An open letter to Elizabeth Warren

Dear Senator Warren,

I am certain that you must receive thousands of emails urging you to run for president. That decision is yours and yours alone to make, but should you decide to run for that office, may I please implore you to announce your candidacy as soon as possible? America needs you to run for president NOW. 

America needs hope now. America needs to see an alternative now. Not a year from now. Not during the next political season. Right now.

When Americans think there is no alternative to a president, the ability to resist said president is compromised. Bush was able to pass draconian tax cuts in his first days. We can not afford to give this president-elect a cloak of apathy to take this nation his racist, deceptive and undemocratic direction. We need to see that there’s another way. A better way. A better person, a better direction, a better leader and that that leader is visible just ahead on the horizon. Without light at the end of this tunnel, I fear what a nation in despair will fall to.

I know that you will provide loud opposition from your position in the senate. But that is simply not the same and will not incur the same coverage as being an active candidate for the office of president of the United States.  Since you will be boisterous in defiance anyway, why not do it from a visible platform? The media hardly covers politics unless there is a “horse race.” Loud opposition from the floor of the senate simply doesn’t resonate like campaign rallies, stump speeches, canvassing, voter outreach, yard signs. Imagine the impact on the discussion a full-on presidential campaign would create.

Your candidacy could really help turnout in the midterms. Low voter turnout always dooms the left. But your candidacy could turn 2018 into a referendum. You could get out the vote endorsing candidates, and raise the profile of house and senate candidates. As you know, Republicans have ludicrously gerrymandered congressional districts so the lift is heavy indeed. The ground work on retaking the house needs to begin today under the full shining light of a presidential campaign.

And even if we can’t change the house and senate, such active and vibrant attention could change the debate and force this awful man in office to change the debate.  Fear of your presence on the political scene could force him and the GOP to change their ambitions. You may force them into “Me too” political decisions that would greatly aid the country.

I know it is a big ask. Two years of campaigning can be exhausting, and I am asking that you do four. But a majority of American voters are already with you! The popular vote is already on your side! Democracy demands that someone give our 50% a voice. You would start at the top of the hill, going downwards. Every minute you wait means movement backwards. Let’s keep pushing from day one to turn our majority into actual majority rule.

Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for our nation. I honestly think that the majority of your contribution to our country lies ahead in our future. Our very very very near future. The nearer the better.

Yours in democracy,

-Brian Wennerlind