An Open Letter: A Question for the Person Behind the Politician
To the politician I am trying to understand,
How are you? I ask this sincerely, without sarcasm, but how are you really doing? Not as a public figure, but as a human being? You have been in the political arena for decades, and I can only imagine what that does to a person. After all, you are, and hopefully do, more than just politics.
To live for years inside a bubble of security, staff, and partisan feedback; to have to weigh every public action… it is no small thing. It must have cost you an immense amount of personal freedom. And “freedom” is the very thing you champion so loudly. I don’t think most people can grasp the impact this must have on you: so many limitations on everyday life.
What does that do to you, as a person? What has changed in you, compared to the person you were before these limitations existed? My sincere question is this: after all this time in that bubble, how can you still feel what “freedom” means for the average American who doesn’t live behind gates or see the world only through a teleprompter?
I am so incredibly curious about this. Because no matter how differently we see the world, I genuinely wish you well. That, by the way, goes for everyone. I care about people; we are all so different, doing so many different things, and the vast majority of us do so with the best of intentions. I believe that includes you.
But I do see a pattern that, from my perspective, is also explainable. When you are forced to live in a bubble, your view of the world becomes incredibly narrow. And that very limitation, of course, heavily influences your vision of freedom—the very thing you fight for. It becomes a very limited kind of freedom.
I so deeply miss that broader perspective. It is always that one issue. That one group to blame, that one cultural wedge driven deeper, which a large part of the country now believes is the cause of all our problems. And let’s be honest: if you hammer on one point long enough, people will eventually start to believe or follow it. But do you understand that for someone who is less limited, living in a different bubble, this doesn’t quite land?
I can so easily imagine that all these limitations, and all the hate directed at you, must heavily color your view of this country and the world. But this is where I see a painful paradox. From that same place of care for people, I must also be honest about the consequences of the course you are steering.
You are fighting for freedom, but the polarization your strategy feeds makes our society less free. The Pew Research Center has warned for years that “affective polarization”—that deep ‘us vs. them’ feeling, detached from policy—is at a historic high. This isn’t just a statistic; it’s the tension we feel at Thanksgiving, the rage online, and the distrust in our neighborhoods. It makes life harder for everyone, not more free.
My question is therefore not “stop” or “go away.” My question is: how do you break out of your own bubble? How do you ensure that your view of America isn’t completely defined by the walls (both literal and figurative) built around you? And what if those walls are the very things fueling the division you claim to be fighting?
The philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote: ‘Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.’ Your perspective is unique, but it is also extremely limited.
The strange thing is, the very thing you are fighting so hard for might be much easier to achieve if you let go of the method of the fight. The quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is so perfect here: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
From my bubble, the course you are navigating is not the right one. Your words about our “checks and balances”—about “fake news,” “activist judges,” or a “deep state”—contribute to the erosion of trust. And that is worrying. Because those very institutions exist to protect the freedom of all citizens, including those you disagree with. My concern is: how can protecting freedom go hand-in-hand with weakening the very pillars that hold it up?
As a person in your position, you now hold the power to shape the nation’s course. That brings an immense responsibility, one that the quote from Ben Parker (Spider-Man’s uncle) summarizes perfectly: “With great power comes great responsibility.”
The question is how you will use that responsibility. Will you use that power to deepen the polarization that keeps you so insulated? Or to restore what binds us? Because that is the alarming and factual reality: your words about the judiciary undermine trust in one of the key branches of our government. Gallup and Pew show that trust in all three branches, including the Supreme Court, is at or near historic lows. You have the power to tear down what little binding trust remains, but you also have the power to protect it.
From my heart, I sincerely wish you the clarity, the wisdom, and above all, the inner freedom that you also seek for this country.
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