Dear President-Elect Trump:
In a tug of war, a flag is placed at the mid-point of a very long rope. Opponents of similar strength line up on either side of the flag pulling against each other, trying to pull the flag out of the neutral territory and over to their side. Pulling the rope from each side creates tension and keeps the rope, and the flag which is attached to it, suspended in the air. Without the tension, both would fall to the ground. Without opponents of similar strength, tug of war isn’t tug of war at all. It’s merely one side dominating the other.
Good governance—respect for freedom, civil liberties, concern for the poor, fiscal responsibility, personal responsibility, civic responsibility—is a political tug of war requires opponents of equally matched strength on each end of the issues. But unlike traditional tug of war, the goal is not to pull the flag to one side or the other. Keeping the flag suspended in the air, and the neutral zone is the goal.
Only in the neutral zone do we find a balance between personal responsibility and social responsibility; civil liberties and civil order. And we only achieve the neutral zone with similarly matched sides.
It’s not that either side wouldn’t be willing to look after the interests of the other. In fact, each tries. It’s that they can’t. Neither possesses a complete enough perspective to maintain anything alone.
We are Republicans, Democrats, and others mixed in. We are Christian, Jews, Muslims, and others as well. We are men and women. We are black, white, brown, and every other mixture of skin complexion.
We are all pulling the rope. We create tension. As long as we each pull with respect and deference for our counterparts on the other side of each rope, that tension maintains our freedoms and way of life. We are one interdependent, interconnected system. When we forget that, we falter. When we forget our reliance on the opposing force, when the other side is our enemy and not just a fellow American helping to suspend the flag, that is when we have the capacity to lose it all.
It’s time that we recognize that we are so different precisely so that we may be strong. The goal should never be to be strong in our sameness. Instead, it should be to recognize our diversity and celebrate the differences among us.
Sincerely,
David O. Leavitt
