Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Letter to John Kerry
Senator Kerry:
As of this writing, political experts from both sides project that President Bush will win reelection, defeating you despite the best efforts of your supporters, your staff, and yourself. The race has been hardfought and at times extremely bitter.
However, it is entirely possible that the margin of victory will be so slim that some in your party will urge you to continue to seek the presidency through legal action. Perhaps this will seem an attractive option to you. After all, you have invested so much of your work, your wealth, and yourself in the campaign.
Though I disagree with you on most political issues, I believe you are an honorable man. You have served our nation for over thirty years, in the military and in government. Now I ask you to serve it one last time, in a way that will doubtless go against your every instinct.
In the election of 2000, Al Gore faced the same choice you now must make. Presented with the option of accepting defeat -- and the end of all his political aspirations -- by a razor-thin margin, or challenging that defeat in court, he chose to fight... and his choice has had horrible effects on our nation. Thousands of people who thought themselves disenfranchised, on no greater evidence than telephone push-polls that suggested to disappointed partisans that their vote may not have been correctly counted, have lost faith in the process by which we choose leaders. Cynicism and bitterness arising from the false perception of some "illegitimacy" of the Bush Administration have disillusioned many thousands of youth -- whose disillusionment you and your Democratic colleagues tried to turn to your own advantage. And in this election, foreign powers have sent observers to monitor our elections -- truly a bitter and unwelcome irony.
We have not yet recuperated from the effects of Al Gore's political opportunism. Because the American people's confidence in their electoral system may be irretrievably damaged by another series of lawsuits aimed at reversing the clear intention of the electorate, I ask you to perform this one last service to your country:
Concede.
In doing so, you will be preserving the dignity both of yourself and your nation. You will also be taking a tremendous step in healing the partisan political rift that has divided us for the last four years. And you will be putting our enemies on notice that we are indeed one nation, indivisible.
And you will be clothing yourself in honor for your emeritus years; years in which you, like former presidents and presidential candidates before you, may yet do great service to our Republic.
With great respect and admiration,
Stephen Tilson
UPDATE: Thank you, Senator. You've done the right thing.
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As of this writing, political experts from both sides project that President Bush will win reelection, defeating you despite the best efforts of your supporters, your staff, and yourself. The race has been hardfought and at times extremely bitter.
However, it is entirely possible that the margin of victory will be so slim that some in your party will urge you to continue to seek the presidency through legal action. Perhaps this will seem an attractive option to you. After all, you have invested so much of your work, your wealth, and yourself in the campaign.
Though I disagree with you on most political issues, I believe you are an honorable man. You have served our nation for over thirty years, in the military and in government. Now I ask you to serve it one last time, in a way that will doubtless go against your every instinct.
In the election of 2000, Al Gore faced the same choice you now must make. Presented with the option of accepting defeat -- and the end of all his political aspirations -- by a razor-thin margin, or challenging that defeat in court, he chose to fight... and his choice has had horrible effects on our nation. Thousands of people who thought themselves disenfranchised, on no greater evidence than telephone push-polls that suggested to disappointed partisans that their vote may not have been correctly counted, have lost faith in the process by which we choose leaders. Cynicism and bitterness arising from the false perception of some "illegitimacy" of the Bush Administration have disillusioned many thousands of youth -- whose disillusionment you and your Democratic colleagues tried to turn to your own advantage. And in this election, foreign powers have sent observers to monitor our elections -- truly a bitter and unwelcome irony.
We have not yet recuperated from the effects of Al Gore's political opportunism. Because the American people's confidence in their electoral system may be irretrievably damaged by another series of lawsuits aimed at reversing the clear intention of the electorate, I ask you to perform this one last service to your country:
Concede.
In doing so, you will be preserving the dignity both of yourself and your nation. You will also be taking a tremendous step in healing the partisan political rift that has divided us for the last four years. And you will be putting our enemies on notice that we are indeed one nation, indivisible.
And you will be clothing yourself in honor for your emeritus years; years in which you, like former presidents and presidential candidates before you, may yet do great service to our Republic.
With great respect and admiration,
Stephen Tilson
UPDATE: Thank you, Senator. You've done the right thing.
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