This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
My grandmother (who was born in 1895 and died in 1982) once wrote the following:
"When I was small I liked to sit on my father's lap and listen as he visited with friends. He — an ardent Democrat — and a Democrat friend were visiting soon after a new president, a Republican [Theodore Roosevelt], had been elected. The man made some derogatory remark about the new president and my father as vigorously upheld him. After the man had gone I said, 'Papa, I thought you didn't like that man [the new president] either.' My father told me a little of the two-party system, then said, 'This new president received the most votes. He is now the president, the leader of all our country, and it is the duty of all of us to help and encourage our president, not sit around and find fault.'"
In the most recent presidential election, I — like my great-grandfather — did not vote for the man who ultimately won the election, but now that he has, "it is the duty of all of us to help and encourage our president." Teddy Roosevelt didn't destroy the United States and neither will Donald Trump because ours is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. We are the people and we will survive and prosper if we let our voices be heard through the tried and true democratic process.
Kara Baker
Murray