Subject: I voted against you: Congratulations
To: president@whitehouse.gov


Dear Mr. President:

I would like to have the chance to let you know how much respect I have for the office that you hold and because of that, how much respect I have for you. And somehow, I disagree with almost every initiative that you have and nearly every point you make and have spent these last four years discouraged and upset with the America I live in.

I am not alone, Mr. President. 49% of voters on Tuesday may have felt the same way that I do. That's why I'm writing this letter.

Yes, I understand that an intern is reading this and it may never get passed along to you in any fashion, but I will still plead with you Mr. President: Please take action in these next four years to unite this country of ours. Take action where we can come together (and for once not in fear or devastation.)
I have hope that you can be a strong leader in many ways that we have not yet seen. I hope you cultivate your other strengths as well as you have your determination and steadfastness. You too, like Kerry claimed to do, could unite our country and our world community. You too, could make us more respected in the world if you chose to. Please choose to do this.

Stay true to the United States Constitution and stay true to United States citizens. All of us, even the ones who voted against you because you represent all of us.

I don't pray very often, but I will be praying for you, Mr. President.

Truly yours,
me
my address
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...and it's all true.
Yeah, I'm even praying for the guy.

I don't know why I felt compelled to urge the president to compassionate and change, when it's obvious that he won't. But I've felt pretty hopeless recently.

But see, this is my thinking. I believe in the American democratic process. And the devastating thing about Tuesday wasn't that Bush was elected, it was devastating that it seems like our democratic policy worked, and that the majority of American's think he's best for the job. That's a shattering fact. The right felt so distant to me, so foreign. "How could they not see?!?..."

I might have talked to you before about the swinging pendulum of American politics. Like Nixon to Carter or Carter to Reagan. Our nations naturally swings from left to right and back again. When we go too far to the one side or the other, we center ourselves as a nation by looking for a solution to our conservative or liberal woes and swing towards a candidate with opposing views.

This time, I feel like half the nation swung, and the other half stayed still. It's painful. This isn't some political spin I'm putting on things " Two Americas" or anything, It's just the way it feels. I'm really frightened about these next four years.

Most of you are probably wondering why I wrote such a nice letter to President Bush when he makes me so angry. ...I'm(to a great fault) an optimist. Without anyway out of this presidency, I've decided to be hopeful instead of being miserable for the next for years. Hopeful and active.

I get burned over and over again believing in this democratic system as much as I do...Believing that Bush will understand the authority of his is office is not only to defend and intimidate but to inspire.

I don't think that Bush will be successful without more international support. It does matter what the world thinks of us. I'm sick of going other places and having everyone hate Americans. They hate us for a reason. ..Well, lots of reasons.

We'll be hearing things for weeks and months about how he wasn't supposed to be president, how votes were corrupted, how democracy wasn't in full effect (But, let's face it we had those conversations for the last 4 years and it didn't get him out of office any quicker.)

I'm the least militant protester and by least militant, I don't mean that I don't do it or that I won't do it (because I will, that's democracy) but I do it in a really polite way "MR. PRESIDENT, I STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH YOU" haha.

My strongest fears about Bush have to do with upholding our constitution. In his hands, we have a threat of overturning Row v. Wade, A same sex marriage ban amendment, or worse, another unconstitutional war.

I really do have a lot of respect for the President of the United States, who ever he/she might be. I'm patriotic, I love America. I want to see it be made better. That's why all of this is so difficult right now.

Well, maybe I'll get an autographed glossy out of sending the email though....