I wrote another letter to the president. I’ve written many times before, and never receive an answer. So this one I wrote to someone who works for someone who knows him.
It’s probably lousy. It’s certainly too long. Can you tell me which parts to omit to make the next one better?
When I say “too long”, I’m serious. This will be 4 posts.
January 5, 2016
Dear Friend of the President,
It is very, very difficult for a mere civilian to reach anyone who has the president’s ear.
We all see problems in politics. Those like yourself who know it best are well versed in the many reasons about why it’s dysfunctional. Many of these reasons blame certain people or laws.
There’s certainly some truth to them. But much is missing. The 2014 Princeton study found that America hasn’t been a functional democracy for the last 35 years. They didn’t look back further. But the problems stretch far back.
So many parts are broken– campaign finance, lobbying, conflicts of interest, voter disempowerment, apathy and ignorance. Lying into war, creating enemies of other cultures. The main message of this letter is this: Please consider the possibility that there’s more to it than the reasons we tell ourselves.
I’m a software engineer, trained in problem solving. At times I’ve spend full days and weeks and even months immersed in a problem. I did this with politics.
Blame and confusion are often prevalent when first looking at a problem. Blame comes from bias, being “inside the box.” Confusion often accompanies disbelief that things have been so messed up, and for so long. But at it’s core, confusion points to a lack of understanding. So I spend many, many hours with a problem seeing how it works until blame and confusion disappear. With politics, I saw finally that no one was to blame, and that the results we’re seeing are the correct results, given our system.