One week from now... the chance to move from Worst to Best.

It is a particularly American habit, this business of wanting to classify the best and worst of something. We are nation obsessed with statistical rankings. Be it who is “the sexiest man alive”, or who made the best/worst dressed lists. Our popular culture abounds with  top ten lists and who is the best or worst at a particular skill. What fan of college football or basketball doesn’t start the day without checking their team’s standing in the top 25 coaches and press polls? We have a real need as a nation to not just quantify, but also to qualify both our successes and our failures.

To call someone the “worst” of anything can be a dangerous generalization. Yet when talking about the American Presidency, the question itself is not so much the issue, as are the reasons for asking it.

The presidency of Donald John Trump has had far more failure than success. During his time in the White House Trump has excelled at dividing this nation, perfecting a strategy of doubling and tripling down on his base, and trying to prevent anyone else from being heard.  It is a strategy that won him 270 electoral votes.  Yet aside from that singular electoral win it has produced no real accomplishments in terms of actual governing.

Presidents at this point in their terms, especially as their focus turns to the campaign for a second term, find themselves obsessed with the need to protect their accomplishments.   In the case of Donald Trump his accomplishments can be summed up in one word: Chaos.  Under the banner of “Make America Great Again”, we are now a nation isolated from our allies, faced with emboldened adversaries, and bereft of the diplomatic credibility and strategic influence needed to deal with both the threats and opportunities of a 21^st Century  world.

This administration’s one notable domestic achievement , the Trump Tax Cuts have blown a hole in America’s fiscal security nearly a trillion dollars wide.  The Republican Party’s response to such massive fiscal irresponsibility is to target Social Security and Medicare for highway robbery to pay for their giveaway to the richest of the Rich.  

While keeping a straight face as they out and out lie that it is these programs that are the cause of our budgetary woes.  

The problem with asking if any President is the “worst”, is the implication that the success or failure of our republic hangs on the abilities and flaws of a single human being. Our country has faced the consequences of our leader’s failings many times before and has survived. As we face the third year of this flawed presidency, the question is not is Donald Trump the “worst” President, but rather what do we as nation want from our next President? Therein lays a vision for what a “best” Presidency would look like?

That vision is not hard to find. You need look no farther than a few lines from an old song…

O beautiful for patriot dream 
That sees beyond the years

The best President would have a sense of stewardship, not ownership of the presidency. The best President would strive not just to make life easier for “the base”, but ensure a better life for all our citizens, and the generations of Americans yet to come.

Thine alabaster cities gleam 
Undimmed by human tears!

The best President would never accept that any American lives in hopelessness, or lacks the opportunity to learn in safe schools, or live in safe neighborhoods. The best President would never claim  that mass shootings  were the fault of the victims for not being armed.   The best President would see the environment not as a resource to be exploited, but as a legacy to be protected. The best President would never accept that any American would have to choose between health care and economic survival.

America! America! 
God shed his grace on thee

The best President would never seek to use one group of Americans as a tool of division. The best President would never use race or religion as way to marginalize groups of our own citizens. The best President would never seek to codify ONE religion into civil law as a way to score political points. The best President would not wear faith on his sleeve while disregarding the most basic tenets of that faith. The best President would live his faith far more loudly than he would talk about it.

And crown thy good with brotherhood 
From sea to shining sea!

The best President would understand that true homeland security is collective. Strong friendships are the best defense against strong adversaries. The best President would see our freedoms as our strength not our weakness. The best President would see war as the very last resort to defend our nation’s vital interests, not the first resort to advance any one constituency’s political or economic interests.

The best President would embody our hopes, advance our dreams and embrace our diversity, our “E Pluribus Unum”. The best President would listen, would learn and would lead.

Using this simple standard, we find that the one week out from the 2018 midterm elections, an election that is more than any other in our history truly a referendum on the current occupant of the White House and his Political Party; We are asking the wrong question. The question is not “is Donald Trump the worst President ever?”. The real question is, when will we as nation, stop settling for anything less than the best?

Next Tuesday vote for true American Greatness, Vote to show America is better than this.   Vote to stop the wholesale destruction of American Democracy and our place in the world as the one indispensable nation. 

Vote out the Party of Donald Trump.

This is not about Right or Left.  This is about Right and Wrong.   The Republican Party has lost its mind and  sold its soul to a demented con man who if left unchecked,   will damage our nation beyond repair.

Vote to save America.  Vote to save the Republican Party.  

Vote Democrat.