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PRESIDENT TRUMP

Whoever said life was smooth? Jefferson said we need a revolution every 12 years to clean out the rot, adjust and start again. Well, Trump has given us that opportunity. But how could opportunity come with a Janus face – abominable moral character lacking even traces of empathy and compassion on one face, yet the other offering to shake up our system so we have government not just for the wealthy but for all people.

The gods are trickster gods.

As the moral quality of our country slides lower and lower into gluttony, avarice, drugs and materialism along with selfidealization, the gods give us a real-life image of what we have become: Trump. How ironic.

The Bernie and early Trump supporters agreed that currently our democracy is broken, as money rules the congressional roost and the poor can eat cake. History tells us that populist shake-ups seldom succeed because the leader’s ego grows faster than his reason, and the goal of power replaces the goal of societal betterment. Nevertheless, the bedrock point is that our society cannot continue on its present course.

So this is an opportunity. We could end gerrymandering and get private power-dollars completely out of our election process. We could break up the big banks and tax the rich in a fair but progressive way. We could make menial jobs life-creating with livable incomes. We could rebuild our infrastructure as Trump promises. We could declare war on climate change and show love to our environment.

Amazingly, we have a fullaccountability situation and government. Seldom does a president have “control” of both houses of Congress. So policy success will bring rich rewards politically but also bluster, and destructive policies can be indicted by a furious electorate.

We are Americans. We have a distinguished history and an obligation to unite behind the leader our people have elected. We owe Trump support for policies we agree with and opposition to the rest. We owe him cooperation to find compromise on loggerhead issues so policy logjams can be dynamited away. In short, we as citizens owe him our full support if he does what he told the people at 3 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday morning: I will work tirelessly to heal and unite our divided nation.

President Trump has an historic opportunity to set America on a better course, just as FDR did almost a century ago. But, can a person such as Trump who is deeply flawed choose the brilliant people to help guide our country, and can he unshackle himself from his controlling ego? Ah, there’s the rub. We will see. Roy Wehrle Springfield

MOVING THOUGH FEAR

We are all, myself included, so afraid of what might or will happen if the other candidate wins. Our tremendous fear, which has been ramped up to a feverish pitch, is why so many are behaving so horribly toward one another, harshly calling complete strangers names and using other extremely disrespectful dialogue, especially on social media where people don’t see or know the other human being they’re talking to.

A big fear in the Trump camp is that America is being taken advantage of, invaded, and is so weak on the world stage that we’re at risk of being taken over completely. A big fear in the Clinton camp is that Trump may not leave us with a world at all, given his rash temperament, fierce “winning at all costs” mentality, and lack of understanding of how America’s future and the world’s future are one and the same.

But it’s when I’m most afraid that I again remember there’s nothing really to fear when I put my trust in God. That is when I remember life is eternal, that we are all truly one, and love is the only real power there is. That’s the God I know.

My job is to feel God’s peace and do my best, while trusting in what is in each moment, remembering there’s a big picture I don’t see, but that God does see. That’s hard to do because I’m afraid, too. But seeing my fear allows God to move me through it, permitting me to live in the way I want to live during this temporary stay here. Michelle Sullivan Springfield