Philadelphia Rabbi Pens Open Letter to President Trump
Guest Commentary: What Does Success Mean, Mr. President?
A local rabbi calls on President Trump to remember the interests of his supporters, to make America greater for all
Mar. 30, 2017
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Dear Mr. President,
The defeat of the "American Health Care Act" must be a biting experience for you. It has been referred to equally a humiliating defeat, a railroad train wreck, a disaster . . . well, you lot have heard it all. It can't be good to hear. No one likes to experience failure in such a public, grand way. I tin can't imagine you practise.
Merely the question is what will you practise with your failure? Will you own it or blame others? Will you be embittered and compile an enemies list? Or will you figure out what went incorrect? Will you acknowledge what has been going wrong well-nigh from the day you lot took office?
I confess, I did not vote for yous. Frankly, I was afraid of you lot. I still am. Of your demagoguery. Of your authoritarian personality. Of your outrageous accusations. Of your appeals to racism, sexism, xenophobia and jingoism.
But every bit both President Obama and Secretarial assistant Clinton said, we are all Americans. And y'all are our only president. No one wants you to fail. Because so America volition neglect. If y'all succeed, our nation succeeds.
But what will success mean?
Yous say you want to make America groovy again. I believe that America is already great. But tin we at least agree that America can be greater than it is?
I promise that the debacle y'all allowed yourself to become embroiled in will exist a wake-upwardly call to remember the interests of the people who put their faith in y'all and elected you to be our president.
You are a Republican. Merely the Republican establishment did not elect you. The Americans who gave yous your electoral higher majority are men and women who have lost religion in the accessibility of the American dream. They have lost organized religion in government as a vehicle to make their lives better. They saw you equally their standard-bearer, their defender. To make America nifty again for them.
They did not vote for you considering you promised them the Republican dream. They voted for you because you promised them their American dream.
When information technology came to health care, they couldn't care less virtually the Republican article of faith to repeal and replace Obamacare. They wanted what you promised them: A great health care plan, at a fraction of the toll they are now paying. And while they may have thought your promise was an exaggeration, they believed in your sincerity. They believed you would fight for them to get greater access to the health care they need, at a lower cost.
Instead, you squandered your political capital supporting a House Republican bill that would have made quality wellness care out of the achieve of many of the people who voted for you. It was a neb designed to restrict health intendance, and requite enormous tax breaks to the wealthy. And that is precisely the hypocrisy and play tricks that your supporters detest in government. They thought you were a straight talker, a no-nonsense representative. Just you lot allowed yourself to become defenseless up in the shenanigans of the craven, venal, deceptive and divisive agenda advanced past Republicans in Congress.
When it comes to that agenda, at that place is very little in information technology other than the discredited notion that tax cuts will improve society, and that individuals can all-time care for themselves without a regime that has the best interests of private Americans at heart. The Republican notion that if the rich go richer everyone lives improve has been disproven as a selfish mirage fourth dimension and time once more. It is only the very rich who tin get by without some form of government assistance in their lives. And even they await to aggrandize their wealth and power through government activeness—or inaction.
Mr. President, what volition you practise with your failure? Will y'all own it or blame others? Will you be embittered and compile an enemies listing? Or will you figure out what went wrong? Will yous acknowledge what has been going wrong well-nigh from the day y'all took function?
As for health care, anybody will concede that the Affordable Intendance Act, Obamacare, needs modifications. House Speaker Paul Ryan has now conceded that "Obamacare is the law of the land" and will be "for the foreseeable futurity." Instead of abandoning health intendance reform, isn't this an opportune fourth dimension for you to engage Democrats, who want to be able to improve Obamacare without the threat of dismantling it? Wouldn't all Americans benefit from both parties working to brand the well-existence of citizens their primary goal?
I hope that the debacle you allowed yourself to become embroiled in will be a wake-up call to recollect the interests of the people who put their faith in yous and elected you lot to exist our president. Yes, this constituency wants better American jobs. They want safe. And they desire secure borders. Simply they also want good schools, quality health care they can afford, clean air and h2o, and global cooperation.
President Carter coined the phrase "a government as good every bit its people."
Mr. President, if you lot make your agenda the transformation of our government into one that is as good as our people, and if you put the interests of the people of our neat nation first, y'all will achieve the adoration and gratitude of all citizens, whatever their political affiliation. You can still create a legacy that will make your presidency a great one.
Sincerely yours,
Rabbi Seymour Rosenbloom
Rabbi Seymour Rosenbloom is the Distinguished Service Rabbi (retired) of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park, PA. He is the immediate past president of JSPAN, the Jewish Social Policy Action Network.
Photograph header: Flickr/Andres Castellano 
Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/rabbi-open-letter-donald-trump/
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