Letter from One President to Another a Display of Pure Class

I don't think it comes as any surprise that I come from a historically Republican family. This was not an easy thing to be in the south before the mid-1970s, when Democrats had every office locked up. Republicans rarely had a chance outside their strongholds. Lines were drawn across socio-economic and geographic lines. If you were working class, in a union and/or in the south, you were likely a Democrat. If you were upper middle class, a conservative from the mid-west or an educated, well-off person from back east, you were a Republican. This began to shift with the new Conservative movement of Barry Goldwater in 1964 and the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.

When I was a kid, my dad made it a point to instill a love of our country. This was easy in 1976, the year of the Bicentennial! He gave me a book of Presidents and introduced me to great Republicans like Ike Eisenhower and Abe Lincoln. Visionaries. So was Reagan, who instilled the 11th Commandment for the GOP: Never publicly speak ill of another Republican.

Speaking of class acts, so was George H.W. Bush.

Texas and the Bush family are a great fit. I've met more kind, nice and refined people here than anyplace else. There's a real sense of chivalry. Texas values history.

The elder Bush was the first President I voted for. It was a shame he lost in 1992 but being the class act he is, he wrote a letter to Bill Clinton, the man who defeated him and would succeed him as President. Bush left it in the Oval Office desk, just as Reagan had done for him.

Like I said, pure class. In our increasingly barbarian society, we can't even write letters anymore. We can't even write in cursive.

This election has been among the worst in my lifetime. There's nastiness as usual, but there's also more paranoia than ever. My cynical side suspects the whole thing is a ruse, designed to give us an illusion of choice between two unpopular candidates. I pray we go back to a time where we can be civil again and we can all behave like adults. We may have many differences - some largely overstated and fed by a political and media industry which depends on your frustration and anger for their clicks, but that's another story for another time - but there's more common ground beneath our feet than disputed territory.

At least we have a model of civility to look towards. Thanks Mr. President.