Editor,

All politicians have something in common — they like the spotlight on them.

But some are different, some actually work to help the folks they serve.

That’s what gives them pleasure, makes them whole. Personally, I don’t want the job, I’m happy trying to make a difference in my work to make the planet healthier.

But these folks, some call them leaders, and some of them try to lead. But most of them serve us, because that is their job.

It’s in that vein I’d like to approach President-Elect Joe Biden.

Now I don’t agree with everything he stands for, or has done or will do in office. But I’d like to reroute the discussion to what can we all do to help, rather than demonizing him or his motives.

Think of the quote from JFK, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Contrary to one Oak Harbor writer, Joe has vast experience in foreign policy and knows the players very well. This will be a strength of his, and also now again of our nation. The president elect will be building bridges not walls. Walls have been proven to not work — think Berlin, China’s Great Wall, “Mexico will pay for it” — as a substitute for immigration policy, which is something our Congress should actually be working on.

Think of actually having laws in place to define and protect against illegal immigration, instead of presidential edict that seems to change every four to eight years.

Let’s talk about our environment and global climate change. This used to be a topic that most of actually agreed on. And over 70% of Americans agree that humans are driving the rising carbon levels.

You can’t get everyone, let alone all science, to agree on much of anything, but to have 97% of all scientist agree with human caused climate change, that is something.

If we don’t do something, mass extinctions will happen, possibly humans. So why not move to curb our carbon output, we know how, we have the technology. And it needn’t be expensive, it can actually be an economic boom.

There will be displacement, but there always is when we change. Thousands of blacksmiths had to retrain when automobiles became popular 100 years ago. And if we don’t do it, someone else will. And other countries already are.

Back to the president-elect, and this idea that he is a socialist. Let’s look at the definition of socialism: It’s “a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.” Maybe a little like Social Security, or Medicare.

If we are a government of and by the people, then also maybe taxation is socialistic. So maybe a little socialism isn’t too bad, since a lot of people like these programs. And Biden is not advocated anything socialistic other than a little more help on education.

But our K-12 and college system is already mostly “owned or regulated by the community as a whole,” and most people who have been through that system have turned out pretty well. So well, in fact, that countries all over the world want to send their kids to our schools. And they are willing to pay dearly for that.

I’m just asking you to put down the weapons, give the guy a chance to help our fellow Americans, and hold the criticism until after he has some time to do the job of president. We need to get on the job of raising people up, not putting them down.

Who really cares about there being a red and blue state, or city.

What affects people is how we treat each other, and what gets done in our name. The rest is just noise. Reject the noise. Smile at your neighbor no matter how he or she voted.

Tim Economu

Clinton