Next four years will test nation’s democratic values
Part of our country now rejoices; the other part mourns.
Pundits say democracy is messy. We shall see just how messy and if the democracy envisioned by our founders survives this grand experiment intact.
George Washington voluntarily declined a third presidential term and thus assured our first “peaceful transition of power,” which laid the foundation for our nascent country as a stable, democratic state.
In his 1796 farewell address, Washington warned, “with obstruction of the government’s integrity, cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power to the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterward the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
And yet, the ideas in our Declaration of Independence continue to be a beacon of our democratic values as a nation.
We Americans have the potential to be humane, kind, cooperative, fair and peaceful. Yet, humanity can be cruel, deceitful, and violent.
These next four years will test our potential.
KATHLEEN COLLOMB, DECATUR
Taking a ‘wait and see’ attitude is best
Several people have told me they are not looking forward to the next presidential administration. Some do not use the president-elect’s name. One friend asked that no one send him anything related to the new president, including jokes.
We might consider the health value of some mental adjustment or attitude discipline. Nobody says everything is Pollyanna, merry and bright, or that optimism or attitude should be forced or artificial. We can control only the things we can control. Those who refuse to make any adjustments stay stressed out, lose sleep and who are negative in conversation, relationships and attitude might find a cost to themselves and their health, with no positive effect on the situation.
Concentration camp survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl said man’s final freedom is his ability to choose his attitude about any given set of circumstances. Waiting to see what happens before making judgments has always worked for me.
DANIEL F. KIRK, KENNESAW
A sign of Trump’s intentions
One way to tell whether President-elect Donald Trump is serious about taking Canada and Denmark-owned Greenland: If he initiates a big buildup of the U.S. military.
The two countries already have refused to agree to any takeover — just as Ukrainians refused Russia — and both are vast territories that will take a lot of very expensive fighting and a lot of very expensive occupying. And whose side do we think NATO and other organizations would rush to assist?
MIKE WEST, MARIETTA
