Open Letter to The Turning Point Generation

To: Those Americans who are 25 years of age or younger

The oldest of you would have been Junior High age in 2015. That means all the rest of you were younger that same year.

It’s the year Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the President of the United States. His name was already in the headlines. A couple of years before that, he accused President Obama of being a fraud. He asserted that Obama had been born in Kenya, not the USA (Hawaii) as he claimed. Trump told everyone who would listen that Obama’s Presidency was illegitimate. A whole lot of folks believed him, mainly because they wanted to.

So for more than a decade, Donald Trump has dominated the headlines. Yes, President Biden occupied the White House for four of those years, but even then, Trump managed to overshadow the sitting President in the national headlines. When Biden won, Trump, for the first time in the history of our country, refused to concede. He called on his supporters (mainly white, male Christians) to storm the Capitol the day Congress came together to confirm the vote, ordering them and his Vice President to block the confirmation of Joe Biden - all to keep Trump in office, even though he lost - decisively. Then, again, for the first time in Presidential history, he refused to appear at the Biden inauguration.

Then he announced his candidacy for the next election, years ahead of the normal timing, so that he could call himself a Presidential candidate. It shielded him from the large collection of court cases coming from all directions. In spite of that strategy, he was convicted of the crime of falsifying his business records. He lied to banks, investors, and illegally paid off a sex worker with whom he had an affair (while his wife was pregnant). He’s a convicted felon.

In spite of all this and more, his supporters make all sorts of convoluted excuses. Because, they say, he has supported conservative causes and protected “persecuted” Christians, they have overlooked his egregious indiscretions.

So for more than ten years, Donald Trump is, in reality, the only President you know.

It hasn’t always been like this.

I lament this fact. You deserve better. So much better. If I could, I would change the story, undoing the past. But that’s not possible.

You’ve been told by some that he is what our country needs. You’ve been told to celebrate his appointment of Supreme Court justices who managed to overturn Roe v. Wade, making abortion illegal. You’ve been told that immigrants are destroying our country and must be deported, no matter what the means. You’ve been told that our great universities have become woke and cannot be trusted or funded. You’ve been told that our efforts to embrace diversity and inclusion have become a threat to good, American (white) “patriots,” and it has to stop. You’ve been told that history needs to be rewritten - that the darker periods in our past should be erased and replaced with glowing accounts of our mighty progress. You’ve been told that the climate is not warming. That the supply of fossil fuels and coal is limitless. That clean energy is a waste of resources. That scientific research, especially into disease and public health, shouldn’t be trusted. That efforts to alleviate suffering - from poverty and neglect and disease - well, it’s not our problem. That public education is not the government’s responsibility. We’re not our brother’s keeper. The poor will always be with us. Social safety nets only breed laziness, crime and corruption.

They say we need a strong, powerful leader. Only he can fix it.

I don’t know how much you pay attention to these things. But it’s important to me that we talk about it.

Please hear me now. In light of all this, I want you to know how proud I am of this generation. Your parents have given all they have to create a world that will give you the best chance to flourish and thrive into adulthood. Our commitment to each other is way more important than politics.

You have been taught to be independent thinkers. You’ve proven yourselves capable. You are readers. Artists, too. You’ve been taught the disciplines that will enable you to succeed. You’ve got the support of people who love you, who are there when you stumble and fall, experience disappointment, or fall short of your goals. We call it “unconditional love.” It may sound like a cliche, but it’s for real. No matter what happens to any one of you, we will be there. You can count on it.

Along the way, many of you have learned to love God and to follow Jesus. To dig into your Bible. To value your community. To care for each other. You’ve cultivated a deep spirituality that sustains you. We revel in that beautiful focus of your lives.

So I feel compelled to write this open letter.

You have lived most of your life in a political environment that is, frankly, toxic. We live in a diverse, pluralist democracy, and in many ways, we have always been polarized. But these past dozen years or so, thanks to our President, those differences have been exaggerated and magnified and poisonous. We view those who have opposing views not as fellow citizens, but as enemies to be overthrown. We demonize the opposition. Name-calling, vitriol, memes, and tropes become our weapons. Religion claims a divine right - God is on our side, not theirs. My news sources reinforce my prejudices and justify my resentments. My champions are those who call out my perceived enemies and dismantle their views, belittle their significance, and drive them into hiding.

Somehow, over the past fifty years, we Christians have been told that the two primary political values are 1) the elimination of abortion and 2) the denial of homosexuality (LGBTQ rights). As long as a politician signs off on those two issues, nothing else matters. It’s black and white, either/or. Everything else is secondary.

That means the politician who claims this “Christian” view can be a convicted felon, married multiple times, accused of sexual misconduct, incapable of speaking the truth, appointing corrupt cronies to high office, ignoring the courts, claiming powers that belong to Congress, violating the rights of citizens, slashing funding for government functions he doesn’t like, unleashing an unidentifiable “police force” on the citizenry, sending hordes into inadequate detention centers without due process, imposing disruptive and inflationary tariffs, and starting wars all without a hint of remorse. Or respect for the law of the land.

This president has endorsed “Christian Nationalism.” That Christians are “persecuted.”

Our democracy is in peril.

As a Grandfather, I want you to know that I grieve that this President is all you know. Our nation is not and never has been a theocracy. The Presidency is not and never has been a Monarchy. Our Constitution formed our Democracy. We are a nation of laws. We are a diverse people. There is no State Religion. Our leaders are not required to take a religious test.

Religious freedom is not my right to tell other Americans how they are to live or whom they are to love. With reference to religion, we are guaranteed the freedom to believe as our conscience dictates. As a Christian, I celebrate all of this. My Christian tradition has taught me to believe in diversity, equity, and inclusion.

I long for the day when we all can experience leadership that is committed to these core values - integrity, honesty, equity, civility, and unwavering commitment to the common good.

I lament the reality that for these long years, our headlines have been filled with one outrage after another.

Thanks to this administration, the only one you’ve known, it’s been a decade of intolerance, grievance, and retribution.

But all that said, most importantly, we have each other. Each one of you has great potential. You have proven yourselves to be compassionate, empathetic, energized, winsome, eager, and capable people.

While I have my laments, you fill me with hope. I remain confident that your future is bright - that you will flourish, even in the presence of adversity.

I fully believe that your lives will be filled with laughter and happiness and love.

Be assured - even today - you make us proud and fill us with delight.

With great anticipation,

Ken Kemp

(An aging Grandfather)

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*This is the same generation as our fourteen grandchildren.