In the days since the election, a new genre of punditry has arisen among our friends on the left. Appalled and frightened by Tuesday’s results, many have memorialized their emotions in the form of letters to their daughters, whom they presume to be – and indeed whom they encourage to be – every bit as appalled and frightened as themselves. I’ve read some examples of the genre (representative samples are here, here, here, and here) and found them all to be more or less the same: The authors lament that the country has declined to such a condition as to reject the sainted Hillary Clinton as its next president, choosing instead the vile Donald Trump. They further lament that they failed to do more to prevent this ghastly result from coming about, and they promise to fight to rescue the country from the hellish depths into which it plunged on Tuesday.
As it happens, I have a daughter too, one for whom I have the same aspirations as these letter writers have for their own. And, like them, I hope to bequeath to my daughter a better world than exists today. But unlike them, I welcomed the election results, as I explain in my own letter to my daughter, presented below.
My Dear Daughter,
As you have done in every election since you were born, you accompanied your mother and me to the polling place on Tuesday evening. When you awakened on Wednesday, we gave you the news that Donald Trump had won and would be our next president. We explained to you weeks ago that Mr. Trump was not the candidate we would have chosen, but he was the one the system produced as the only alternative to Hillary Clinton. You’ve heard us say many times that you don’t always get what you want; neither do your parents.
You will hear others say that Mrs. Clinton did not win because she is a woman. Do not believe this. The country would happily elect a woman as president, and might have done so on Tuesday had the one in contention not been so untrustworthy and morally compromised, as I will explain.
As secretary of state, Mrs. Clinton conducted her government business on a private, secret email server so as to keep her activities hidden from congressional oversight and from the citizens she sought to lead. In doing so, she exposed national secrets to our enemies.
She used the State Department as a conduit to deliver great sums of money to her private charity, which in turn delivered that money to her and her family.
She implemented policies that favored our enemies and dishonored our friends, bringing the world to the chaotic condition that exists today. There is no reason to believe she would have behaved differently had she become president.
As I write this it is November 11, Veterans Day, when we honor the men and women who, like your grandfathers, have served in our armed forces and defended our country against those who would harm it. A president has no greater duty than to preserve our military strength and guard the country against the threats that loom around the world. Yet, when the ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in Benghazi four years ago, Mrs. Clinton failed to acknowledge the nature of the attack and the continuing threat it represented, falsely blaming it on an internet video that few people had seen. She went so far as to perpetuate this lie even while speaking to the victims’ family members when the bodies were returned to the United States. As president, she would have further weakened our military and invited challenges from our adversaries.
You have seen pictures taken of you before you were born, pictures so clear that you can recognize your face. Mrs. Clinton believes that when those pictures were taken, you had no right to be protected. She in fact believes that even in the very moments before a mother gives birth, if she decides that a baby will be an inconvenience to her, she has the right to have him or her killed and disposed of like a piece of trash.
I could go on and on about Mrs. Clinton and the reasons your mother and I did not want her to be president. In due season, you will develop your own political opinions. Whether you grow up to be a conservative like us or a progressive like some of our friends, I hope you will arrive at your conclusions based on an honest evaluation of all the available facts. Whatever your political persuasion, I hope you will always have an open mind and be willing to listen to those with whom you disagree. More importantly, I hope you will always see yourself as the director of your own life and not look to politicians in some distant city to make decisions that are rightfully yours.
When the day arrives, as it surely will, when your favored candidate does not win election as president, I hope you will accept the judgment of your fellow citizens and not engage in a childish display of entitlement and self-pity such as we are witnessing in many cities today. This country was founded by men much wiser than Donald Trump and Barrack Obama, wiser even than Hillary Clinton. They built safeguards into our government that protect the country against any scoundrel who might temporarily occupy the White House. This is still a great country. Donald Trump’s election makes it no less so.
Now go outside and play.
Love,
Dad
Join the conversation as a VIP Member