Coming to Peace after so much Distrust
Letter to the U.S. President about ’s distrust of their own government

    Hello there from one of the citizens of this great country (actually, I lived in the greater Chicago area before you started any career there, even before you went to Harvard; after you married Michelle you could find me in Andersonville and then Logan Square as you started your political career in Chicago — I only hung out in your stomping grounds of Hyde Park when you were an associate at the civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development firm).
    Sorry, I wanted to try to touch base with you, to connect with you, because I’ve noticed that the biggest problem the federal government is now facing is that people who may seem different don’t try to find something in common first, to try to get along.
    Because you see, I had to write this letter to you today after I watched the news today and learned of the once President of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela passing away, I thought about politics, and I thought I would write to you... and this is what made me want to write about the political issues the U.S. is having now.
    People in your cabinet probably let you know of polls to get an idea of how people may be feeling here about politics (a part of me really gets the impression you are concerned with what people think of you, since you seemed to pull so many people in on your first Presidential election). As I said, I don’t know how often you notice U.S. polls, because whether or not it effects you, every news station really salivates over getting polls to guess how the people are thinking), but some poll companies are huge, and I’m sure you’re heard of them... But polls have been around since the Depression, I think, and they have been credible as a research company for just as many years. A recent poll in the wanted to find out what the most pressing issue was to Americans about their country. Now, the number one issue that bothered Americans the most right now was not about problems with the economy or lack of jobs (what I really assumed it would be), but the #1 issue was of the American people’s general mistrust of the U.S. Government. (Because I’m always the one to cite my sources, I even read about it in their article “Dysfunctional Gov’t Surpasses Economy as Top U.S. Problem”, with a poll showing it as the highest percentage citing dysfunctional government in history.)
    After the economy tanked in 2008, the economy was the biggest concern to American people (the stock market may go up, but that doesn’t really matter when the value of the U.S. dollar is so low), and jobs were always an issue (I haven’t held a full time job in years, and big companies don’t want to pay the exorbitant taxes from our government, so they ship their production to other countries, giving us fewer job to pay for any goods and services)... But the thing is, toward the end of 2013, what concerned Americans the most changed. The government shutdown and the debate over raising the debt ceiling (plus efforts and fights to raise the minimum wage) have focused Americans on issues — and problems — with their own government.
    This boils down to American’s views of government in general as well as government leaders and political parties. The vitriol and venom in the constant two party battles has grown even more violently in recent years. There are far right groups that still try to say that you as President aren’t even a citizen (the people called by the god-awful name of “birthers”). Some people actually believe that you, as our current President, are a practicing Muslim. (I know your father was one, so someone tell me the definitive answer on whether that forces his son to be one).
    And I’m sorry, but at the same time, the amount of left-swinging you as President has done has scared the life out of more than the conservative party — Obamacare even has only a minority of Democrats interested in enrolling in government health care. And speaking of polls, a new poll is showing that more uninsured Americans are rejecting Obamacare. Polls show that more than half of those 18 to 29 years olds (probably the same who rallied to get you into office twice) say they disapprove of Obamacare. (And I know you really need those young people to start paying those higher costs into the system, to help pay for older people wanting American medications and surgeries to help them live longer and longer than any previous generation.)
    You know, I seem to be on a poll thing in this letter, so I’m going to keep going with that idea... Because, when it comes to Rasmussen polls, Rasmussen even reported in December that “a majority of voters continue to believe the health care system will get worse under the new law”. A List of Rasmussen articles I found had titles like “55% Favor Repeal of Obamacare”, “48% Rate Obama Poorly on Economy”, and “61% Expect Health Care Costs to Go Up Under Obamacare”.
    So yeah, when it comes to political parties in the , both sides have issues with both sides. And when it comes to that “distrust of government” poll, the percentage of Americans mentioning government leadership as the nation’s top problem has doubled. Americans seeing the dysfunction in their government is at a record high. You may be focusing on many difficult global and national issues every day, but all that us Americans see now is that political leaders focus on narrow issues with hip-sounding talking points to avoid discussing issues that may actually help the nation. Politicians as a rule are continually posturing for position (so that they won’t lose their precious jobs in the next election, since the executive branch is the only branch of our government with term limits). So each side says inanities, hoping the other side will “cave in” and succumb to the other side’s will (which never happens).
    Now, I know we had a government shutdown during the Clinton years in the 1990s (I know how you love to have President Bill Clinton rally go get more Americans to support your platforms), and yeah, “dysfunctional government syndrome” was on the rise in the Clinton years too, but only about half as much as it is now.
    It seems that the branches of our government are in a constant state of battling to keep their own power in office, so they refuse to listen to the other side — and they don’t consider the country’s needs as a whole. Who suffers for this? We do, the people who voted them into office in the first place.
    If this distrust of the government has grown from its own citizens, some wonder that maybe Americans now are focusing more on problems with the process in government itself, I don’t know. The thing is, I’m not sure if showing distrust for your own government will make any difference in how the government works now. For the most part, all us Americans seem to show Congress or the Senate is that vague malaise (which is often all anyone shows now because nobody makes a concerted effort for change). Because of this, the process — and the dysfunctionality of the government — will remain the same — and continue to escalate into something worse.

    Mr. President, I do not mean to sound pushy when I write this to you. I wrote this letter to you hours after the newspapers reported that Nelson Mandela passed away. Although committed to non-violent protest in his fight against Apartheid, he was in a battle with other violent protesters, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment for it. It took international lobbying groups years to get his release, and he was released after 27 years in prison in 1990.
    I know you know these things, I know you spoke on television to the United States about Mandela’s passing, and I know you attended ceremonies for him (nice that you did a selfie there too; people can rip on you for seeming un-Presidential of not in mourning enough, but this was supposed to be a joyous time to remember Mandela, and it was good to remain friendly and think of good at a time like this). But the thing is, I know you know of these details I’m bringing up here, but in light of how this government is behaving now, I think it is necessary to point these thing out.
    Consider Nelson Mandela’s life then... After his assistance with the ending of Apartheid a few years after he was released, Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa. I think very shortly after he became president, he met with people who supported Apartheid — people he should hold the most violent grudge against — but he was a man of forgiveness. He even oversaw the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate crimes committed under apartheid, in order to, as he put it, “move away from the past to concentrate on the present and the future.”
    This is exactly what he had to do, to help get South Africa back on its feet. With a third of the population illiterate and unemployed (and nearly half the nation living below the poverty line), along with depleted government financial reserves, he made liberal changes to help people and restore the land. And although this non-violent man may have been soft against fighting the high crime, he didn’t plan on serving a second term, and retired — where he ended up creating his foundation to combat HIV/AIDS, help rural development and construct schools.
    I know you’ve studied him over the years, and I’m sure you could tell me more than any regular Joe in the States here knew about his life. (As a rule, most Americans know one language and live in a bubble of ignorance, right?) But I’m forced to reflect on his life today, this man of non-violence, this man who forgave, and this man who was able to persevere, and get some things done in a failing government. I’m sure you could say there are a lot of things that you think need to change in the U.S. government, but all I can think to say to people in our government now is that... Well, we may never find a man I our lifetimes with the forgiveness and internal strength of Nelson Mandela. But maybe we could learn from him, and know that getting along and understanding may lead to the greatest changes in our lives, as well as in our country, and our world.

— Janet Kuypers

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