Dear President-elect and Vice President-elect: The Bar Has Been Set High

Please, don’t let the voters down

Dear President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris,

One of the various articles I wrote in the run-up to the 2020 election listed the three main reasons why, in this voter’s opinion, the Biden-Harris ticket had to win: climate change, political extremism, and inequality.

Basically, my argument was that you were certain to do better on those three fronts than Donal Trump. That’s it, that you’d do better. Not that you’d make any significant progress on those three fronts. Just that you wouldn’t do worse than Trump.

That’s not a high bar now, is it? You’d have to try really hard to do worse than Trump. After all, he’s denied climate change, promoted division and extremism as a political strategy, and passed a tax bill not intended to reduce inequality.

Why did I set the bar so low and promote a candidate who would merely do no worse than the incumbent? I did so for one specific reason: I was aiming my arguments at the then “undecided” voters who were wavering between Biden-Harris and Trump-Pence because they disliked both tickets but weren’t certain of which one they disliked more.

Just over two weeks after the election, I will admit that more than excitement, I feel relief. I’m relieved that the country will not suffer the damage of four more years of Trump.

This relief, however, will soon wear off, and I will want more from your victory. So will the rest of Americans who voted for you, especially those who did so because they wanted Trump out.

As to the millions who voted for Trump, some will wish you failure. Others will wish that you do well for the sake of the country, but they’ll need a lot of convincing to see anything you do as positive.

Basically, your success will not depend on not being worse than Trump for climate change, division, and inequality. You will need to do way better than Trump.

You must propel the US into a leadership role in the fight against climate change. You must address political divisiveness, which is driving many toward political extremes.

Of utmost importance to this voter, you must put the best policymakers and experts to work to address inequality without curtailing overall economic prosperity.

I’m one of the many Venezuelan-American immigrants who voted in this election, and I know dozens of Venezuelan-Americans who live in Florida. They overwhelmingly voted for Trump. The main reason was this: They’re terrified you will turn the US economy into an extremely Socialist economy, the kind that destroyed our native country. Donald Trump convinced them that you will.

I personally believe that it was inequality that led so many Venezuelans to buy into the false promises of Chavez-style Socialism, which was directly influenced by Casto-style Socialism.

You see, just like the Venezuelan-Americans who voted for Trump because they’re terrified of “Socialism”, one of the main reasons I voted for you is that I too am terrified of it. It’s just that we had different views on who (Trump or Biden) would make the ideology more likely to take hold in the US.

You must not let any leftist extreme ideology influence your policies, even if you face the political temptation to do so.

You will be handed over a country awash in fear and anger. Neither of these moods is conducive to clear thinking. This will make your job even harder. Then there’s the pandemic of course — which compounds it all enormously.

I wish both of you health, energy, clear-thinking, and an unbending ethical compass so that you can do the job well and move the country in a much better direction.

I don’t want to need to emigrate ever again! I’ve come to love it here.

Respectfully,

Daniella, a Venezuelan-American citizen who voted for you