An open letter to America from the democratically governed world

Dear America,

2020’s been quite a year hasn’t it. Well depending on who you are, you may have had this feeling of not being able to breathe easy for considerably longer than just a year. Democracy, Equality, Empathy, Reason, Fairness, Freedom, Peace. When things appear granted, we often take them for granted. It has been a long time since the democratic world has had to hold its breath and feel its own mortality. All politiFcal and societal systems are mortal. Even our own. There are always actors and forces pushing against our values and our institutions. This is inevitable. It’s just entropy. So, if we want to keep our values and our democracy, we must always put effort into upholding them. Sometimes, great effort must be put in. This is indeed one of those times.

What Donald Trump is, is an opportunistic actor who pushed up against America’s institutions and found no resistance. Instead he found a wave which he rode all the way to the White House, taking everything he could. And of course, he could. America’s institutions had been worn down to the bone by decades of corruption. As for her values, it goes hand in hand. From the get-go, America’s culture and economy has in large part been to expand at anyone’s expense. Is America a good country? Slavery, Manifest Destiny, Genocide, Imperialism, War, Sickness, Poverty, Pollution, Corruption, Lies, Fear and Hatred.

All this and more. Still… I believe America is a good country. Because for all her faults, America cares about these things. She taught an entire generation to care about these things. And a couple generations before, she defeated the monsters in the darkness and brought her peace unto the world. For better or for worse, she connected the world and made the Earth whole. For as much as she took from some, she would never the less bring great wealth to the world. For as much as she held her tongue, she never the less spoke for many who couldn’t. If there were never any good with the bad then trust me, she wouldn’t have come this far. She did the hard things, took humankind to the moon and ushered us into a technological revolution. She taught us that we could do anything if we wanted to. A great superpower with a legacy of presiding over the largest global culture, most powerful democracy and longest period of peace in human history thus far.

2020 is more than just about Covid. It is more than just about Trump or Biden. It is more than just about China, your individual selves or even the damn economy. America, your soul hangs in the balance. A soul which whether you like it or not belongs to all of you. Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Indigenous, Conservative, Liberal, Progressive, Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Male, Female and the entire spectrum of the Rainbow. You are all American. You are all human beings, part of this same story, and the pages lie empty before you. We are not responsible, for the sins or virtues of our ancestors, we only ever inherit the world they leave behind. Thus, we can only ever be judged for the world we leave behind.

America, you have some decisions to make. The world we grew up in is gone. Change has come to you. It has come to all of us. It may be scary, but you have to be brave. Nothing is forever. You have to ask yourselves; do you want to live in a country where everyone is forced to stand for the anthem, or everyone is proud to stand for the anthem? Do you want live in a country which treats all humankind equal or just one which says it does? Do you want live in a democracy, or do just want to continue thinking you do? Do you believe me when I say America can face and mend the mistakes of the past, making real and lasting systematic changes? Do the hard things that need to be done and evolve? Did you believe me when I said America is a good country? Because if you did, you can make it true. Not just for you or I. But true in the hearts of American and anyone else watching. You can do anything America.

It’s a good thing, because on top of all that homework you’d have to catch up on, is a mammoth task. You created a monster. Not just the man himself, but an entire movement. Most of us didn’t even notice that the events since 2016 was pretty much an authoritarian revolution for America. It feeds on fear, thrives among ignorance and spreads where there is hate. And right now, it is hellbent on ending American democracy. It doesn’t seem to care millions of Americans and is responsible for the largest loss of American lives since World War Two. Its incompetence and lies don’t seem to matter because it operates on power, not values or reason. It doesn’t listen to experts. It doesn’t listen to a lot of people actually. It does things because it can, and it doesn’t care for anyone who can’t give it anything.

Those of us who do care, have to face this monster now. This might not be what we expected. We find ourselves standing among allies, some we expected and some we didn’t expect. All united by a sense of humanity. We find ourselves in this epic chapter of history where, the greatest democracy the world has yet seen, makes a heroic last stand in defence of democracy and the values we once took for granted. It is poetic that the Democratic party of America is leading this charge. For all their flaws and sins, I still sincerely hope that they can live up to that name of theirs. Things far more precious than a four-year presidential term is riding on the 2020 election. Human lives, democracy’s future and indeed America’s soul is riding on this election.

Crush this monster in its cocoon and turn over history’s page. The democratic world is with you America! Make this moment in history your moment. Show the world you are more than the sins and suffering of those who came before you. More than its legacy which lives on to this day. Bring your segregated communities together and defeat Trump. Don’t you dare settle. Mend the mistakes of the past, face the systematic challenges of the present and build up a future for your children and all the children of the Earth. Go save the world just like you do in your movies.

Live up to your values. Live up to your God if you have one. Live up to your country. Live up to your fellow human beings. Save America’s soul. For this might very well be the last chance you are ever going to get.

With hope for the future ~ Kabilan