Editorial: Help temper Trump's worst impulses, Mike Pence
Vice President Mike Pence visits the suburbs today to build support for Donald Trump's presidency, and no doubt, to promote the candidacies of Republican candidates for Congress such as U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam of Wheaton.
We welcome him to Rosemont where he will speak, and to the Discuss page of dailyherald.com where he offers <URL destination="http://www.dailyherald.com/discuss/20180712/mike-pence-op-ed-trump-white-house-phenomenally-successful">a Guest View that outlines the White House argument.
</URL>It's a good chance for all of us in the suburbs to hear his perspective. It's also a good chance for him to hear from us.
Dear Mr. Vice President,
As our reactions tend to be with any administration, we find ourselves sympathetic toward some initiatives of the Trump White House and concerned by others. Sometimes our disagreement is sharp.
But such is the nature of political debate, and it particularly is to be expected with an administration that strives for change on a grand scale, with an unorthodox president who, as they say, isn't afraid to break china in his quest to reinvent government.
But in this message to you today, let us put aside substantive issues, as important as they are. And let us put aside the Russia investigation, as important as it is.
Instead, let us focus on the message we need you to hear and to use your influence to convey: The growing divide in our nation endangers the republic.
It is a divide that perhaps is not of Donald Trump's making, but one that the manner of his presidency exacerbates.
It is a divide that threatens ultimately to tear the country apart.
As a nation, we seem to have lost the ability to listen to each other, to collaborate in good will to solve problems and resolve differences, to tolerate honest disagreement.
The tone of our discourse and the depth of our partisanship must change if we're to confront this discord in any meaningful way.
The president, and public servants at all levels, have many responsibilities, but looking after the welfare of the public's spirit is one of the most fundamental obligations.
Instead, our president cynically inflames our divisions, actively demeans and strives to destroy his adversaries, purposefully undermines faith in the institutions that are fundamental to our republic.
Mr. Vice President, we rely on you to use your influence to temper our president's worst impulses.
We rely on you to help the president see the damage his tone inflicts.
We rely on you to help bring us together.