<<<NOTE: I think the N-G may publish this letter soon, and I wish to present it here in case it is edited or chopped up a bit. Thanks! >>>
American politicians are either immoral or principled only in a very particular sense. They are products of our free society. They are like us in almost every imaginable way--they are born and they die--they experience all of the inherent pains, accomplishments, and heartaches that life offers in between.
Yet they are regarded by the citizenry as a class of beings that are totally different.
This is wrong.
In our representative democracy, the power of the politician resides only in their ability to act on our behalf. It is not inherent, and it certainly does not last in perpetuity. Politicians are mere actors temporarily playing parts that are real only for us--they are the symbolic masks behind which we see our own faces.
If you disapprove of the current local, state, or federal landscape, get active. Volunteer. Share ideas. Run for office.
This sense of ‘otherness’ that pervades America is a lie that segregates us and distances us from the processes of empowerment.
Americans are increasingly living in compartmentalized, like-minded clusters. Whether these communities are liberal or conservative matters not a jot.
The overall trend is dangerous and un-American.
Our shared freedoms and dreams should unite us in civil discourse.
I have yet to meet one American that did not dream of a better life for future generations. If America is splintering into culturally incomprehensible, balkanized communities, I for one am proud to live in such an open and politically diverse arena as Champaign-Urbana.
----------------
