An open letter to a divided nation from a SLO County resident

Dear America,

Watching the results of the election last night was just plain difficult for me. You see, I have a small daughter and a son on the way, and I felt I may have somehow let them down. My solace today is that they are too young to understand what has taken place, and it will be years before I have to explain it to them. Some of you out there do not have that luxury. This letter is for you, and for those who face the reality of today’s divided nation with great uncertainty and fear.

I have always been supportive of the idea that we should be represented by people who live in our shoes. In the beginning, those who governed us had other jobs. They were teachers, lawyers, inventors, artists, blacksmiths … you name it. And they lived amongst the people. In other words, politics was not their job!

Today, we have done something positive by putting a person in the highest office who is not a career politician. It’s about time. It’s great that we’ve finally done this, though I feel we’ve missed the mark on just who that first nonestablishment candidate should have been. Make no mistake about it, I truly feel that Mr. Trump’s character, treatment of women, words and actions toward other races, in my mind, far exceed any email scandal or anything Mr. Clinton may have done through the years.

Yes, I’m trying to write a unity letter and leading off by saying we have chosen the wrong person for this job — not an easy hill to climb, but please bear with me.

We have sent a message to the world and, more importantly, to our children. The message is that you can say and do terrible things — and reach the highest office in the land. The message is, if you’re a bully, bring it loud and hard at school today because that’s how you make it in this new world. Can you imagine what teachers are going through today, with half the children feeling afraid and a good portion of the other half feeling empowered to behave like erratic lunatics?

Well, here we are. Where will we be in four years? I don’t know — but if you follow the “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” you know you always begin with the end in mind. To me, the end is four years from now when my kids are a bit wiser to the world, and my daughter begins asking questions about our chosen leaders. For those discussions to go well, I/we need the country to come together and make this a positive change.

So many people voted last night for “change,” with no real idea of what change may really be. Change for the sake of change can be dangerous, but we have the power to turn this into something positive. Yes, there are the governmental checks and balances, but there are few that apply to foreign policy. It doesn’t take much more than one or two gross statements from our leader of questionable temperament to then disenfranchise and strike fear into our allies, or to insight violent attacks from our enemies.

So how do we unite and, as a nation, provide the checks and balances needed to get what we want out of this new regime? First, we need to remember that candidates are supposed to serve our wants and needs — and they typically hear us when we shout the loudest. We are the dog, and we wag the tail.

Our voices must be collectively heard. We need to find the desired “changes” we have in common, and push those to the front of the agenda. To do this, we must continue the “change” discussions with our friends and families. I know we are all relieved to finally have this campaign over, but the conversation has really just begun. We must endure that conversation until this government and country become what we wish it to be.

The low-hanging fruit we all agree on should be our focus at this time. The talk now should be, “What are those pieces of low-hanging fruit?” I think looking toward simplicity and a return to American innovation are likely themes upon which we may find common ground. Simplify the tax code. Make great changes in campaign reform, spending, term limits, etc., so we’re not always represented by career politicians who are campaigning every other year.

And, yes, innovation. Remember getting to the moon? Remember when it seemed America was producing a great new invention every couple of years? In case you haven’t noticed, there hasn’t been a ton of innovation since cellphones popped onto the scene. Yes, we have electrical vehicles that can drive themselves — and myriad apps on our smartphones, and Facebook and Twitter. But we’ve been short on meaningful, life-changing innovation for some time, and I believe it comes from inspired youth and an inspired world that wants to come to America to create something truly great. We need to cultivate an environment that nurtures innovation and rewards it greatly. Can we all agree on that? Capture the world’s imagination, and we will once again be the truly great, distinguished leaders of the free world.

Lastly, I believe both candidates had it right that we should work on our crumbling infrastructure and make it the envy of the world again. There is so much good that can come from that, and I believe we can all unite behind that.

To tell our children we made the most of this “opportunity,” we must unite. We must find a way back to restore our faith and belief in our country, so our children will grow to be the next generation of inspired, faithful citizens of the world.

Remember, our leaders will listen to us if we unite enough to make our voices heard. Let’s make it happen.

Most humbly and sincerely,

Ron Reilly

This story was originally published November 10, 2016 at 5:13 AM with the headline "An open letter to a divided nation from a SLO County resident."