True Compassion: An Open Letter to the President of the United States of America

Dear Mr. President:

I write this today with a heavy heart. A feeling, I’m sad to say, that many of my fellow Americans share. A dark cloud is descending and darkening the future for ourselves and our children. We hope and pray for a leader that will stand strong. A leader that will fight to protect that future from the impending darkness. In our White House, there is no such leader to be found.

Our nation is at a tipping point. On one side is prosperity, on the other is a steep, treacherous slope to destruction. There are many issues that could tip this balance one way or the other, depending on how they are handled. For example, our nation’s $18 trillion debt, First Amendment freedom of speech, basic civil liberties, and yes, the current immigration crisis in which we find ourselves.

Mr. President, you and others of your persuasion, speak of “compassion”. You have stated that we cannot close our hearts to these victims, because “that’s not who we are”.

Well let me tell you, Americans are some of the most compassionate people on the face of the planet. For anyone to suggest otherwise is ridiculous and shameful. The amount of humanitarian aid that flows out of the United State’s borders is enormous. I hate to say it, Mr. President, but by your actions and words, you clearly prove one thing,  you do not even know your own people.

The most important thing to understand concerning this issue, is that compassion is not government’s job. Some, including yourself, may be startled to hear this. But if you would bother to read the document that you swore to uphold when you took your oath of office, you would realize that government’s job, the President’s job, is to look out for the American people.

You see, when our government is fulfilling its proper role of perfecting the Union, establishing Justice, ensuring Peace at home, providing for the common Defense, promoting the general Welfare, and securing the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Children, as dictated by the Supreme Law of the Land, then We the People are free to do our job of compassion to those in need.

However, when you drag the American people and our businesses down with outrageous taxes and crippling regulations, when our voices are crushed beneath the weight of partisan bickering and blatant disregard for our beliefs and values, what is left but for government to step into our shoes, shirking its own duty and laying the irresponsible weight of astronomical debt on our descendents? I ask you, sir, how can you do this and sleep at night?

When you say that we are heartless or indifferent to the plight of the Syrians, you could not be more wrong. Take for instance the Nazarene Fund. This initiative has raised well over $10 million to aid those being displaced by the ravages of war in the Middle East. And what is more, it was done with absolutely no help from the government. This was a people’s movement, giving of their own hard earned money to help those in need. This is who we are, Mr. President. This is who we are.  

During your campaigns you promised “hope” and “change” to the American people. But every day you are in office, we feel what hope we may have had, slipping away due to a change that is harming our country. We feel our nation that we desperately love, tipping the wrong way.

You want to speak to us about compassion? Then start here. No American desires to turn away those who need our help. But if we are not free, if we are fearing for our nation’s stability, if we cannot even trust our own President to do first what is best for America, we are in a miserable state.

Yes, our nation truly is at a tipping point. On one side is prosperity, on the other is a steep, treacherous slope to destruction. There is no doubt, the choices we make in the coming months will determine our course.

It is my daily prayer, that you, Mr. President, will make the right decisions. So far, Heaven has not seen fit to grant that prayer. But know this, sir, America is waking up. We the People still know right from wrong. And whatever happens, this is who we are: compassionate, dedicated, faithful, patriotic.

We are Americans. And that won’t change.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Paine

@painefultruth76

painefultruth1776@gmail.com