One way to move forward is for The Beachcomber to stop writing editorials that feature “we” in the header and then go on to include ten additional mentions of “we,” “we’re” or “us.” To quote Al Gore in his classic quip on July 9, 1992 during Bill Clinton’s first presidential campaign: “What do you mean ‘we,’ kemo sabe?”

There are 535 members in the 114th U.S. Congress. Between 100,000 and 6,000,000 votes are typically cast to elect each of those 100 U.S. Senators. Between 100,000 and 500,000 votes are cast to elect each of 435 U.S. Representatives. Referring to this group as a “stubborn and defiant child” is not a way forward.

The way forward does not start with us. It has never started with us. It has always started with the world-at-large and everybody and everything in it. Characterizing 61 million people as feeling angry and afraid and hopeless is not a way forward, since 61 million is only 19 percent of 325 million and not even 1 percent of 7.5 billion.

Making a difference means sitting quietly and refusing to speak for anyone else, refusing to make assumptions about anyone else and trying not to reduce the complex underpinnings of experience to something less than they actually are.

— Buck Levin