, fairness, kindness and compassion in public life. Let us cling to that which our upbringings, whether secular or religious, have taught us is right and good and just. Let us place nation above party, principle above ambition, law above chaos, reason above anger, truth above falsity, hope above despair. Let those of us who are strong protect the weak, those of us who are healthy care for the sick, those of us who have resources support the poor, and those of us who are privileged stand up for the oppressed. Most of all, let 2018 be the year that we root out malice and division from all chambers of government, and welcome the goodwill, charity and unity to which our nation has always, if fitfully, aspired.
I wish for all of you a truly happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.
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