Our Better Angels

​Goodbye to the toxic teens. On to the roaring 20s! Who among us are sad to see 2019 go. It has been a devastating year with one degradation of American ideals after another. Almost all Americans are tired of the outrages, the depravity, the pettiness that has pervaded our political landscape in the last few years. We are tired of feeling depressed by and ashamed of our government.  It is way past time to move on!  Let's move on to the Roaring Twenties!

For the sake of our nation, this new decade gives us an opportunity to roar and stand up for the values we, Republicans and Democrats alike, hold dear as Americans. It gives us an opportunity to individually participate in our democracy and right our government.  It offers us a fresh page, on which to make it clear that we, the American people, are better than this.  It is not only a new year, but a new decade. It is a time to show our "better angels." As the Better Angels organization states: the months ahead will be quite challenging for our nation. Red and Blue (and Purple and any variation of those colors) coming together for respectful conversations can change the tone of our political discourse and depolarize our nation. Don’t let any political difference harm your relationships with your loved ones. Respect the worth and dignity of each person you’re talking with even if you are dumbfounded or appalled by the views they express. Try to find common values on which to agree and connect. Believe it or not, there are many. It is up to each of us to do so for future generations of Americans. What we lose if we do not, is tragic.  Our American tradition of equality and justice for all is at stake. We all care about it. Together we will have a great deal more power and influence.  So friends, roar, roar into the new roaring 20s and as President Lincoln said so long ago:
"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." 
​Thank God for a New Year! 

---