It is election season. Many folks have already voted. This letter is written to those who have not yet voted and may be undecided about who to vote for, or who are considering voting for President Trump. There are a number of things that are facts about the current president.
•  He is not a truth teller. He lies and misinforms on a daily basis. (ex. Empty promises for a new health care plan… plus many more.)
•  He has a low regard for expertise and experience in any area, and also a disregard for science. (Ignoring epidemiologists in dealing with the pandemic. Threw out the pandemic plan that had been created by Bush/Obama.)
•  He creates his own reality, regardless of what is actually happening. (Climate change is a hoax…)
•  He uses tactics of intimidation, belittling, disrespect and incivility to get what he wants. (Too many examples to cite…)
•  He is not strong enough to acknowledge a mistake and is not interested in/cannot tolerate an opinion or view that is different from his. (Too many examples to cite…)
Those who support the president seem able to overlook these characteristics. But I wonder what our common life would look like if all of us employed these characteristics on a regular basis. If honesty doesn’t matter, what happens when my car mechanic lies about my brakes being fixed, and then shouts and ridicules me and calls me names when I question him? Or the teacher who lies about my child’s learning, and claims she knows complex algebra when she can’t multiply? If expertise doesn’t matter, would I ask my plumber to do brain surgery because he was a friend? Or my sister the pediatrician to wire my house, because she is family? 
What would happen if, on a regular basis, folks didn’t acknowledge their mistakes, whether in veterinary care for cows, or getting an order wrong at a restaurant? How can you correct your course, if you can’t acknowledge that you are headed for a cliff? 
What would games of baseball, football, hockey, etc., look like if those who lost did not concede and acknowledge defeat, but argued about the rules, the refereeing, the plays, even when the game was long over? 
If the president’s behavior was behavior that was accepted in our common life, much of that life would not function effectively, never mind happily. Why do we tolerate behavior in a leader that is not desirable in our own day-to-day life as a community? 
The president represents who we are as a country to the rest of the world. What the world is seeing now is incivility, dishonesty, magical thinking about reality, selfishness, and even cruelty (and more…). Our former allies, instead of looking to us for leadership now pity us. Is this who we are as a country now?? Is this who we want to be in the future? Some questions to consider as you set out to vote.
Heidi Willis
Salisbury