Letters

In 

her report on the divisiveness of the presidential election [Nov. 1], Nancy Gibbs contemplated whether it will be possible to bring Americans together after the vote. It is not only possible but also probable. While those in our nation's capital and in the media are totally consumed by politics, most Americans view politics as just one element of their everyday lives. We are too busy to be overcome by the aftermath of elections. We share key values. Ultimately, we all want to be able to live decent lives in peace and security. The presidential election almost seems to have taken on the quality of the World Series or the Super Bowl. We each have a favorite, but after the winner has been determined, we can go back to our regular lives.
CHARLES K. STEIN
Coram, N.Y.

I am the sole Democrat where I work.  All of us are devoutly Christian and love one another. As Oregonians we were able to cast our mail-in ballots before Election Day, and since then my friends and I have quietly sought to heal the wounds inflicted by this heated campaign. We've asked one another probing questions and listened with respect and good humor to the answers. I try to avoid eye rolling, although I cannot say it has never happened. And we have kept in mind that our goals and values are the same. We just have different ideas about how to get there.
KATHLEEN PRESNELL
Roseburg, Ore.

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As someone who mostly votes republican, I want to think that only one side takes part in voting shenanigans. But as an intelligent American citizen, I know that the "funny stuff" is probably pretty evenly divided. I believe people should vote because they've educated themselves on the issues, and are ready to make an informed choice, not because election-year propaganda has told them what to do. But unfortunately, being informed isn't a prerequisite. Any law-abiding citizen can fill out a ballot.
MARK WAFLE
Green Bay, Wis.

After an election, it isn't always easy to forgive, forget and move on. And although it's disheartening to believe that the leader of your country is a wrongheaded and dangerous person, it's far worse to realize he was eagerly chosen by a self-righteous and gloating majority. Some of us feel deep in our heart that America isn't really the place for us, that perhaps we belong somewhere else, in a country where good people live. There are parts of the U.S. where I now know I could not live, not because of the red or blue color on the electoral map but because of the narrowness of the residents' minds and the darkness of their hearts. Might we not be better off as two separate nations than as one in which half of us are forced to accept the will of the other half?
LARRY HERBST
Pasadena, Calif.

TIME'S cover stated, "The stakes are higher than we could ever imagine." The magazine needs to be more judicious. Anyone who has studied the American Civil War or lived through the cold war and Vietnam knows there were more polarized election seasons, when the stakes were surely higher than they are now. The casualty levels of the war on terrorism, regrettable as they are, have not approached those of other conflicts. We got through them. This has been a politically contentious time, but were we to face another crisis on the scale of Pearl Harbor or 9/11, Americans would get over it, whoever might be in office. Our domestic political campaign was a war of words. If we exaggerate its importance, as you do, we increase the danger that a more destructive divisiveness will rise among us.
JOSEPH R. STAINS
Homer City, Pa.